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Can you solve the control room riddle? - Dennis Shasha

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TEDEd Animation

Let’s Begin…

As your country's top spy, you must infiltrate the headquarters of the evil syndicate, find the secret control panel, and deactivate their death ray. But your reconnaissance team is spotty, and you have only limited information about the control panel's whereabouts. Can you solve the control room riddle and deactivate their weapon in time? Dennis Shasha shows you how.

WatchThink Dig Deeper Discuss
Recall that the hint is that all rooms are connected to three other rooms except one that is connected to only one other room. We see from the solution in the video that a floor containing six rooms is possible and six is the smallest number for which it is possible. Would a floor having seven rooms be possible even if not the smallest?

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Meet The Creators

  • Educator Dennis E. Shasha
  • Script Editor Alex Gendler
  • Producer Zedem Media
  • Director Michael Kalopaidis
  • Sound Designer Andreas Trachonitis
  • Animator Maria Savva, Andria Pourouti
  • Artist Jeanne Bornet
  • Narrator Addison Anderson

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