Brain Teaser of the week!

[Reach]

Let's get those heads thinkin! I've decided to do this, so I'll be posted one (or maybe more) questions a week, ones that don't really involve many high level skills other than some thinking! Answers will be posted at the end of the week.

There will be NO SPOILERS OR ANSWERS posted here. You can discuss the problems or whatever, but try not to post hints and such.

When you think you have the answers, or answer, PM ME! Correct answers earn you one point, and at the end of each month i'll tally the points for our winner!

If you get it wrong, you lose half the value for the question. I will pm you and tell you you are wrong, and you can try again, but you lose half the value for the question if you get it right next time. Two wrongs yield no points for the question.

If you are unsure of an answer, POST ALL OF YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE PM.

If you have any good problems, pm or aim them to me.

NEW RULE: YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO POST QUESTIONS ON PROBLRMS HERE FROM NOW ON. Pm me with your question. If I do not reply it means that 1. Your question sucks 2. Your question is ambiguous 3. Your question involves me giving you a hint 4. All of the above. If your question is legitamate, I will edited the original question and post that I have done so in the thread.

Current Leaderboard:


1st place 100%


Drummerlsu- 5.5



2nd place 91%

Tasselfoot - 5
MrESqueek - 5
Doug31- 5
Renommus - 5

3rd place 82%

Dooty - 4.5
Jamuko - 4.5

4th place 73%

Mongeese - 4
Kefit - 4
Guido- 4

5th place 64%

Benny - 3.5

6th place 55%

Shasha - 3
Banditcom - 3

7th place 46%

Bahamutx- 2.5
Talisman- 2.5
Minineo - 2.5

8th place 36%

Milfuelle - 2
LordC - 2
Tokzik - 2
Esupin - 2
BlahBlah- 2

10th place 18%

Observerx- 1
Yanah
Naota
Xandertrax
Nickadeemus
twioverbird
hydro
FFRIE
amandarae
twilight overlord
metspenguin31
FFR4EVA
Shadow516

last - 0%
everyone else - 0

Hopefully I made no mistakes. Next weeks questions and this weeks answers will be up soon enough.






WEEK 3 QUESTIONS!:

Woo, another week! No bonus this time. Last week lost a lot of members, and participation was pretty low, so there are only 3 questions this week, but 4 points available for those that can get them all right!

I also attemped to make the questions less...ambiguous this week.

Question 1: Value 1.5 points.

The nerds from NASA have received and decoded a digital encryption from the FFR Council, informing them that four super alien ambassadors from the galaxy are due to visit Earth in the next 24 hours for a very important meeting. The aliens are Reach from Procyon Z, Banditcom from Vega, Moogy from Epsilon I and Whiteboy from Gamma Cenutari. 24 hours later they receive a mystery message saying that if any alien comes off the ship that is green, tentacled and slimy then they are actually an undercover assassin from Rigil Kentaurus. . By then however the aliens have all landed and are in adjacent decontamination booths, waiting to be let in to NASA Headquaters. One alien turns out to be green, tentacled and slimy!
From the clues below, who is the Kentaurus Assassin?


1) Banditcom from Vega is the only ambassador in a booth next to exactly one tentacled alien.

2). Two of the ambassadors who are not green, are each in booths next to Reach from Procyon Z.

3) Moogy from Epsilon I is the only ambassador not in a booth next to exactly one Un-slimy alien.

Who do the NASA nerds not let out of the booth?


Question 2: Value 1 point

I say to Synth, 78, 12, 6, 3, 5, 4

Synth says to you, 118, 18, 8, 5, 4

You start with the number 435. What numbers do you say after it?


Question 3: Value 1.5 points

Reach, Tass, and Benny are three high school students each of whom is taking three of the four subjects, biology, chemistry, history, and mathematics. One day while talking about their programs they made the following statements.

Reach: There is just one subject we're all taking. I'm the only one of us who is taking mathematics. No two of us are taking the same three subjects. Benny is wrong when he says that Tass and I are both taking chemistry.

Tass: Reach is the only one of us who is taking history. Benny and I are taking the same subjects. We're all taking biology. Two of us are taking both chemistry and biology.

Benny: We're all taking mathematics. Tass is taking history. Reach is taking one subject that I'm not. Both Tass and Reach are taking chemistry.

If two and only two of each boy's statements are true, what subjects is each boy taking?



















WEEK 2 QUESTIONS ARE HERE! GOOD LUCK! Please, take your time, as you have the whole week and I want to see some perfect scores ;o

Also there will be no retry for the bonus. If you get it wrong that's it, you're wrong.

Question 1 –Difficulty – Medium! Value 1 point

The following is a diagram of Reach’s garden from above. The dots are plants. Reach’s garden is a perfect square.



Reach wants to cut his garden into 4 equal pieces (that are the same shape and size), and he wants each piece to contain 3 plants. How many ways are there for Reach to separate his garden into 4 equal sections (same shape and size) each containing 3 plants, if it is possible?

Hint: shape

Question 2 – Difficulty – Hard (or not)! Value 1.5 points.

In alienese, 37409597 means “GO” and 803544919878 means “HIP”

What does 012188689669031055445023 mean in alienese?

Question 3 – Difficulty – Medium! Value 1 point

You awake in a cell. You feel like you have been unconscious for quite some time and have no idea where you are. There is a piece of paper beside you on the floor, so you pick it up and read it.

Welcome back. Listen to me now and listen to me carefully. You’re trapped inside a maze just like the diagram I’ve supplied here for you. You have 10 minutes to get to the exit of the maze or it will collapse and you die. Now again, listen carefully. In every other room is a switch. You cannot move on to another room after you leave this room unless the switch has been hit. Once you hit the switch, you must leave the room. Once you hit the switch and leave the room, the room is now sealed off and you cannot reenter the room. You must hit every switch in order to open the doors to the final room. Hit every switch and make it into the final room and you escape with your life.

Also, since i'm a nice guy, every other is defined as just that, every other, NOT every second room.



Is it possible to escape with your life? If so, how?

Bonus Question! Difficulty – Quite hard. Value 0.5 points.

You’re on a game show called who wants to be a reachonaire. You’ve made it to the final round and have a chance at winning 1 million dollars.
The final game is a number game where you face off against the host in a game of chance! The host says to you “sir, this game is called 69. The idea is to be the first person to reach the value of 696969! Now then, you have the ability to pick a number between 25678 and 55432. Each person gets to take one turn picking a number, and then that number goes in the ‘bank’. When the next person goes, they pick a number and that number is added to the bank total. The first person to put the bank up to the number 696969 wins!”

"But remember" says the host, "to win, you must get to exactly 696969! If you go over, you lose."

You are very nervous. A lot of money is on the line! Now, the host asks you “Would you like to go first? If you do, what number do you choose? Or, would you like me to go first?”

You desperately want to win. Actually, you NEED to win, and quickly try and come up with a plan! Should you go first or let the host go first? If you go first, what number do you choose? If you let the host go first, explain why. Or alternatively, does it even matter who goes first?










ANSWERS TO WEEK 2 QUESTIONS:

1. 1) INFINITE. You can spiral infinitely to any number of solutions.

2) BOOBIE (0.5 deduction for submitting answer as boobie)
Cute. Partition each numerical string into groups of four numbers. Add up each group of four numbers and then divide by two to get the position of the letter in the alphabet corresponding to the placement of that number group in the full numerical string.

3) Go left, then go right to return to the starting room (which hasn't been sealed, as there is no switch in it to pull). Then go down, left, left, up, left, down, down, right, right, right, down, left, left, left to arrive at the now unsealed exit room.

4) Go first. Pick 48089. For your remaining turns, pick a number such that your pick + the host's most recent pick = 81110. Regardless of what number the host picks, you will always be able to do this. You will hit 696969 on your ninth turn of the game.

You can figure this out by finding the 'critical number'. This can be found by adding the smallest and largest numbers possible together and subtracting it from the desired value. Why? Because if you get this number, no matter what the host picks you can win the game. In this case the critical number is 696969 - 81110. Continue to subtract 81110 until you get as close to 0 as you can without going negative. Since this number (48089) is a possible turn 1 selection, you want to go first.











THE QUESTIONS: WEEK 1

1. Difficulty: medium

You have two hour glasses that are oddly shaped, making it impossible to tell how much sand is left inside at any given point other than the beginning and end. One measures a cycle of 4 minutes and the other a cycle of 7 minutes. How can you measure out a period of 9 minutes with the 2 glasses?

The time here begins the moment you turn over a glass, and must be measured consecutivly. There will also be no marking or tampering with the hour glasses XD

2. Difficulty: medium


8, 18, 1118 , 3118, 132118 , _________

what number comes next in the sequence?


ANSWERS TO WEEK 1 QUESTIONS:

1. Flip 4 and 7 at the same time. When 4 runs out, flip 4 again. When 7 runs out, 4 has exactly one minute left in it, so flip 7. When 4 runs out, 7 has counted up to 1 minute, so flip 7 again and it counts down that minute. When it's empty, nine minutes have passed.

2. 1113122118. Each number in the sequence is based on the last. 8 ---> 18 means there is one eight, hence 18, and then one one, one eight, hence 1118.

[GuidoHunter]

OSHI! Misread the first post!

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[-Izzy-]

Is the hour glass one possible?

Break open the 4 minute hour glass. divide the sand in half and put half back in. Flip the 7 and once its done flip the 2.

[Reach]

Guido, there will be no spoilers or answers posted here. Edit that post rofl

EDIT!!!!!!!!!! I repeat, NO ANSWERS POSTED HERE UNTIL NEXT WEEK.

I suppose the answer doesn't matter for that problem because you have not posted the method, but edit it anyway.

I will edit question 2 to make it more clear.

And I will not post an impossible problem. And read it again, you cannot tamper with the glasses. XD

[GuidoHunter]

Mah bad, Reach. Edited accordingly.

But really, though, I don't see much of a point if people can't give answers. You just post questions and then a week later answers? Doesn't sound like much fun to me...

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[-Izzy-]

Flip the 4 and the 7 at the same time. When the 4 is done. Flip the 7 over. There will be 3 minutes left in it. Flip the 4 and there will be 4 minutes left in it of course. once the 7 is done. flip the 4 back over and wait till 9? im having a brain freeze.

I dont know if this is right cause when i try thinking about it i lose track of where i am.

[Reach]

Izzy, no.

And please, do not reveal the answer if you think you do have it. If you think you have it, my aim is ssj997 or you can pm me as stated IN THE FIRST POST PEOPLE PLEASE READ IT XD

[Yanah_God]

Izzy, you noob, don't post the answers.

1) Get a watch,
2) i bet its 1337

*EDIT* o**** i know #2

[GuidoHunter]

Originally Posted by -Izzy-

Flip the 4 and the 7 at the same time. When the 4 is done. Flip the 7 over. There will be 3 minutes left in it.

This is where you went wrong, anyway. If you FLIP the seven at that point, it'll have four minutes remaining (since four minutes have passed and flipping it would just recount what has passed). If you don't flip it, it'll have three minutes left.

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[Squeek]

The hourglass problem was easy. Did it in several minutes and

FOLLOWED PROTOCOL BY PMING REACH TO SUPPLY MY ANSWER

so that I don't ruin his thread.

~Squeek

[Yanah_God]

Reach is being a gaywad by being away right now

[Tasselfoot]

My advice would be for everyone to PM/IM reach the answers... and at the end of each week, he posts who got them correct w/o help and who got them correct w/ a hint or two. Two seperate groups of people. At least that way there is an incentive to get them and not just wait until the week is up to see the answer.

[jamuko]

I just got the hourglass one too. Not a problem.

The number one... I dunno yet. I never liked those number-sequence kinds of problems.


EDIT: I agree with Tass's idea too... There isn't really have any incentive to tell Reach your answer without something like that.

[Tasselfoot]

And.... got them both and told them both to reach. About 3-4 minutes for the hourglass and about 2 minutes for the sequence.

[Yanah_God]

I got the sequence in like 8 seconds. I am the win.

Gave up on the hourglass one, though. After about 45 seconds I was 2 steps away from doing it, but then something got me sidetracked and I forgot it all. >=(

[-Izzy-]

Yea, i keep thnking i have it in my mind and then im like ugh. Is it something stupidly obvious. I bet it is. I hate those kinds of problems.

[Tasselfoot]

My advice for the 1st one... if you can't visualize it in your head, do it out on paper. That way you can't forget anything or get confused.

[Reach]

I will do what tass says. PM answers and i'll create a list of people that get it right. One correct answer is worth one point. At the end of each month i'll tally up the points and the winner will be awarded the...brain teaser of the month award!

[Tasselfoot]

People like myself, Squeek, Guido... and Bandit/Blah if they actually find this thread... will have a strong shot at getting them all correct, unless you make them harder.

But I suspect you were planning on making them harder anyway.

[NaOTa4231]

Figured out #2 in a minute or so. Not sure about the 1st one though. I'm probably making much harder than what it really is.