Trivia (spoiler

[livo]

With 2 eggs and 36 floors an optimal start could be at floor 8, requiring possibly up to, but not more than 8 drops, saving 10 from the first considered 18. But why is having 3 dozen eggs wrong? Or even just one dozen. Surely more eggs is better.

[Peripatetic Phil]

With 2 eggs and 36 floors an optimal start could be at floor 8, requiring possibly up to, but not more than 8 drops, saving 10 from the first considered 18.

Agreed.  Can you now show how you would proceed after the first drop from the eighth floor ?  And why ?

But why is having 3 dozen eggs wrong? Or even just one dozen. Surely more eggs is better.

3 dozen eggs is not wrong, any more than is having a googleplex of eggs.  It simply isn't one of the questions.

** Phil.

[livo]

Deleted as it shows up in recent posts and the spoiler alert is negated. However, the reason is to standardise the minimum number of worst case drops required to cover all floors. The maximisation of minimum failure.

[Peripatetic Phil]

The formula (for D drops, E eggs and F floors) finally fell into place at 06:00 this morning.  Excel 2010 spreadsheet attached, masquerading as .txt file.  The root formula is at D4; all other formulae are simply extrapolated therefrom, using Excel's standard "select-then-extrapolate" mechanism.

** Phil.