Yang Zhou

260366321

Solution to the bonus question:

For the first measurement, we arrange the resistors in this configuration:

If the resistance of the 9 normal resistors and the resistance of the defective resistor were known, this
circuit will return a different resistance for each different pair the defective resistor is in.

For instance, if the defective resistor had a resistance of 2 ohms while every other resistor had a
resistance of 1 ohm, the theoretical resistances for each pair in this circuit would be:

1.22 ohm if the defective resistor is A or B

1.24 ohm if the defective resistor is C or D

1.25 ohm if the defective resistor is E or F

1.34 ohm if the defective resistor is G or H

1.52 ohm if the defective resistor is I or J

Yang Zhou
260366321

The equation for the resistance of the circuit is given by:

Thus, if we find the resistance of the circuit was 1.34 ohms, we must know that the defective is either G
or H.

Once we have eliminated the choices down to 2 choices, the differential is trivial as we can measure the
resistance of either one and find the defective one: if the measured one wasn’t defective, the
unmeasured one must be, and vice versa.