# Puzzler: Pill Popping

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/puzzler-pill-popping/89252>\
**Category:** The Show\
**Created:** [March 9, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/puzzler-pill-popping/89252 "2015-03-09T21:52:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![emilfriedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/51bf81/32.png) [@emilfriedman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/emilfriedman)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/puzzler-pill-popping/89252/1 "2015-03-09T21:52:50Z")

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The question and answer ignored that fact that all pharmaceutical pills are required to be distinguishable. If the pills in Bottle A look exactly like those in Bottle B then the pharmacist made a mistake. If this is the first time you are planning to take them, bring them back and tell the pharmacist that he almost killed you, depending on which bottle had the wrong pills. If you’ve taken them before then you can be reasonably confident that they are not the ones where taking two will kill you.

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**Author:** ![emilfriedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/51bf81/32.png) [@emilfriedman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/emilfriedman)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/puzzler-pill-popping/89252/2 "2015-03-09T21:54:29Z")

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PS, here’s the link to the original question: [http://www.cartalk.com/content/popping-pills-0?question](http://www.cartalk.com/content/popping-pills-0?question)

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**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/puzzler-pill-popping/89252/3 "2015-03-09T22:02:12Z")

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> **The question and answer ignored that fact that all pharmaceutical pills are required to be distinguishable.**

Of course they did…wouldn’t be much of a puzzler if they didn’t.

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**Author:** ![BillRussell](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/billrussell/32/3179_2.png) [@BillRussell](https://community.cartalk.com/u/BillRussell)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 10:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/puzzler-pill-popping/89252/4 "2015-03-09T22:12:57Z")

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yes, but prescription pills can look like over-the-counter pills.

I have two that are the same size, tiny, white. The prescription pill has a few tiny letters on it, the OTC ones don’t, that is the only way I can tell they apart.

b

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**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 7:38am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/puzzler-pill-popping/89252/5 "2015-03-10T07:38:41Z")

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My solution was to add one to the first 3 so I knew I had 2 a’s and 2 b’s, then crush them and mix it all together … then take 1/2 of the mixture each day … a sort of Rube Goldberg solution.