h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I know this one so I won't spoil it for the others.

I also know it, but will spoil it as it has skipped over on to a new page:
He is a midget and can't reach the 11th floor button. When it's raining, he has his umbrella and can reach the button.

Now for the new teaser:

There is a knockout tennis tournament with 55 people entered. How many matches of tennis are played in total before they arrive at an eventual winner?
Note that there are no rematches or repecharges and byes are allowed as there are an odd number of entrants.

Also, for those that get this the long way (drawing up match plans and counting the number of matches at each round), can you explain a simple way of calculating the number of matches, which is applicable regardless of the number of entrants?

53 -
53>27 matches +1 player
27>13 matches +1 player

13>6 matches +1 player
6>3 matches
3>2 matches +1 player

The four spare players >2 matches
27+13+6+3+2+2=53 (I think)

Sorry - Triping errer
55>27 matches +1 player

No, try again.

Trying to be too clever too quick - is it 54? -
55 players play 27 matches & thereÕs 1 player left over
26 players play 13 matches
13 players play 6 matches & thereÕs 1 player left over
The two players left over play 1 match
So there are seven players left
7 players play 3 matches & thereÕs 1 player left over
3 players play 1 match & thereÕs 1 player left over
The two players left over play 1 match
The two winners play the final 1 match
The losers play for second place 1 match
27+13+6+1+3+1+1+1+1+1 = 54

It is 54, but do you know the quick method and reason behind it?

The answer to Gollum's riddle is, if i'm not mistaken, time.

Another Tolkien Riddle in the Dark is:

It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.

Darkness

opps! posted in wrong place!
please ignore
Sorry!

oops! actually in right place! man this is confusing!
can anyone think what it might be?

You answered a post from the first page.

I think the answer's darkness but I'm not sure.

It doesn't matter anyway, I think it's PBS's go next.

yep, i did, which makes me feel a little less of a fool.
The answer is dark, but darkness is the same kind of thing.
If PBS wants to continue, i'll have to find my book of The Hobbit. I like riddles, but i have a very bad memory!

PBS: it’s your turn.
Just to close the loop on my question, the simple way of working out the number of games in a knockout competition is to take the number of entrants and take off 1. The reason is that everyone, except the winner, loses one match. Therefore, it doesn’t matter how many games you win or how you organise the byes through to the next round. Conventional knockout tournaments would have 46 players playing 23 matches in the first round, with 9 players having a bye to the next round. Then you have 32 players in 16 matches etc.

Sorry - even I have to go and work occasionally - I am trying to break the habit. I had also just about got round the shortcut to the tennis solution as I was waiting. It is neat.
So - a new problem:
Two men went into a restaurant. They both ordered the same dish from the menu. After tasting it, one of the men knew that he had eaten his friend. How did he know?

I know this one, so won't spoil someone else's fun. When I did hear it, there was more information supplied.

Yes but I have had one person get this without even knowing that it was albatross soup.

Well that solved that then didn't it. Didn't it?

His friend was the animal that he was eating (I thought it might have been a lobster from the tank (some restaurants keep a tank full of lobsters)and that he had come to like the lobster, but one day decided he wanted lobster and violla as they say.

Probably wrong though - right?

Right - you are wrong, I am afraid. No animals involved unless you count the albatross in the soup - which could equally well be a seagull.