bonanova

Wow... Great! I love it. (But not the solution word.) And it's a verb. If I'd thought of it prob would have used it.

Nikyma has [6] Place Two to go. [1] set _ _ _ romance - previous tries: see luv duo lay bed woo wed sit too [2] set J E T celebs -- by LIS [3] set _ _ _ _ heal - previous tries: mend clot right cast cure hint: use set as a verb. [4] set S T A G E play -- by LIS/Nikyma- previous tries: court match point scene [5] set G R O U P tribe -- by LIS [6] set P L A C E decimal -- by Nikyma - previous tries: whole prime point [7] set C O N C R E T E hard -- by LIS [8] set C O L L E C T I ON potpourri -- by Nikyma - previous tries: assortment

It's probably as simple as this: Each of the N letters has a 1/N chance of going into the correct envelope. The successes add because these are independent events. That is, each letter has its own target envelope; none of the probabilities are conditional on the fate of the other letters. Here's how it progresses for 1-4. One: 1 -> 1! = 1 case; 1 correct. E = 1. Two: 1 2 2 1 -> 2! = 2 cases; 2 correct. E = 1. 1 has a 1/2 chance of landing in column 1. 2 has a 1/2 chance of landing in column 2. Three: 1 2 3 1 3 2 2 1 3 2 3 1 3 1 2 3 2 1 -> 3! = 6 cases; 6 correct. E = 1. 1 has a 1/3 chance of landing in column 1. 2 has a 1/3 chance of landing in column 2. 3 has a 1/3 chance of landing in column 3. Four: 1 2 3 4 1 2 4 3 1 3 2 4 1 3 4 2 1 4 2 3 1 4 3 2 2 1 3 4 2 1 4 3 2 3 1 4 2 3 4 1 2 4 1 3 2 4 3 1 3 1 2 4 3 1 4 2 3 2 1 4 3 2 4 1 3 4 1 2 3 4 2 1 4 1 2 3 4 1 3 2 4 2 1 3 4 2 3 1 4 3 1 2 4 3 2 1 - 4! = 24 cases; 24 correct. E = 1. 1 has a 1/4 chance of landing in column 1. 2 has a 1/4 chance of landing in column 2. 3 has a 1/4 chance of landing in column 3. 4 has a 1/4 chance of landing in column 4. Another way to look at it: For any N, Each number lands in the the correct column [N-1]! times. Multiply that by N numbers and you have N! correct placements. Since there are N! cases, E is always 1.

LIS and Nikyma have [4] Stage. LIS was 1st but hedged his bet with court; <_< Nikyma nailed it. The other guesses were mixed ... LIS is lovin' the romance links ...! OK, no clues ... three to go.

for 2) itachi-san, My first thought is that if your assumption in [2] is correct, it's always possible.

rhapsodize has it ... Interesting result!!

rhapsodize has stated the puzzle precisely. Perhaps some of the lower estimates posted so far were answering the chances all of them were correct. That probability indeed is small. Today's answer, if you want a vague clue, is surprising.

Kind of, but the "e" part has to do with incorrect matchings. And today's question asks for something not asked for in the Zarball series. I went back to check those numbers, and today's question is answered there if you combine the numbers correctly. Vague hint - the numbers are in the 2nd spoiler here. For another "e" puzzle, check this one.

Some creative words, indeed: LIS with Match - certainly fits, and I love playing tennis, but again, think of "set" as a verb. grey cells with cure and lay - also fit the words, altho set and cure are not as good a fit as the solution word. LIS with bed - certainly romantic, but doesn't fit with set as well as lay does. but the solution word for #1 is so close to set it should be an easy find. So far, Kudos to ... LIS [2] Jet LIS [5] Group LIS [7] Concrete Nikyma [8] Collection Need these: [1] set _ _ _ romance [3] set _ _ _ _ heal [4] set _ _ _ _ _ play [6] set _ _ _ _ _ decimal I'll check back tonight and stick in a random letter for any still remaining.

No one has it yet.

She knew picking Friday the 13th for her first day on the job was an invitation to disaster. But with more valor than discretion, Ms. Jones showed up. Her first task was stuffing 1000 envelopes with personalized letters. She got the letters alphabetized correctly, but alas, the envelopes were fed into the stuffing machine in a completely random order. "Well, maybe most of them went to the right person," she thought, aloud. But her colleague Ms. Smith did a little calculation on the back of the 1001st envelope[*] and thought otherwise. How many did the sharp Ms. Smith predict would get to the correct recipient? Do the math if you want, or just guess a percentage. [*] The 1001st envelope was blank, and was not part of the mailing. Figure of speech.

The OP might be asking how/why they found their way out, rather than how they happened to meet.

Nikyma has [8]

Forget planes, trains and automobiles, cuz we already did special relativity. But don't forget John Candy. Anyway, to the point ... In special relativity, the time dilation effect is reciprocal: as observed from the point of view of any two clocks which are in motion with respect to each other, it will be the other party's clock that is time dilated. In contrast, gravitational time dilation is not reciprocal: an observer at the top of a tower will observe that clocks at ground level tick slower, and observers on the ground will agree. Thus gravitational time dilation is agreed upon by all observers, independent of their altitude. Hey, it was your question.

General relativty answer: Move to a location with lower gravitational potential.

In neither case are the first 8 digits divisible by 8. They both have a remainder of 6.

Moving faster.

Excuse me?

Nikyma, great job. Four of yours work very well, but they're different from the solution words. It's hard to craft this kind of puzzle to have totally unique answers, guess. More clues: for [1], the solution word relates more strongly to set. for [2], the solution word is no better than Nikyma's. To find it, make set a verb. for [4], the solution word is no better than Nikyma's. To find it, make set a verb. for [6], the solution word is no better than Nikyma's. To find it, make set a verb. for [8], the solution word relates just a little better to set. What would you guess if the 3rd word were hobby?