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Brian is a government scientist with a knack for creating new infectious diseases. He is so good at creating deadly diseases that the government contracted him to work on a top secret project to create diseases to be used in warfare. Brian knew he'd get lonely working by himself all the time, so he requested to have a secretary with him on his project to get him food, file lab reports, and clean the lab sometimes. Brian kept all the cures for the diseases he created in a special safe that used his social security number to open. That way, if he ever infected himself or his secretary, he'd be able to access the cures. After several years of working on the project, Brian convinced the government to let him take a much needed vacation to the Carribean. He left his secretary a list of things to do in his absense. Half way through his vacation, he received a phone call from his secretary, who was hysterical.

"Brian! It's Me! I've accidentily knocked over the red vile!"

"That's the airborne virus." He said, calmly. "The bad news is, you're certainly infected. The good news is, you have atleast a full day to live"

"How's that good news?"

"You have plenty of time to open the safe and take the cure."

"Brian, you never gave me the code!"

"It's just my social security number."

"But I don't know your social security number! Brian, I'm going to die!"

The government had made two things clear to Brian: Enemies were likely to have had the lab phones tapped so Brian was prohibitted from giving sensitive information over the phone, and under no circumstances were the enemies allowed to have access to the cures. If they obtained access, his mission would be a failure.

There was a long silince before Brian finally spoke:

"Ivy, see a doctor."

What is Brian's social security number?

Edited by Equality 72521
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151-00-1500? I -V-C-MD in roman numerals?

Can't be as the first 3 digits of yours is not a valid SSN. http://genealogy.about.com/od/social_security/a/numbers.htm

Probably not right as it is a class of correct answers, rather than a specific answer.

Translate IV (ivy) to either 4 or 15 (roman numerals

California (See A -> CA)

MD (Doctor) -> 1500 (roman numerals)

SSN is done such that the first 3 digits tell the state (based on zip code), next 2 tell the sub grouping

last 4 are serially given in order.

California SSN's start with 627-642

That added to our numbers means:

the first 3 digits are one of the 16 possible between 627 and 642

The middle 2 are either 04 or 15

the last 4 are 1500.

This leaves 32 possibilities that she could easily try in the 24hrs she has to live.

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IV is 4 but IVC is 96 -- that but hte first section needs to be 3 digits + 2 digits + 4 Digits. If IVC is 96 then we run out of digits really quick... IVCM is 904 and again we run out of digits too soon..

041-00-1500

Or

096-15-0000

Or

904-50-0000

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Can't be as the first 3 digits of yours is not a valid SSN. http://genealogy.about.com/od/social_security/a/numbers.htm

Probably not right as it is a class of correct answers, rather than a specific answer.

Translate IV (ivy) to either 4 or 15 (roman numerals

California (See A -> CA)

MD (Doctor) -> 1500 (roman numerals)

SSN is done such that the first 3 digits tell the state (based on zip code), next 2 tell the sub grouping

last 4 are serially given in order.

California SSN's start with 627-642

That added to our numbers means:

the first 3 digits are one of the 16 possible between 627 and 642

The middle 2 are either 04 or 15

the last 4 are 1500.

This leaves 32 possibilities that she could easily try in the 24hrs she has to live.

Assume the riddle takes place in a world where the only constraint to SSN is that they are 9-digits long.

Edited by Equality 72521
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I think the answer is 922-31-4153. I assigned each letter of the alphabet to the number of it's position. a=1, b=2, c=3, etc. I read the statement "Ivy, see a Doctor phonetically as I V C A. Doctor threw me. It is a flaw in my thought process. To read it as Dr. did not give me enough numbers. I shortened it to Doc instead. Then I simply replaced all the letters with the number of their position. This gave me the number 922-31-4153. It seems as plausible a theory as a any others.

Edited by Baker Street
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IV/C/MD

041-00-1500

I/V/C/MD

151-00-1500

IVCMD

140-40-0000

or IV/C/A(as in 1)/MD

410-01-1500

None of these are original ideas. I peeked at everyone else.

One of your answers is correct. I won't say which because I don't support the spray and pray style of answering. Pick one.

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I will feel stupid if i guess wrong now but i think that IV/C/MD and IVCMD are both wrong. So i will choose IV/C/A/MD or

410-01-1500 because it uses every word spoken as a seperate number.

I don't look at is as spray and pray. I was sharing my thought process because i wasn't 100% sure on one answer. All of them had merit and you could make case that any one of them could be right although not the one you were specifically looking for. I was more trying to say that she could find the answer in four guesses so she would not die.

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I will feel stupid if i guess wrong now but i think that IV/C/MD and IVCMD are both wrong. So i will choose IV/C/A/MD or

410-01-1500 because it uses every word spoken as a seperate number.

I don't look at is as spray and pray. I was sharing my thought process because i wasn't 100% sure on one answer. All of them had merit and you could make case that any one of them could be right although not the one you were specifically looking for. I was more trying to say that she could find the answer in four guesses so she would not die.

Fair Enough. Your reasoning is spot on. You are correct.

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Can't be as the first 3 digits of yours is not a valid SSN. http://genealogy.about.com/od/social_security/a/numbers.htm

Probably not right as it is a class of correct answers, rather than a specific answer.

Translate IV (ivy) to either 4 or 15 (roman numerals

California (See A -> CA)

MD (Doctor) -> 1500 (roman numerals)

SSN is done such that the first 3 digits tell the state (based on zip code), next 2 tell the sub grouping

last 4 are serially given in order.

California SSN's start with 627-642

That added to our numbers means:

the first 3 digits are one of the 16 possible between 627 and 642

The middle 2 are either 04 or 15

the last 4 are 1500.

This leaves 32 possibilities that she could easily try in the 24hrs she has to live.

151 is a valid first 3 number for ssn. naturalized citizens, not born in the US.

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532-32-0101

I (Iodine) = 53

V (Vandium) = 23

Ca (Calcium) = 20

Md (Mendelevium) = 101

(There probably is a Period Table of Elements in the laboratory posted next to the safe!)

Edited by Dej Mar
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