A TedEd by Dan Finkel
Imagine that you work for a superconductor lab, and there is a bug that sends you and eleven colleagues into pocket dimensions! The lab has a robot that can bring you back, but it's a little erratic. It has two levers and a button. When one person receives it, they can pull a lever to send it to another random dimension. If the button is pressed, it returns all the people who have touched a lever to reality. However, it can't be sent back through dimensions and everyone else will be trapped forever. You cannot send notes or scratch messages on the robot. You have communicators, but they only work before you use the robot, so you must plan beforehand. How will you get everyone back safely? You can't count trips by levers, there are only 4 combinations. Hmmm...you think of a plan. There are two levers, so you tell everyone this: The first time you are visited, pull the left lever down. If it is already down or you have already pulled it, pull the right lever. You will be the only person who resets the left lever. This provides a way to count how many people have been visited, and when all other 10 people have been visited, you can press the button. Voila! You are all safe, back at the lab.
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