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Which of four switches lights the bulb

Question

A closed room contains one bulb. Outside are four switches, only one of which controls it, and you cannot see the bulb from the switches. What is the minimum number of times you need to go into the room to know which switch is the right one?

Short answer

11. Use heat as a second bit of information: turn switches 11 and 22 on for a while, then turn 11 off and 33 on, and enter. On and warm means 22, on and cold means 33, off and warm means 11, off and cold means 44.

Adapted from QuantQuestions.io; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

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