[Guest]

Here is a sampling of some words I found inscribed in ancient runes on a stone tablet. I was hoping you guys could help me figure out what is going on. I am deep in the progress of deciphering them myself, so as I gain a greater understanding I may be able to help more.

1. The omen of a cross over a cross yields infinite strife, yet appears to approach a great unity.
   
2. The strange yet ideal prudes in the first half-century: from these are taken six of the unluckiest to fall to oblivion, leaving a shard of the great evil.
   
3. For what is assigned a beneficent cubical spot-marker, a malevolent multiple of the files of Scully and Mulder and the ambiguous faithful shall become a twisted snake.
   

What I know so far is that they are all related (they came from the same tablet) but they don't necessarily follow one another or discuss the same ideas. Hopefully with a little hard thinking we can come up with something more concrete out of this little Rosetta stone of mine.

[Guest]

I'm assuming that this is a riddle that you already have the answer to, so I'm giving it a shot.

Is the first one V for Vendetta?

The bad guys (Norsefire party) use the Cross of Lorraine (a cross over a cross) as their symbol. The pretended to bring unity, but only caused strife.

I also know that Scully and Mulders, in the third riddle, are from the X-Files.

This leads me to believe that the thing that connects the 3 riddles is TV/movies.

Am I even close?

[brainz]

Here is a sampling of some words I found inscribed in ancient runes on a stone tablet. I was hoping you guys could help me figure out what is going on. I am deep in the progress of deciphering them myself, so as I gain a greater understanding I may be able to help more.

1. The omen of a cross over a cross yields infinite strife, yet appears to approach a great unity.
   
2. The strange yet ideal prudes in the first half-century: from these are taken six of the unluckiest to fall to oblivion, leaving a shard of the great evil.
   
3. For what is assigned a beneficent cubical spot-marker, a malevolent multiple of the files of Scully and Mulder and the ambiguous faithful shall become a twisted snake.
   

What I know so far is that they are all related (they came from the same tablet) but they don't necessarily follow one another or discuss the same ideas. Hopefully with a little hard thinking we can come up with something more concrete out of this little Rosetta stone of mine.

tv shows?

[Guest]

Here is a sampling of some words I found inscribed in ancient runes on a stone tablet. I was hoping you guys could help me figure out what is going on. I am deep in the progress of deciphering them myself, so as I gain a greater understanding I may be able to help more.

1. The omen of a cross over a cross yields infinite strife, yet appears to approach a great unity.
   
2. The strange yet ideal prudes in the first half-century: from these are taken six of the unluckiest to fall to oblivion, leaving a shard of the great evil.
   
3. For what is assigned a beneficent cubical spot-marker, a malevolent multiple of the files of Scully and Mulder and the ambiguous faithful shall become a twisted snake.
   

What I know so far is that they are all related (they came from the same tablet) but they don't necessarily follow one another or discuss the same ideas. Hopefully with a little hard thinking we can come up with something more concrete out of this little Rosetta stone of mine.

Are we talking maths equations?

cross over cross = x/x = 1 (unity)

50- 6x? = ? (50 = half century.... don't know how the unluckiest = x, or what the shard of creat evil is (although the evil could be 666)

x^3 + a?x = 8? (x marks the spot... x files... don't know what the malevolent multiplier is... and not sure about the twisted snake

[Guest]

Are we talking maths equations?

cross over cross = x/x = 1 (unity)

50- 6x? = ? (50 = half century.... don't know how the unluckiest = x, or what the shard of creat evil is (although the evil could be 666)

x^3 + a?x = 8? (x marks the spot... x files... don't know what the malevolent multiplier is... and not sure about the twisted snake

armcie is closer, but still has some kinks to work out.

[Guest]

I had some great ideas, but then you said the riddle was somehow math related and that threw me for a loop.

[Guest]

Are we talking maths equations?

cross over cross = x/x = 1 (unity)

50- 6x? = ? (50 = half century.... don't know how the unluckiest = x, or what the shard of creat evil is (although the evil could be 666)

(x marks the spot... x files... don't know what the malevolent multiplier is... and not sure about the twisted snake

I would consider "beneficial" to be positive and "malevolent" to be negative, so the equation would look more like:

x^3 - ax = 8

and then there's the abiguous faithful, so I think there's another term. This gives an equation more like

x^3 - ax + b = 8

Edited August 11, 2008 by Cherry Lane

[Guest]

Well nuts. I thought my guess of V for Vendetta fit perfectly.

Shows how good I am at riddles.

[Guest]

Is it a limit that appears to approach something simple, yet is actually very difficult (perhaps approaching infinity)? And it contains x/x.

My math skills are a bit poor, but maybe someone else can figure out what limit #1 is referring to.

[Guest]

Cherry Lane has some very good ideas about problem 3, but he is slightly off in his conclusion.

Meanwhile, babbagadoosh has a solid grasp on the essentials of problem 1, keep it up.

Remember, the ancient scribes took great care in writing these down, they would not toss out unneeded words lightly.

[Yoruichi-san]

Haha, nice...you're definitely better than me at weaving it into a story...;P

To start ppl off:

x=0 I love pushing my limits ;P

Edited August 12, 2008 by Yoruichi-san

[Guest]

Yoruichi is correct, but hasn't covered all of what problem 1 is saying (there is still a significant piece missing). Maybe this was deliberate, and she has the answer but is letting you guys find it. In any case the following revamp may help you out a little.

1. The omen of a cross over a cross yields infinite strife, yet as the crosses approach the empty void, it appears to approach a great unity.
   

[Guest]

Yoruichi is correct, but hasn't covered all of what problem 1 is saying (there is still a significant piece missing). Maybe this was deliberate, and she has the answer but is letting you guys find it. In any case the following revamp may help you out a little.

1. The omen of a cross over a cross yields infinite strife, yet as the crosses approach the empty void, it appears to approach a great unity.
   

limit(x/x) = 1 as x->0

[Guest]

@armcie:

Soooooooo close. Look closer at the "omen" - the limit is not mentioned until later, and as x -> 0, x/x is 1, it doesn't just approach one.

Edited for spoiler.

Edited August 12, 2008 by itsclueless

[Yoruichi-san]

Yoruichi is correct, but hasn't covered all of what problem 1 is saying (there is still a significant piece missing). Maybe this was deliberate, and she has the answer but is letting you guys find it. In any case the following revamp may help you out a little.

1. The omen of a cross over a cross yields infinite strife, yet as the crosses approach the empty void, it appears to approach a great unity.
   

Yeah, actually...

since I noticed you used "omen" the same way I did...hence the hints about how you weaved the story better than I did ;P

I'm not going to post answers...but I may post hints to help ppl ;P

[Guest]

lim x-->inf (x/(x+1)) = 1

Edited August 13, 2008 by vimil

[Guest]

lim x-->inf (x/(x+1)) = 1

So close, again, remember "the omen". What else could an omen be?

Anyone have any ideas about numbers 2 and 3? They are feeling a bit lonely, no one is looking at them.

[Guest]

Yoruichi is correct, but hasn't covered all of what problem 1 is saying (there is still a significant piece missing). Maybe this was deliberate, and she has the answer but is letting you guys find it. In any case the following revamp may help you out a little.

1. The omen of a cross over a cross yields infinite strife, yet as the crosses approach the empty void, it appears to approach a great unity.
   

Limits ... x=infinity to x=0

[Guest]

Yoruichi is correct, but hasn't covered all of what problem 1 is saying (there is still a significant piece missing). Maybe this was deliberate, and she has the answer but is letting you guys find it. In any case the following revamp may help you out a little.

1. The omen of a cross over a cross yields infinite strife, yet as the crosses approach the empty void, it appears to approach a great unity.
   

I'm not sure of how it fits the omen reference but this i think fulfils the limit requirements...

(x/x)/0

[Guest]

1. The omen (?) of a cross (x) over (/) a cross(x) yields (?) infinite (infinity?) strife, yet as the crosses approach the empty void (lim x -> 0), it appears to approach a great unity (1).

The strange yet ideal prudes (???) in the first half-century (50): from these are taken six of the unluckiest (?) to fall to oblivion, leaving a shard of the great evil (666?).

For what (?) is assigned(?) a beneficent (+) cubical spot-marker (x^3), a malevolent (-) multiple of the files of Scully and Mulder (a*x) and the ambiguous faithful (b) shall become (=) a twisted snake (8?).

[Guest]

1. The omen (?) of a cross (x) over (/) a cross(x) yields (?) infinite (infinity?) strife, yet as the crosses approach the empty void (lim x -> 0), it appears to approach a great unity (1).

The strange yet ideal prudes (???) in the first half-century (50): from these are taken six of the unluckiest (?) to fall to oblivion, leaving a shard of the great evil (666?).

For what (?) is assigned(?) a beneficent (+) cubical spot-marker (x^3), a malevolent (-) multiple of the files of Scully and Mulder (a*x) and the ambiguous faithful (b) shall become (=) a twisted snake (8?).

Ah. Now I can see the sign you are giving us, but can't see how it yields infinite strife yet....

Edited August 14, 2008 by foolonthehill

[Guest]

The strange yet ideal prudes (???) in the first half-century (50): from these are taken six of the unluckiest (?) to fall to oblivion, leaving a shard of the great evil (666?).

The ideal prudes under 50 must be 6 and 28: the first two perfect numbers. But are they sufficiently prudish?

And, to be unlucky, we must then have (- 6 x 13)....

[Guest]

The ideal prudes under 50 must be 6 and 28: the first two perfect numbers. But are they sufficiently prudish?

And, to be unlucky, we must then have (- 6 x 13)....

You are very clever, and have a lot of correct interpretations.

You are correct in that ideal = perfect. But they must also be "strange" and as you noted, they should be "prudes".

http://www.synonym.com/

[Guest]

limit of sin(x)/x at infinity is zero

[Guest]

limit of sin(x)/x at infinity is zero

Yay! part 1 of part 1 is done. The second part of that should come easily now.

And... On to problem 2.

[Guest]

628-(6*13)=116