Can the receiver obtain the correct packet after one or more retransmissions, without it ever being received correctly? This may seem like “Mission Impossible”. To figure out whether it is or not, we’ll consider a brain teaser. You may have run into a version of this teaser before, but here is the version suited to the discussion of the problem at hand.

In the last issue of our newsletter we posed the question of a receiver being able to obtain the correct packet after one or more transmissions without any of the transmissions/retransmissions being received correctly. While it may sound like ‘Mission Impossible’, it can be done and here is how.

I sometimes get asked at parties why dropped calls occur as often as they do.  “Why not just ‘connect’ to the ‘tower that has the strongest signal?’ a layman’s approach to handover.  If you run into that question, you may wish to challenge the questioner to a brain teaser that highlights the perils of trusting…

If you missed the question, it’s in the article that was published in the previous issue of our ezine. Here is the allocation that the #10 pirate must propose to ensure for him the maximal share and to allow him to be able to live to enjoy his loot.