The 12 balls puzzle

A solution to solve the 12 ball puzzle.
Fact: you know that 11 balls are equally weighted and 1 of them is not
Constraint: you can only use the weighing machine at most 3 times to determine the heaviest ball

import java.util.Random;

public class TheHeaviestBall {

 private int count = 0;
 private int indexHeaviestBall = 0;
 private Random myRand = new Random();
 private int[] balls = {1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1};
 private int[] arrangeBalls(){
  balls[myRand.nextInt(12)] = 2;
  for (int aBall : balls) {
   System.out.print(aBall + " ");
  }
  return balls;
 }

 public void weighingCount(){
  count++;
  if (count > 3) {
   System.out.println("Your algorithm fails");
  }
 }

 public int theBALL(){
  int myBalls[] = arrangeBalls();
  weighingCount();
  if ((myBalls[0]+myBalls[1]+myBalls[2]+myBalls[3]) > (myBalls[4]+myBalls[5]+myBalls[6]+myBalls[7])) {
   weighingCount();
   if ((myBalls[0]+myBalls[1]) > (myBalls[2]+myBalls[3])) {
    weighingCount();
    if (myBalls[0] > myBalls[1]) {
     indexHeaviestBall = 0;
     return myBalls[0];
    } else {
     indexHeaviestBall = 1;
     return myBalls[1];
    }
   } else {
    weighingCount();
    if (myBalls[2] > myBalls[3]) {
     indexHeaviestBall = 2;
     return myBalls[2];
    } else {
     indexHeaviestBall = 3;
     return myBalls[3];
    }
   }
  }
  else if ((myBalls[4]+myBalls[5]+myBalls[6]+myBalls[7]) > (myBalls[0]+myBalls[1]+myBalls[2]+myBalls[3])) {
   weighingCount();
   if ((myBalls[4]+myBalls[5]) > (myBalls[6]+myBalls[7])) {
    weighingCount();
    if (myBalls[4] > myBalls[5]) {
     indexHeaviestBall = 4;
     return myBalls[4];
    } else {
     indexHeaviestBall = 5;
     return myBalls[5];
    }
   } else {
    weighingCount();
    if (myBalls[6] > myBalls[7]) {
     indexHeaviestBall = 6;
     return myBalls[6];
    } else {
     indexHeaviestBall = 7;
     return myBalls[7];
    }
   }
  }
  else {
   weighingCount();
   if ((myBalls[8]+myBalls[9]) > (myBalls[10]+myBalls[11])) {
    weighingCount();
    if (myBalls[8] > myBalls[9]) {
     indexHeaviestBall = 8;
     return myBalls[8];
    } else {
     indexHeaviestBall = 9;
     return myBalls[9];
    }
   } else {
    weighingCount();
    if (myBalls[10] > myBalls[11]) {
     indexHeaviestBall = 10;
     return myBalls[10];
    } else {
     indexHeaviestBall = 11;
     return myBalls[11];
    }
   }
  }
 }

 public static void getMyHeaviestBall(){
  TheHeaviestBall hb = new TheHeaviestBall();
  //Algorithm validation
  if (hb.count > 3) {
   System.out.println("You can do better");
  } else {
   System.out.println("\nThe heaviest ball [ " + hb.theBALL() + " ] is the " + (hb.indexHeaviestBall + 1) + "th ball from the left");
  }
 }

 public static void main(String[] args) {
  getMyHeaviestBall();
 }
}

Update: Click here to view the solution to solve the 8 balls puzzle

The 8 balls puzzle

Here is an interesting puzzle about selecting the heaviest ball among 7 other equally weighted balls. For example a collection of the 8 balls would look like this [2,1,1,1,1,1,1,1].

The goal is to choose the heaviest ball by performing only two weighings.
Fact: You know that all 7 other balls are equally weighted but you could not figure out the heaviest ball.
Solution: In order to do so, you are using the weighing machine but as a challenge you can only use the weighing machine at most twice

import java.util.Random;

public class TheHeaviestBall {

 private int count = 0;
 private int indexHeaviestBall = 0;
 private Random myRand = new Random();
 private int[] balls = {1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1};
 private int[] arrangeBalls(){
  balls[myRand.nextInt(8)] = 2;
  for (int aBall : balls) {
   System.out.print(aBall + " ");
  }
  return balls;
 }

 public void weighingCount(){
  count++;
  if (count > 2) {
   System.out.println("Your algorithm fails");
  }
 }

 public int theBALL(){
  int myBalls[] = arrangeBalls();
  weighingCount();
  if ((myBalls[0]+myBalls[1]+myBalls[2]) > (myBalls[3]+myBalls[4]+myBalls[5])) {
   weighingCount();
   if (myBalls[1] == myBalls[2]) {
    indexHeaviestBall = 0;
    return myBalls[0];
   } else {
    if (myBalls[1] >= myBalls[2]) {
     indexHeaviestBall = 1;
     return myBalls[1];
    } else {
     indexHeaviestBall = 2;
     return myBalls[2];
    }
   }
  }
  else if ((myBalls[3]+myBalls[4]+myBalls[5]) > (myBalls[0]+myBalls[1]+myBalls[2])) {
   weighingCount();
   if (myBalls[4] == myBalls[5]) {
    return myBalls[3];
   } else {
    if (myBalls[4] >= myBalls[5]) {
     indexHeaviestBall = 4;
     return myBalls[4];
    }
    else {
     indexHeaviestBall = 5;
     return myBalls[5];
    }
   }
  }
  else {
   weighingCount();
   if (myBalls[6] >= myBalls[7]) {
    indexHeaviestBall = 6;
    return myBalls[6];
   }
   else {
    indexHeaviestBall = 7;
    return myBalls[7];
   }
  }
 }

 public static void getMyHeaviestBall(){
  TheHeaviestBall hb = new TheHeaviestBall();
  //Algorithm validation
  if (hb.count > 2) {
   System.out.println("You can do better");
  } else {
   System.out.println("\nThe heaviest ball [ " + hb.theBALL() + " ] is the " + (hb.indexHeaviestBall + 1) + "th ball from the left");
  }
 }

 public static void main(String[] args) {
  getMyHeaviestBall();
 }
}

Update: Click here to view the solution to solve the 12 balls puzzle

Quizzie - my first Android application

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