DIM ball(12), attribute$(12) 'Set up 12 balls and attributes RANDOMIZE TIMER 'Seed the RND function ' begin: ' FOR x = 1 TO 12 'Give each ball an initial ball(x) = 1 ' weight of 1 and an initial attribute$(x) = " equal" ' attribute of "equal" NEXT x ' oddball = INT(RND * 12) + 1 'Pick the odd ball randomly IF RND < .5 THEN 'Pick the odd ball's weight: oddweight = .9 ' a little less ELSE ' or oddweight = 1.1 ' a little more END IF ' than the others ball(oddball) = oddweight 'Give the odd ball its odd weight ' 'Not very elegant but functional solution from 'Jim Eccleston '241 East 19th Street 'North Vancouver, BC 'V7L 2Z1 CANADA '604-988-7597 ' sw1 = ball(1) + ball(2) + ball(3) ' composite weights for comparison sw2 = ball(9) + ball(10) + ball(11) sw3 = ball(5) + ball(6) + ball(7) sw4 = ball(2) + ball(3) + ball(4) sw5 = ball(10) + ball(11) + ball(12) w1 = sw3 + ball(8): w2 = sw2 + ball(12) w3 = sw2 + ball(5): w4 = sw1 + ball(12) w5 = sw3 + ball(9): w6 = sw1 + ball(8) ' ' IF w1 > w2 THEN 100 'Do 1st level weigh IF w2 > w1 THEN 200 'Bad penny not on scale with w1 and w2 IF sw4 > sw5 THEN 40 'Do 2nd level weigh for equal 1st level IF sw5 > sw4 THEN 60 'Bad penny not on scale with sw4 and sw5 ' - must be 1,2,3 or 4 'Check 1 first for overweight ' IF ball(1) > ball(12) THEN id = 1: GOTO 2000 ' 'Check 1 for underweight ' IF ball(12) > ball(1) THEN id = 1: GOTO 1000 ' 'Bad penny is overweight 2,3 or 4 ' 40 IF ball(3) > ball(4) THEN id = 3: GOTO 2000 IF ball(4) > ball(3) THEN id = 4: GOTO 2000 id = 2: GOTO 2000 'Bad penny is underweight 2,3 or 4 ' 60 IF ball(3) > ball(4) THEN id = 4: GOTO 1000 IF ball(4) > ball(3) THEN id = 3: GOTO 1000 id = 2: GOTO 1000 'Here if original left side was heavier 'Change weight sets and re-weigh ' 100 IF w3 > w4 THEN 140 '2nd level weigh for heavy left 1st weigh IF w4 > w3 THEN 160 IF ball(7) > ball(8) THEN id = 7: GOTO 2000 IF ball(8) > ball(7) THEN id = 8: GOTO 2000 id = 6: GOTO 2000 ' 'Here if new left side is heavier ' ' '3rd level weigh here 140 IF ball(5) > ball(1) THEN id = 5: GOTO 2000 IF ball(1) = ball(5) THEN id = 12: GOTO 1000 ' ' '3rd level weigh here 160 IF ball(10) > ball(11) THEN id = 11: GOTO 1000 IF ball(11) > ball(10) THEN id = 10: GOTO 1000 id = 9: GOTO 1000 'Here if new right side is heavier ' 'change weight sets and re-weigh ' 200 IF w5 > w6 THEN 240 '2nd level weigh for right heavy 1st weigh IF w6 > w5 THEN 260 IF ball(11) > ball(12) THEN id = 11: GOTO 2000 IF ball(12) > ball(11) THEN id = 12: GOTO 2000 id = 10: GOTO 2000 ' 'Here if new left side is heavier ' ' '3rd level weigh here 240 IF ball(9) > ball(1) THEN id = 9: GOTO 2000 IF ball(1) = ball(9) THEN id = 8: GOTO 1000 ' 'Here if new right side is heavier ' ' '3rd level weigh here 260 IF ball(6) > ball(7) THEN id = 7: GOTO 1000 IF ball(7) > ball(6) THEN id = 6: GOTO 1000 id = 5: GOTO 1000 ' 'Print results and loop ' 1000 PRINT "Oddball= "; oddball; " Ball"; id; " weighed LO "; ball(id) GOTO begin: ' 2000 PRINT "Oddball= "; oddball; " Ball"; id; " weighed HI "; ball(id) GOTO begin: ' ' 'Flowchart for weighing sequence structure above follows, with balls 'represented by alpha characters A thru L. ( I was less confused! ) ' 'Letters shown in the balance pans. Outcome is Left, Balanced, Right 'L suffix in letter pairs = underweight, H suffix = overweight ' '1st Level Weighing ' +------+------+ ' | EFGH | IJKL | ' +------+------+ ' | ' +-------------------+---------------------+ '2nd Level | | | ' +------+------+ +-----+-----+ +------+------+ ' | IJKE | LABC | | BCD | JKL | | EFGI | HABC | ' +------+------+ +-----+-----+ +------+------+ ' | | | | | | | | | '3rd Level | | | | | | | / | ' +---+---+ | +---+---+ | | | +---+---+ | +---+---+ ' | J | K | | | E | A | | | | | F | G | | | I | A | ' +---+---+ | +---+---+ | | | +---+---+ | +---+---+ ' KL IL JL | EH LL * | | | GL EL FL | IH HL * ' | / | \ \ ' +---+---+ / | \ +---+---+ ' | G | H | / | \ | K | L | ' +---+---+ / | \ +---+---+ ' GH FH HH | | | KH JH LH ' +---+---+ +---+---+ +---+---+ ' | C | D | | A | L | | C | D | ' +---+---+ +---+---+ +---+---+ ' CH BH DH AH * AL DL BL CL ' * = Innaplicable '