Math Is Fun Forum

In the 'dropping balls' puzzle, it is said that if the ball breaks on the 14th floor then you only have to test 13 more times to find the limit. I'm not sure how this test solves the problem. If you break both balls you are fired. Now you know the ball breaks on the 14th floor so you test up to the known limit (14), the only flaw in this problem is that the person dropping the ball may have overshot the balls maximum stress right on the first toss. That is to say, the ball might actually break at the 10th floor, not the 14th. It is going to be a rude shock to the dropper when he shatters his second snooker ball on the 10th floor and gets fired.
   So in the question the number of times needed to drop and test the ball may not be 14 times. It could be less depending on the toughness of the balls or lack thereof.
  The only sure way to test would be to drop one ball one floor at a time, when it finally shatters you've found your limit and you still have on ball left and your job is intact.
  Unless I'm missing something here. Which is entirely possible. The main item that I was pointing out was the danger in overestimating the toughness of the snooker ball when you go to do your first toss.
Roy