bonanova
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Everything posted by bonanova
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Yup, that's the one I had.
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Just what comes to mind when I look. My parents were addicted to a game called anagrams. It seems some people are gifted in that area - a glance at letters scattered on the table is all they need. I didn't inherit the gift, but I do play a decent game of Boggle... and spent several years as an editor, so I'm kind of a word guy. I looked up [wordsmith.org] the solutions, posted them, then decided it didn't add anything to the discussion and deleted it. You replied before I hit the button ...
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Two hours, pencil and paper, large eraser, three tables, looking for the next clue, and finally disproving 2 what-if's. Great puzzle, and would love another one.
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Edit: add code block Bingo!
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has a nine-minute hourglass solution. The OP uses the word form guarantee twice: once for the uniform fuse burn, once for the boil time. Within those stated parameters, the boil time only has to be as certain as the rate of burn of the fuses. Given that, and AT's solution [and arbitrarily ruling out lighting any one fuse in two places] is there a nine-minute fuse solution? Specifically, can fuses emulate AT's solution?
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For your solution, you shouldn't have to wait at all be begin cooking. Power fuses wouldn't be rated in minutes, rather in Amperes. That should avoid any confusion.
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xucam raises several issues. Here are the responses, belated. Quite right. That has been fixed in the OP. Having thus obtained the solution, there's no need to drill the hole. Since the volume of the end caps was not asked, it does not belong in the answer. The is in fact 36pi cu in.
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A hole does not have a curved top or bottom. A curved portion [spherical caps] on either end of the hole is removed when the hole is made. But inspecting the inner surface of the hole we find a circular cylinder with a well defined length. That length is given as 6".
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Great job.
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That's the twist I intended to add. Can you see how? You must assume they burn at a constant rate.
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Or First answer has it. Congrats. Smart alek fails because the 9 minutes is not guaranteed, as required.
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Bonanova, is this really this simple or is this a really complicated puzzle? Shot myself in the foot adding a twist to an hourglass problem. OK you got me ... they aren't fuses, they're hourglasses. Solve it using two hourglasses - 4 and 7 minutes respectively. Nice catch!
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The ubiquitous editorial we. Pronouns are such a curse.
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For reasons known only to yourself, you want to eat a really hard-boiled egg. You decide that a nine-minute boil will suffice. If only you had a timer! As luck would have it a weird peddler happens by. For the incredibly low price of $0.39, offers you an inexhaustible supply of 4-minute and 7-minute fuses. The fuses are guaranteed to burn at a constant rate of speed. You go to the kitchen and bring a pot of water to a rapid boil. What is the shortest elapsed time before you can eat your guaranteed 9-minute egg? Edit: see post #3.
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I can't. I imagine that no one can. So since the puzzle asks for a comment, it likely will be about something else. Part of the puzzle was to identify its genre. A dumbed-down version might have asked: Please comment about anything you might have found to be unusual about the preceding sentence.
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Yes, well identifying the genre [e.g. , ] was the only puzzle. Congrats.
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The OP states the problem. Your great challenge [you being the thinker] is to state it [or think about it] in a way that admits a solution.
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Chewbacca: thanks. Most replies correctly had 3 and infinity for the 3 and 5 color cases. has the lowest number of chips for 4 colors. To close this one out, is there a pic for the optimal 4-color case?
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The average can be still lower.
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Nicely done! Bestowing the quasi-coveted bonanova Gold star award.
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You have nothing else to do so you write the numeral "1" on a ping pong ball. You enjoy the experience so much that your write "2" on two other balls. And "3" on three others, until you finally write "9" on nine more balls. Let's see, that's 45 balls in nine groups, each the size of their written numbers. Your friend offers to select one of them at random and let you guess its written number by asking a sequence of yes-no questions. You find the game unchallenging. Since 23 = 8 and 24 = 16 you can always guess the number in four tries - usually in three. Your friend asks you if there isn't a guessing strategy that will reduce the average number of questions needed determine the number on the selected ball?
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