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Pot of gold. Mystery Cache

Hidden : 8/23/2008
Difficulty:
4.5 out of 5
Terrain:
3 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

There is nothing on posted coordinates. You will have to solve a math puzzle to get right coordinates. Cache is not winter friendly.

One day, the Leprechauns receive news that there is an abnormally large pot of gold at the end of the rainbow near Bangor. All of the Leprechauns rush to the end of the rainbow and arrive simultaneously. Like geocachers for FTF. In this situation, according to Leprechaun Lore, the treasure is to be divided by the following manner:
Every day, the Leprechauns will vote to either

1) send the youngest Leprechaun back to Ireland, or
2) split the pot of gold up among the remaining Leprechauns.


If 50% or more of the Leprechauns vote to split the pot of gold, the treasure gets split among the remaining Leprechauns. Otherwise, the youngest Leprechaun is sent back to Ireland. Assume that each Leprechaun know the ages of all Leprechauns. All Leprechauns have different age. The process is repeated until the gold is split.

Each of the Leprechauns have an extremely high IQ (top 2% among the general population) and each Leprechaun is fully aware that all the other Leprechauns are also very intelligent.

The question is: How many Leprechauns will split the gold?

To get first coordinate (N) you have to solve this puzzle for initial group of 777 Leprechauns. To get second coordinate (W) you have to solve this puzzle for initial group of 333 Leprechauns.
Final coordinates are: N44°49.xxx W68°42.yyy
Where xxx is number of Leprechauns who will split the gold in first case and yyy is number of Leprechauns who will split the gold in second case. If you don't get three digits number, just add heading zeros. Little bushwhacking may be required.

You can check your solution on geochecker.com

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Vg vf ba gur tebhaq.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)