The Sphinx's Lair

12:30 AM

0

Q: sorting 4 numbers using Min - Max boxes

Min-Max is a box that is capable of determining which of the two numbers is the higher (Max) and which is lower (Min). I need to use minimum amount of boxes in order to sort 4 different numbers (any A, B, C, D). For example:

Gareth McCaughan

12:57 AM

(Apologies for the slow response.) @North, the wording is not the same in #1, #2 and #3. For instance, #1 says "In the following position, is it possible that White could still castle?" whereas #3 asks (in the question itself as well as the title) just "Can White castle?".

@JohnDvorak, the point isn't to make any of them easier, it's to make the question actually being asked the same as the one being answered. E.g., #2 (unlike #1, like #3) just asks "Can White castle?" and the accepted answer says yes and shows a game leading to the given position followed by W castling. But, strictly, that isn't the right answer to the question, because there are other ways to reach that position and after some of them W can't castle.

Of course this is all rather pedantic; there's no real doubt what question is actually being asked. But it's so easy to actually ask the right question and it's a shame that in #2 and #3 that isn't what's happened.

John Dvorak

Ah. Multiple histories.

Gareth McCaughan

(Sorry, "actually" is being used in two opposite senses in that sentence! I hope the meaning is clear anyway.)

John Dvorak

Pedantic indeed :P

Gareth McCaughan

I'm a mathematician, which is to say a professional pedant. And I spent a substantial chunk of my day reading a patent draft, so maybe I'm just in that sort of mood.

John Dvorak

Trust me when I call something pedantic, it's a pretty strong damnation :P

jafe

4:34 AM

i think the convention in chess puzzles in general is that castling is possible unless shown impossible

unlike with en passant, where you have to prove that the opponent's last move was one that makes en passant possible

that said, nothing wrong with making it extra clear like shoopi did in the first one

jafe

7:23 AM

question about cryptic clues

is it fair to use "nth [word]" to mean the nth letter of the word

e.g. "first mate" to clue M

or does it need to be "mate's first" or "first of mate" etc. where the grammatical relation is made clear

M Oehm

7:36 AM

I prefer a possession indicator here, so "[word]'s nth" or "nth of [word]", but I've seen "nth [word]" quite often. I think this construction is used more often by Americans, but that's just an observation.

(There is, of course, always the case where not using a possessive improves the surface reading as in your "first mate" example.)

Omega Krypton

7:48 AM

or maybe first in mates?

jafe

yeah, another thing is that using the possessive can make it a bit too obvious

i mean, even if "mate's first" works for the surface there aren't many other things that can refer to

whereas with "first mate" it isn't immediately clear - maybe we need a synonym for the nautical position? maybe it's EVE (as in "first romantic partner")? maybe the "first" refers to the preceding word instead?

but then again i've tried using the construction without the possessive in a clue, and someone was confused about the clue even after seeing the solution... which is not what you want

M Oehm

Case in point is the current C4, where "ruined tail" is D, which I only saw after you commented on it yesterday.

Sphinx

9:55 AM

0

Q: Resolve this Fibonacci Relationship

$Given$: $A$, $B$, $C$, $E$, $F$ are distinct digits varying from $1$ to $9$. $A$ is a Fibonacci number. $BB$, $BC$, $EF$ are concatenated Numbers. $Relationship$: $(A*BB)*(BC^2)$ = $(EF^2) - B$ Deduce all the Digits.

mathematics logical-deduction knowledge no-computers

Omega Krypton

10:15 AM

Your being online indicates that your puzzle is ready, no? @Alconja

jafe

wow, Uvc's seriously making a killing on the hot network questions front

45 HNQ entries in 54 days

Omega Krypton

do you have a query for that? @jafe

jafe

just the one Uhoh posted a while back

data.stackexchange.com/stackoverflow/query/1030066/…

he has 62 currently, i have 58... uvc's overtaking us both any week now

Omega Krypton

wow...

jafe

(also consider that the data goes back 5 months, but uvc has only been posting for less than 2)

so yeah pretty impressive

Alconja

11:05 AM

@OmegaKrypton Nope. Sadly no progress since my last status report. Been a busy few weeks for me... :/

Omega Krypton

11:37 AM

Keep it up! @Alconja

:)

Alconja

Thanks for the support. :)

Omega Krypton

2:01 PM

0

A: Resolve this Fibonacci Relationship

Simple R Script to brute force it: require(gtools) #Generates permutations data<-as.data.frame(permutations(9,5,1:9)) #Makes A fibonacci numbers data<-data[!(data$V1==4|data$V1==6|data$V1==8),] #Calculates LHS and RHS data$LHS<-data$V1*as.numeric(paste(as.character(data$V2),as.character(data...

this showed up in my low-q answer queue.

i deleted it as not an answer due to the no-computers tag in the question. this is a brute-force approach that does not comply to the logical-deduction requested by the op

is this the right way to deal with this?

thanks!

Sphinx

2:18 PM

0

Q: What causes these signs to follow this relation?

Can you find why does the below relation hold true?

cipher lateral-thinking

0

Q: Why two IA creates problems?

IA creates lots of debates about potential problems such as overtaking humans or destroying jobs. I'm not sure about AI but since 1985 Terminator, I know that two IA ("Intelligence Artificielle) surely creates a problem : I A + I A ----- P B But can someone explain why ^^ ?

alphametic

Sphinx

3:19 PM

1

Q: The warming up game

The theater group began today with a warming up game. Everyone has been assigned a role and is now either a bad guy who always lies, or a good guy who always tells the truth. Max, who comes late, is asked to explore the roles of Jan and Jörg through yes-no questions. "Are you both good guys...

logical-deduction

Sphinx

7:02 PM

1

Q: Down The Board-Selfmate In 10 Moves

Here's a miniature selfmate puzzle that I composed today. I just got an idea and I managed to successfully create it. I got the basic idea down to just 9 pieces, none of which are promoted. It's White to move and force Black to checkmate them in 10 moves. Naturally, Black tries to prolong their ...

no-computers chess

humn

An idle thought that never made it to a puzzle:
What have these byway names in common?
First Street, Doctor Drive, Count Court.
If you have another example, please allow.

(Yes, they are real street signs in my whereabouts. That's not the only thing they have in common.)

(Another goodie around here, so-called Silicon Valley, is Disk Drive.)

(And East North Street.)

Adam

7:21 PM

Yeaman Shore!

Sphinx

0

Q: Checkmate in one

Lots of pieces are tangled here. Can you find mate in one?

chess retrograde-analysis

humn

@Adam , if that's an addition to my list, i'm truly puzzled.

Adam

@humn Nah its a joke

humn

I already giggled from recogniszing the rhythm. Care to expand?

Might be a cultural gap, which i love! Signed, not even a native speaker of the language, English, which i love to a fault.

jafe

i think what they have in common is their abbreviation?

1st st, dr dr, ct ct?

humn

7:34 PM

@jafe : Uh-huh! Any other examples? My brains are wracked.

jafe

Third Road?

humn

! (now i have to wipe off my keyboard)

jafe

not sure if one exists but sounds like it shoud :P

humn

One that almost made the list is State Street, another around here.

Adam

Apparently Plank Place exists

humn

7:41 PM

@Adam , !!! Gotta appreciate the ambiguous spelling.

Gotta hand it to you, @Jafe, you bypassed 2nd.

How about Hello Avenue? In Latin.

(>! Ave Ave.)

jafe

Round Road?

humn

heheheheheheheheheeee

Oyoyoyoyoy!

jafe

this should have been one of the first ones... Saint Street

humn

Best yet!!!!

Adam

that one rolls off of the tongue

humn

7:48 PM

I was banned, once, for rallying for a puzzled workshop. Then this place.

jafe

don't worry, the mods are asleep

no we aren't

yikes!

Sleep? What's that?

@Deusovi , please get some sleep. If not, did you solve my cross(boundaries)words?

@Mithrandir , sleep = what most do at night, except here.

Adam

7:54 PM

@humn Wait...you don't replace your batteries?

humn

(I've been on the night shift so long that my 60-yr-old skin has no wrinkles.)

@Adam , I'll replace your batteries.

Deusovi

I'm getting enough sleep, don't worry! And I haven't really taken a look at them yet -- I was planning to wait for the finished puzzle (though I could try out the examples now)

humn

@Deusovi, you have many more important things to do. And i appreciate your notice. What you saw are my dipping yet another toe into the world of crosswords,

a world that fosters my closest relatives.

Only two of whom are native English speakers. All of whom appreciate the USA/wherever-else version.

Adam

Is PE down atm?

jafe

@Adam works for me

Mithrandir

8:03 PM

All of SE is currently experiencing an issue, looks like.

Adam

Just as I said that it came back palm to face

Mithrandir

Seems back now.

humn

My computers have been taking some hits lately. Foul play is afoot.

As if that's anything new.

When it gets serious i go beyond puzzle solving. Into problem solving.

My line, which is often enough enough: "You don't want me against you."

I want to amuse! To intrigue! To anything else but thwart.

Likewise, please amuse and intrigue me at no judgement

Sphinx

1

Q: You Sign Me Right Round (Extended Edition)

I wanted to ask more questions about variations on This Problem. If you hadn't seen that one, check it out. It's required reading (and probably more fun). In the original problem, these were the rules about sign placement: Each sign placed must point to the next sign placed Placed signs beco...

strategy optimization grid-deduction

Sphinx

8:33 PM

0

Q: I need help to solve this puzzle

We recieved this puzzle at school. We have been working on it for a long time without any answers at all. Can anyone help me find the beginning of the answer ? As a hint, we got the hash is like a MAP. We must follow it in order to get the right answer. When we arrive into ETX with an integer, w...

mathematics computer-science

Sphinx

10:14 PM

1

Q: The strange forest

In the forest of change there are strange creatures: 17 puzzs, 55 lings and 6 stacs. If one species meets the other, then they become the third. For example: If a puzz meets a stac, then they merge into a ling. This causes that at some point only one of the three species is left. Can ...

mathematics logical-deduction

Adam

10:37 PM

Boom! Exactly 500 rep

Sphinx

11:56 PM

1

Q: A Retrospective Captor

Matthew woke up suddenly. He was in a dimly lit room -looked like an old office space. He stood up in a panic and looked around. He saw a few desks, ancient computers, yet no dust anywhere. He made a full turn and then saw a door with an exit sign above it. Matthew tried to open the door, but it ...

word enigmatic-puzzle password

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