The Potato Paradox

You have 100 pounds of Martian potatoes, which are 99 percent water by weight. You let them dehydrate until they’re 98 percent water. How much do they weigh now?

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Perhaps surprisingly, the potatoes now weigh 50 pounds. The sack of potatoes originally weighed 100 pounds, and 1 percent of its weight, or 1 pound, was non-water. If that 1 pound now makes up 2 percent of the total weight, then the total weight must be 50 pounds. Not a paradox, exactly, but many people find it counterintuitive.

August 10, 2010May 9, 2013 | Puzzles