instruction stringlengths 15 30k |
|---|
You return to the bench after cracking the last code, and you notice an envelope on the ground directly under it. You put down your envelope with the previous code and pick up the new one, anticipating another challenge.
http://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/3157/crack-the-code-2
<sub>Digits are referred to... |
The park bench has been compromised as a safe location, so you decide to meet in the lobby of the nearest hotel. Again, the envelopes are traded securely, along with the money you are receiving for each code. This code comes with a note.
“This is the hardest code yet. No more programs to crack this one, at least not... |
answer (edited, had wrong answer first with no 4, same methodology)
>! 4271 = 0x1OAF or LOAF
how i came up with it
>! hex representation must start with 0,1,2 to be 4 digits, it must end in s,b,d,f or it would not be prime. Then an educated guess assuming l??f. |
The park bench has been compromised as a safe location, so you decide to meet in the lobby of the nearest hotel. Again, the envelopes are traded securely, along with the money you are receiving for each code. This code comes with a note.
“This is the hardest code yet. No more programs to crack this one, at least not... |
answer (edited again. fixed after question clarification)
>! 4013 = 0xFAD or FAD
how i came up with it
>! hex representation must be only 3 digits, it must end in b,d,f or it would not be prime. Then an educated guess assuming ??d. |
The fact that the first child among two is a boy has no effect on the sex of the second because the draw "sex of the first child" and "sex of the second child" are independant.
The probability of the other sibling being a girl is equal to the probability for any child picked at random to be a girl.
The chance is ... |
## With $M$ stacks we can sort $F_M$ numbers
<sup>(where $F_M$ is the $M$-th [Fibonacci Number](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number))</sup>
This is an answer for the call for generalization in [OP's answer](http://puzzling.stackexchange.com/a/3031/1649), by generalizing his/her method.
For comparison... |
You are a double-agent in a most important war of the 20th century. The
Falklands war. For years you have been playing United Kingdom and Argentinian
governments against each other, taking bribes from both sides and it has caught
up with you.
One day traveling you are snatched off the street, kidnapped, drugged a... |
The fact that the first child among two is a boy has no effect on the sex of the second because the draw "sex of the first child" and "sex of the second child" are independant.
The probability of the other sibling being a girl is equal to the probability for any child picked at random to be a girl.
The chance is ... |
You are a double-agent in a most important war of the 20th century. The
Falklands war. For years you have been playing United Kingdom and Argentinian
governments against each other, taking bribes from both sides and it has caught
up with you.
One day travelling you are snatched off the street, kidnapped, drugged ... |
You are a double-agent in a most important war of the 20th century. The
Falklands war. For years you have been playing United Kingdom and Argentinian
governments against each other, taking bribes from both sides and it has caught
up with you.
One day travelling you are snatched off the street, kidnapped, drugged ... |
You are on a quest to the find the lost kingdom of Acarien. On your way, you end up at a fork in the road. Both paths look exactly the same. At the junction sits a wise man. The wise man will only speak the words “ça” or “ɠa” meaning either yes or no (you don’t know which means which). The wise man will answer any yes-... |
If I asked you "is the left the right path?", would you say ça?
The trick is that the this results in the answer ça if the truthful answer to my embedded question is 'yes', and the other answer if the truthful answer to my question is 'no'. |
Question to be asked = "If I ask you if this is the correct path to go, would you say **ça**" ?
4 possibilities:
ca = yes
path' correctness = yes
reply= yes (ca)
ca = yes
path' correctness = no
reply= no (ga)
ca = no
path' correctness = yes
reply= no (ca)
ca = no
path' correctness = ... |
Question to be asked = "If I ask you if this is the correct path to go, would you say **ça**" ?
4 possibilities:
ca = yes
path' correctness = yes
reply= yes (ca)
ca = yes
path' correctness = no
reply= no (ga)
ca = no
path' correctness = yes
reply= no (ca)
ca = no
path' correctness = ... |
You are a double-agent in the most important war of the 20th century, The
Falklands war. For years you have been playing the United Kingdom and Argentinian
governments against each other, taking bribes from both sides and it has caught
up with you.
One day travelling you are snatched off the street, kidnapped, dr... |
If I asked you "is it left to Acarien?", would you say ça?
The trick is that the this results in the answer ça if the truthful answer to my embedded question is 'yes', and the other answer if the truthful answer to my question is 'no'. Thus you can deduce the correct path easily from the answer. |
The government has introduced a standardised test to identify dumb people and make them ineligible to apply for any government jobs, a pass in the exam is mandatory for applications in future.
It was hard to come up with a test that can provide 100% accuracy, however the creators of the test argued that 289 of eve... |
The government has introduced a standardised test to identify dumb people and make them ineligible to apply for any government jobs, a pass in the exam is mandatory for applications in future.
It was hard to come up with a test that can provide 100% accuracy, however the creators of the test argued that 289 of eve... |
If I asked you "is it left to Acarien?", would you say ça?
The trick is that the this results in the answer ça if the truthful answer to my embedded question is 'yes', and ɠa if the truthful answer to my question is 'no'. Thus you can deduce the correct path easily from the answer. |
> If I asked you "is it left to Acarien?", would you say ça?
The trick is that the this results in the answer ça if the truthful answer to my embedded question is 'yes', and ɠa if the truthful answer to my question is 'no'. Thus you can deduce the correct path easily from the answer. |
[Once again][acarien], you're on your way to Acarien. You find yourself in a land of Knights and Knaves, who understand your language but don't speak it. You understand nor speak their language, but you do know their words for yes and no, "yok" and "pom". Unfortunately, you don't know which is which. And of course, as ... |
Lets test the "If I were to ask you "is left is the correct path?" would you say "yok"?" question.
- Knave and yok=yes and left = correct
His answer is yok
- Knight and yok=yes and left = correct
His answer is yok
- Knave and yok=no and left = correct
His answer is yok
- Knight and yok=no and l... |
The question is simple:
"If you were the opposite of what you are, and I were to ask you if left is the correct path, would you say yok?"
Assuming left = correct, yok = yes, person = Knight: "pom"(no)
Assuming left = correct, yok = yes, person = Knave: "pom"(no)
Assuming left = correct, yok = no, person = K... |
An intelligent team, ‘Smarty Pants’, applying to a competition completes an evaluation form early. Since they are feeling generous they randomly spread their assignment to all 10 teams applying from their school by successively having one team forward it to some other, which then forwards to some other team, and so on.... |
Some people in the American Senate are working for secret organizations. Some work for the Illuminati, some work for the Knights Templar, and some work for both. The are also innocent citizens who are unaware of these organizations. Both organizations meet in secret with masks and hoods respectively, so that the member... |
The [Illuminati just stole our office][1] They shot JFK and have committed numerous crimes against humanity (not really) but we usually let that slide. But for stealing our offices, we have decided to get them arrested for those crimes, take over both offices, and get our revenge. In order to do this, though, we nee... |
How do we get those dang Illuminati? |
A traveller decided to explore a square desert. He started from a point on the edge to point B, travelling perpendicular to the edge of the desert he started on.
On reaching B, he then decided to take a 90 degree turn to travel to point C, where he spent the night.
The next day he was told that he could go straigh... |
The [Illuminati just stole our office][1] They shot JFK and have committed numerous crimes against humanity (not really) but we usually let that slide. But for stealing our offices, we have decided to get them arrested for those crimes, take over both offices, and get our revenge. In order to do this, though, we nee... |
The [Illuminati just stole our office][1] They shot JFK and have committed numerous crimes against humanity (not really) but we usually let that slide. But for stealing our offices, we have decided to get them arrested for those crimes, take over both offices, and get our revenge. In order to do this, though, we nee... |
A friend of mine made a simple bar bet, in which he wrote down a list of ten words, but covered up the first two with his hand. The list looked like the following:
████████
████████
THIRD
FOURTH
FIFTH
SIXTH
SEVENTH
EIGHTH
NINTH
TENTH
He bet me \$20 that I would not be able to guess ... |
A friend of mine made a simple bar bet, in which he wrote down a list of ten words. Turning it around to show me, he covered up the first two words with his hand. The eight words below his hand were the following:
THIRD
FOURTH
FIFTH
SIXTH
SEVENTH
EIGHTH
NINTH
TENTH
He bet me \$20 that I wou... |
Some people in the American Senate are working for secret organizations. Some work for the Illuminati, some work for the Knights Templar, and some work for both. The are also innocent citizens who are unaware of these organizations. Both organizations meet in secret with masks and hoods respectively, so that the member... |
Bob wakes up one morning, and he needs to grab a pair of socks for work. In his sock drawer, he has 5 pairs of blue socks, 3 pairs of red socks, and 4 pairs of white socks (Bob is American and very patriotic). If Bob is logical, capable, and an observant person, what is the minimum amount of socks he needs to grab befo... |
The distant country of Toomalia has a birthrate of 67 boys for every 33 girls. In an effort to restore a 50:50 gender ratio in the country, Toomalian policymakers institute a mandatory new social policy: Couples seeking to have children may continue to do so as long as they bear only girls, but must stop as soon as the... |
The ratio will stay the same. I'm not even sure how to prove that, since it seems so self-evident.
One simple approach:
Since the gender of a child is independent from their siblings, we can ignore who the parents are and ask under this procedure, what will the gender of the *next* child born to *any* couple in ... |
You've sent to prison, but the prisons where you are from are very clever. They do not just lock you up, they put you in a room with 2 doors.
**DoorA** is guarded by an evil dragon that will kill anyone who leaves.
**DoorB** is simply a hallway, with an odd ceiling, it's the strongest magnifying glass on earth! W... |
The Dragon or the Magnifying Glass? |
A detective friend of yours was trying to find clues for a crime he was investigating, he was almost done but a concluding location will help you close the case, unfortunately your friend could only send this but he was confident you will put together the information to close in on the place, once you are close enough ... |
A detective friend of yours was trying to find clues for a crime he was investigating, he was almost done but a concluding location will help you close the case, unfortunately your friend could only send this but he was confident you will put together the information to close in on the place, once you are close enough ... |
How do you arrange 6 pencils so that each one touches the other five? And what about 7 or 8? |
Scott is an expert outdoorsman, pursuing his dream by living in the remote Alaskan wilderness. Scott has everything he needs, and would prefer to remain a recluse, yet he will have to leave his home in four years. Why?
## Clues
### Was something going to happen that would destroy Scott's home?
>! No
### Did Scott n... |
He's an athlete in the Winter Olympics? I can't see that as dangerous, though. |
How do I arrange pencils so they all touch each other? |
A slightly simpler possibility:
> I have a number in mind: it’s either 14 or 15, but I’m not saying which. If you multiply together your number and its smallest prime factor, then roll an ordinary 6-sided die and add the result, will the total be at least as big as than the number I’m thinking of?
1. n/a (since ... |
Think of a Chinese Game Board, and how you can make jumps. Now think of actual checkers where you capture pieces. How many marbles can you place without a capture possible?
There's one slight rule to make sure this is not easy (without this rule you could just fill every slot):
**You cannot place marbles in the o... |
Largest No-Capture Setup? |
> An old sailor, by the name of John, was in his attic with his bright young great-nephew Stewart, showing him all the old tools they used to use while at sea.
> Stewart was fascinated by all the trinkets. One item caught his eye, which was a giant compass like one would find on a table inside the ship. It was beaut... |
A pawn is placed on the lower left corner square of a standard 8 by 8 chessboard. A 'move' involves moving the pawn, where possible, either
1. one square to the right,
2. one square up, or
3. diagonally one square up and to the right.
Using these legitimate moves the pawn is to be moved along a path from ... |
how many paths? |
As [remarked by sth](http://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/2693/a-blanket-for-my-baby-snake/2711#comment6357_2693), this is an open problem, a topic of ongoing research. It is known as [Moser's worm problem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moser%27s_worm_problem). The [Math Overflow](http://mathoverflow.net/) thread... |
A pawn is placed on the lower left corner square of a standard 8 by 8 chessboard. A 'move' involves moving the pawn, where possible, either
* one square to the right,
* one square up, or
* diagonally one square up and to the right.
Using these legitimate moves the pawn is to be moved along a path from the... |
How Many Paths? |
As [remarked by sth](http://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/2693/a-blanket-for-my-baby-snake/2711#comment6357_2693), this is an open problem, a topic of ongoing research. It is known as [Moser's worm problem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moser%27s_worm_problem). The [Math Overflow](http://mathoverflow.net/) thread... |
As [remarked by sth](http://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/2693/a-blanket-for-my-baby-snake/2711#comment6357_2693), this is an open problem, a topic of ongoing research. It is known as [Moser's worm problem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moser%27s_worm_problem). The [Math Overflow](http://mathoverflow.net/) thread... |
Using the letters **M**, **I**, and **U**, which can be used to create words. Can you turn MI into MU using in each step one of the following rules:
* Insert a U to the end of a word ending in I. e.g: **MI** becomes **MIU**.
* Re-insert the letters after the M e.g: **MIU** to **MIUIU**.
* Replace the letters ... |
Can you Turn MI to MU? |
> An old sailor, by the name of John, was in his attic with his bright young great-nephew Stewart, showing him all the old tools they used to use while at sea.
> Stewart was fascinated by all the trinkets. One item caught his eye, which was a giant compass like one would find on a table inside the ship. It was beaut... |
Think of a Chinese Game Board, and how you can make jumps. Now think of actual checkers where you capture pieces. How many marbles can you place without a capture possible?
There's one slight rule to make sure this is not easy (without this rule you could just fill every slot):
**You cannot place marbles in the o... |
Imagine an 8x8 chessboard has two opposite corners taken out, with 62 squares left over. Is it possible to lay 31 dominoes with the size 2x1 so they cover all of the empty, left over, squares? |
Think of a Chinese Game Board, and how you can make jumps. Now think of actual checkers where you capture pieces. How many marbles can you place without a capture possible?
There's one slight rule to make sure this is not easy (without this rule you could just fill every slot):
**You cannot place marbles in the o... |
A pawn is placed on the lower left corner square of a standard 8 by 8 chessboard. A 'move' involves moving the pawn, where possible, either:
* one square to the right,
* one square up, or
* diagonally one square up and to the right.
Using these legitimate moves the pawn is to be moved along a path from th... |
How many paths are there through a chess board? |
You, and a right cylinder glass of water, 3 buttons, instructions, and a large flat land the seems to go on forever, are the only things that exist in a universe. In this weird universe, the exact same physics apply. The 3 buttons are labeled "Less", "Half", and "More". The instructions are as follows:
>Hello fellow... |
Is the Glass Half Full? |
Can you arrange 7 trees so that there are 6 rows of 3 trees? It is entirely possible.
**Note: A tree can be part of more then one row, for example a if you arranged a 3x3 square (9 trees) the tree in the center is part of 4 rows.**
Rows are usually horizontal but in this case it can be horizontal, vertical, or di... |
7 Trees, 6 Rows, 3 Per Row? |
You, and a right cylinder glass of water, 3 buttons, instructions, and a large flat land the seems to go on forever, are the only things that exist in a universe. In this weird universe, the exact same physics apply. The 3 buttons are labeled "Less", "Half", and "More". The instructions are as follows:
>Hello fellow... |
This puzzle is taken directly from a site.
You are the ruler of a medieval empire and you are about to have a celebration tomorrow. The celebration is the most important party you have ever hosted. You've got 1000 bottles of wine you were planning to open for the celebration, but you find out that one of them is poi... |
This puzzle is taken directly from a site.
You are the ruler of a medieval empire and you are about to have a celebration tomorrow. The celebration is the most important party you have ever hosted. You've got 1000 bottles of wine you were planning to open for the celebration, but you find out that one of them is poi... |
This puzzle is taken directly from a site.
You are king of an empire and you are going to have a party soon. The party is the most important party you've ever hosted. You've got 1000 bottles of wine you were planning to use for the party, but you found out that one of them was poisoned.
The poison shows no effect... |
This puzzle is taken directly from a site and reworded. The site can be found at the bottom of this question.
You are king of an empire and you are going to have a party soon. The party is the most important party you've ever hosted. You've got 1000 bottles of wine you were planning to use for the party, but you fou... |
You have two equal glasses. One is filled with water. One is filled with wine.
Now you take a spoonful from the water glass, put it into the wine glass, and stir until it is well mixed. Then you take a spoonful from the wine glass, put it into the water glass.
Now, is there more water in the wine glass than wine ... |
> On a NxN chess board $N^2$ knights are placed (one per cell). Each pair of knights, who control each other (i.e. one move away from each other) are friends.
One day all knights are promoted to kings. Is it possible to put them on the board (in different order) that all friends will be similarly one move away from ... |
> On a NxN chess board $N^2$ knights are placed (one per cell). Each pair of knights, who control each other (i.e. one move away from each other) are friends.
One day all knights are promoted to kings. Is it possible to put them on the board (in different order) that all friends will be similarly one move away from ... |
James is in a room with three other people: Alice, Bob, and Spencer. James is going to announce the identity of his "baby," the person he loves the most in the whole world.
He remarks, truthfully, about the occupants of the room: "**Everybody loves my baby, but my baby doesn't love anybody but me.**"
Which person... |
A detective friend of yours was trying to find clues for a crime he was investigating, he was almost done but a concluding location will help you close the case, unfortunately your friend could only send this but he was confident you will put together the information to close in on the place, once you are close enough ... |
James is in a room with three other people: Alice, Bob, and Spencer. Alice and Bob are married to each other, but James knows that Bob is secretly having an affair with Spencer.
James is going to announce the identity of his "baby," the person he loves the most in the whole world. He remarks, truthfully, about the o... |
> An old sailor, by the name of John, was in his attic with his bright young great-nephew Stewart, showing him all the old tools they used to use while at sea.
> Stewart was fascinated by all the trinkets. One item caught his eye, which was a giant compass like one would find on a table inside the ship. It was beaut... |
The old sailor is correct! According to our notation, that ONLY depends on the number of N's, E's, S's or W's, we can ALWAYS create another "finer" degree of precision. I will illustrate why...
First, we have to think about the problem in a slightly different way. Consider that instead of drawing a circular compa... |
James is in a room with three other people: Alice, Bob, and Spencer. Alice and Bob are married to each other, but James knows that Bob is secretly having an affair with Spencer.
James is going to announce the identity of his "baby," the person he loves the most in the whole world. He remarks, truthfully, about the o... |
You have a bar of vibranium and the Cap need it use it (not used up or consumed) everyday but he only needs 1/7th on the first day, 2/7th on the second day and so on for 7 days.
You have a vibranium knife that can cut through it for Cap however the knife is only good to make 2 cuts. You are very good and can cut per... |
How to divide the vibranium bar into 3 pieces? |
The following are tricks with numbers that you must explain how they work.
Trick #1
Think of a number between 1 and 9
Multiple by 9
Add up all of the digits of this number
Divide by 3
Subtract 2
Your answer? 1 of course!
Trick #2
Think of any positive number!
Double it.
Add 2.
Half i... |
The following are tricks with numbers that you must explain how they work.
**Trick #1**
- Think of a number between 1 and 9
- Multiple by 9
- Add up all of the digits of this number
- Divide by 3
- Subtract 2
Your answer? 1 of course!
**Trick #2**
- Think of any positive number!
- Double it.
- Add ... |
The following are tricks with numbers that you must explain how they work.
**Trick #1**
- Think of a number between 1 and 9
- Multiple by 9
- Add up all of the digits of this number
- Divide by 3
- Subtract 2
Your answer? 1 of course!
**Trick #2**
- Think of any positive number!
- Double it.
- Add ... |
Unscrew the light bulb from the lamp, if it's bayonet style, you're [guaranteed to be in the UK][1] and [not Argentina (with light bulbs inside of cars being the only exception)][2], if it's screw-style/Edison style, then you're most likely in Argentina (although, that's not a 100% guarantee because some Edison style l... |
> An old sailor, by the name of John, was in his attic with his bright young great-nephew Stewart, showing him all the old tools they used to use while at sea.
> Stewart was fascinated by all the trinkets. One item caught his eye, which was a giant compass like one would find on a table inside the ship. It was beaut... |
What is the result of equation? |
The following are tricks with numbers that you must explain how they work.
**Trick #1**
- Think of a number between 1 and 9
- Multiply by 9
- Add up all of the digits of this number
- Divide by 3
- Subtract 2
Your answer? 1 of course!
**Trick #2**
- Think of any positive number!
- Double it.
- Add ... |
A detective friend of yours was trying to find clues for a crime he was investigating, he was almost done but a concluding location will help you close the case.
Unfortunately your friend could only send this but he was confident you will put together the information to close in on the place.
Once you are clos... |
Upvotes to both mdc32 and Florian F's answers, as they've done the majority of the legwork on this.
From their answers, we have
>! Nr 90 flku
>! FLKU is the airport code for Kanyau, Zambia
>!
>! Using [OurAirports][1], we can see there is an airport which you can get to by starting at Kanyau Airport and... |
Imagine a 5 by 5 grid, with numbers 1 to 24. One slot is left empty.
Now picture a 15 puzzle style game, where you have to set it up 1 - 24, then 25 magically appears.
As we all know, the 15 puzzle is not always possible, but how many cases of a 24 puzzle are impossible? |
How many Starting Positions are Unsolvable ~ 24 Puzzle? |
What would be the strategy for the game Boxes? (Where you connect dots on a grid and whoever encloses a box gets a point, and another turn, until all lines are made) |
What's a good Boxes Strategy? |
> There are $N$ chests with gold, silver and cooper coins in a dragon's cave. You have no idea how coins are distributed, but the clever dragon proposes you a hard game:
1. You must say a number $M$.
2. Then you go and check out all chests and select any $M$ of them.
3. If your $M$ selected chests have less t... |
> There are $N$ chests with gold, silver and cooper coins in a dragon's cave. You see how many chests there are, but you have no idea how coins are distributed, and the clever dragon proposes you a hard game:
1. You must to chose and say a number (let's call it $M$).
2. Then you go and check out all chests and se... |
> There are $N$ chests with gold, silver and cooper coins in a dragon's cave. You see how many chests there are, but you have no idea how coins are distributed, and the clever dragon proposes you a hard game:
1. You must to chose and say a number (let's call it $M$).
2. Then you go and check out all chests and se... |
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