Lethal and Non-lethal Poison

Logic Level 4

You are the ruler of a great empire and you have decided to throw another celebration in 24 hours. One of your most hated rivals will be there, and you decide to use some deadly poison that will definitely kill him in 10 to 20 hours. To reduce suspicion, you decide to also spike your drink with some non-lethal poison that will make you sick in 10 to 20 hours.

Out of 1250 glasses, you insert the deadly poison in one glass and your non-lethal poison in another glass. But because of your forgetfulness, you forgot which glasses had the poisons! Certainly, you don't want another one of your beloved guests to drink a poisoned glass, or even worse, giving yourself the lethally poisoned glass.

Fortunately, you still have your supply of death-row prisoners who won't mind lending a helping hand by taste-testing the glasses. What is the smallest number of prisoners needed to successfully locate both the lethally and non-lethally poisoned glasses?

Note: if the lethal poison acts before the non-lethal poison, then the prisoner will die without any symptoms.


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