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I am an Idiot (+ Mind Teaser)

Discussion in 'Whatnots' started by Enagonios, Apr 25, 2001.

  1. Wildfire Gems: 23/31
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    Viking - The answer is nothing
    Govflab - It's hard to type, so basically, make a star out of matches, i.e. two big triangles one facing up, the other facing down, on top of each other.

    Woohoo - I'm good :D



    [This message has been edited by Wildfire (edited April 26, 2001).]
     
  2. Viking Gems: 19/31
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    You're right of course.

    If it's part of BG2, then I screwed up slightly here. I heard it a couple of years ago, so thought we were safe. Bloody games spoiling good riddles!

    :D

    Oh well.
     
  3. Rakanishu Gems: 12/31
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    [​IMG] The most blasted riddle I ever heard was "What can change the nature of a man?"

    Due to the ominous way the riddle was presented, I wracked my brains with philosophical thoughts and came up with an answer I thought was rght, then waited with trepidation.

    It turns out anything can change the nature of a man!
     
  4. Grovflab Gems: 13/31
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    [​IMG] Wildfire it is not the solution. You need FOUR triangles.

    But you got the answer to the follow up question..... :(
     
  5. Sapiryl Gems: 7/31
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    Grovflab - make a pyramid.

    Okay, my riddle:

    The maker doesn't want me,
    The buyer doesn't need me,
    The user doesn't see me.
    What am I?
     
  6. Wildfire Gems: 23/31
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    Govflab - With my way you make six similar triangles - If this is too many for you, I'm sur you could move two matchsticks so that they are only 4 triangles :p
     
  7. Ironbeard Gems: 20/31
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    hmmm..., that one's from a game as well, no? I've heard it before so I won't answer. Personally, I'm surprised that no-one's mentioned Herman Toothrot's question - If a tree falls in the forest, what colour is the tree? I guess the idea's pretty much the same as the sound thing, going on Sapyril's answer at any rate.
     
  8. Viking Gems: 19/31
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    Sapiryl,

    The answer is . ......

    I'll give someone who hasn't heard it a chance to exercise the little gray things.
     
  9. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Sapiryl - That sounds like packaging! LOL

    How about this one that some of you may have seen before:

    You have 12 coins, all identical except for one which is either heavier or lighter than the others. You don't know whether the odd coin is heavier or lighter, only that it's different. How do you find the odd coin using only three weighings on a balance scale?
     
  10. Viking Gems: 19/31
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    Speaking of the falling trees, any thoughts as to the existence of Schroedinger's cat?

    **purr**

    Hmm not very convincing I'm afraid.
     
  11. Viking Gems: 19/31
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    BTA,

    I can do it in 3 if I fluke the right pile :)

    U sure you can guarantee it in 3 without knowing if it's heavier or lighter?
     
  12. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Yep, it's a bit complicated though :)
     
  13. Enagonios Gems: 31/31
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    [​IMG] Hehe due to lack of my own answer, I'm with BTA on the "packaging" aka "gift wrapper" hehe C'mon guys, more riddles with less math here please! I'd like a chance to answer them too ;) (math makes me obsolete)
     
  14. Sapiryl Gems: 7/31
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    Heck BTA, I can find the right coin without doing any weighing! Just go up to the local soda machine. The one that doesn't get accepted is the falsie.

    I know how to do it if the coin is heavier...but not if the coin can be heavier or lighter.
     
  15. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Heh! You may end up buying a lot of soda to find that one coin! :)

    A clue - This is a bit different than the usual coin weighing puzzles. You don't want to use each weighing to eliminate a group of coins. What you want to do is select carefully which coins to place on each side of the balance in each of the three weighings so that you can deduce by what happened to the scale in all three tries which coin is the odd one and whether it's heavier or lighter...

    [This message has been edited by Blackthorne TA (edited April 27, 2001).]
     
  16. Ironbeard Gems: 20/31
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    Um, I think I've worked it out, but it's a bit tricky to describe it so here goes.
    1) Weigh one group of 4 against another
    2) If they weigh the same goto the next step, if not go to step 4
    3) Weigh two of the ones you didn't weigh against another one and one from the first weighing. If they weigh the same, its the only one you didn't weigh, if not weigh the two coins which were together against each other. As you will know wheter they are meant to be heavier or lighter from the previous weighing you'll know which one it is
    4) Weigh two coins from the heavier pan and one from the lighter pan against one from the heavier pan, one from the lighter pan and an unweighed coin.
    5)If the second pan is heavier weigh the coin from it which is from the heavier pan in the first weighing against an unweighed coin
    6) If they weigh the same weigh the two coins which were in the lighter pan from the first weighing, but not weighed in this weighing, against each other
    7) If the first pan is heavier weigh the two coins from that pan from the heavier pan in the first weighing against each other
    8) If the second pan is heavier then weigh the coin from it from the heavier pan in the first weighing against a coin which wasn't weighed in the first weighing
    Phew- took me an hour to work that danged thing out and 15 minutes to type this, I hope its right. Now for a killer puzzle of my own to exact revenge for all this wasted time...DANG! I can't think of one, I'll just stick to grumbling.
     
  17. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    OK! Following your logic, I believe that would work (you don't need step 8).

    Here's my solution:
    Label the coins 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,a,b,c.
    A Weigh 1234 vs. 9abc
    B Weigh 19ab vs 678c
    C Weigh 269c vs 458b

    It's coin 1 if A and B went in the same direction and balanced in C.

    It's coin 2 if A and C went in the same direction and balanced in B.

    It's coin 3 if A was unbalanced but B and C balanced.

    It's coin 4 if A and C went in opposite directions and balanced in B.

    It's coin 5 A and B balanced and C was unbalanced.

    It's coin 6 if B and C went in opposite directions and A balanced.

    It's coin 7 if A and C balanced and B was unbalanced.

    It's coin 8 if B and C went in the same direction and A balanced.

    It's coin 9 if A went one way and B and C went the other way.

    It's coin a if A and B went in opposite directions and C balanced.

    It's coin b if B went one way and A and C went the other way.

    It's coin c if C went one way and A and B went the other way.
     
  18. Cerryl Gems: 9/31
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    I've been reading through a lot of these puzzles and I've noticed that alot of them come from PS:T or BG2. This doesn't include the mathematical ones just the riddles.
     
  19. Amon-Ra Gems: 10/31
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    Tree in the woods: by the very nature of such a reverberation, it would influence the pressures of surrounding areas, permanently changing and altering its environment. So the question becomes: Would you be as presumptuous to say that only ear identification and interpretation of such a reverberation is what constitutes sound? Sound, as the nature of the observer in Shroedinger's cat theorem, then cannot exist without the observer?

    Then I say it is impossible to be without an observer. Even if the frequency is so far away that it is not consciously recognizable by the human ear, its influence affects said human ear, and in doing so would that not stimulate nerve cells? How many nerve cells would have to be stimulated to gain recognition? Is recognition necessary? A single cell in your body dies, can a conscious mind detect it, or rather only in mass?

    Not to mention that by the laws of the Butterfly effect, that single action of the tree falling would irrevocably alter that person's life in infinite measurable and immeasurable ways.

    Whereas this is nice in theory, the only way a tree can fall in a woods and not make a sound, is if the tree was in a vacuum, and inside the vacuum there was nothing that can be defined as an observer. And since I would define the tree as an observer in and of itself, (who claimed sentience is necessary?) it would have to be infinitely looping silent fall without end. The Looping Tree Effect if you will.

    Amon-Ra
     
  20. Sapiryl Gems: 7/31
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    It wouldn't be infinately looping if the tree could be described as an observer. After all, human beings create noises by pressurizing the air around them, and we do not entire an infinity of time! Oh, wait...history repeats itself.


    :confused:


    Maybe...well...
     
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