Oneiromancer
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Schik wrote:
This is somewhat disgusting, but if you urinate or spit enough into the pipe, the ping pong ball will raise with the... fluid... and you can grab it.

This is an acceptable solution. I never said you had to use the items in the room, although there are solutions which do use them. I'll give bonus points to anyone who comes up with some reasonable ones. (I would have given bonus points to someone that came up with the pee solution if a different one had been given first.)

Edit: didn't notice Hawk's post at first. Hawk, I am not sure if you could create enough of a suction that way through a foot long pipe. On the other hand, I'm not sure if Schik has enough urine in him to float the ball to the top either. Hmm, I might need the advice of the community for that one.

Game on,

[Edited by Oneiromancer on 08-05-2004 at 09:40 PM GMT]

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trick
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Well, if there's not enough fluid you could combine the two... Fill the tube with as much spit and urine as is in you, and blow across the top of the tube afterwards. Although, because of surface tension, this probably wouldn't accomplish much except possibly a little shower (Yuck. Man, I hate how I always visualize things automatically). Another option could be to sacrifice a bunch of blood, if you've got some to spare.

Also (assuming the tube is too wide to put your mouth around), yet another option could be to put a hand or the ruler across the top of the tube to make the hole smaller, place your mouth around the rest of the hole, and suck in hard. If you're lucky the ball will fly up towards you. Now, while still sucking (hope you've got good lungs), remove the hand/ruler and let the ping-pong ball be sucked into your mouth.

- Gerry

[Edited by trick on 08-05-2004 at 10:28 PM GMT]

Oneiromancer
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trick wrote:
Now, while still sucking (hope you've got good lungs)

You'd have to have very good lungs indeed to provide a vacuum strong enough to pull the ping-pong ball up. That was actually one of the solutions that, barring any other modifications, I was NOT going to accept unless you could provide evidence that it was possible for a person to do a feat like that.

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

trick
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Oneiromancer wrote:
You'd have to have very good lungs indeed to provide a vacuum strong enough to pull the ping-pong ball up. That was actually one of the solutions that, barring any other modifications, I was NOT going to accept unless you could provide evidence that it was possible for a person to do a feat like that.

Yeah, I suspected that might be the case

Another thing I thought of was to unbend the paper clip so it's got a sharp end (and make it as aerodynamic as possible, possibly with some wings (arrow/rocket style; stabilizers) if there's enough paperclip-wire), tie the string to it, tie another end to a finger (or the ruler, etc), place it in the tube, make the hole small enough to put your mouth through (hand/ruler), and shoot the paperclip-arrow down the tube with a (very) strong blow from your lungs. There's a chance the paper clip could penetrate the ping pong ball, and then you can simply drag it up with the string.

- Gerry

Oneiromancer
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That's not too bad of a solution, although it's not really guaranteed enough for points. There are others that are similarly inventive.

Edit: well now I feel bad since no one else tried to come up with other solutions. Points all around!

Game on,

[Edited by Oneiromancer on 08-06-2004 at 03:40 PM GMT]

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"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

trick
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Okay

I've got some other ideas, but I'll let other people get a chance here as well

- Gerry

Scott
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You could straighten out the paperclip and attach the match to one end. Attach the other end to the ruler. If thats not long enough to reach the ball add the string to the other end of the ruler. Light the match and burn a hole in the ping pong ball. Remove the match make a hook with the paperclip and pull the ball up.

The_Red_Hawk
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I never said you were supposed to suck. Blowing across the top of the tube uses the laws of physics to seemingly levitate the ball.

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Oneiromancer
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I'm a physicist, Hawk, thanks for sharing. It's still a form of suction. The moving air creates a negative pressure that pulls the ball up. You still need to overcome the force of gravity. I do think that the faster you blow, the more suction (i.e., negative pressure) is created, however, you would need to blow pretty damn fast in order to cause the ball to rise that high--a foot in total. Unless you can prove otherwise, I don't think it's humanly possible.

And even if it is, you still need to get the ball out of the tube. Blowing across the top might get it to, say, the lip of the tube but you wouldn't be able to grab the ball to get it out.

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

Schik
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Let's end the madness, and start the next puzzle:

You are to find the minimum number N can possibly be.

Below are 10 statements, each one is either true or false:

1. At least one of statements 9 and 10 is true.
2. This is either the first true statement or the first false statement.
3. There are three consecutive false statements.
4. The difference between the number of the last true statement and the first true statement divides N.
5. The sum of the numbers of the true statements is N.
6. This is not the last true statement.
7. The number of each true statement divides N.
8. N is the percentage of true statements.
9. The number of divisors of N (apart from 1 and itself) is greater than the sum of the numbers of the true statements.
10. There are no three consecutive true statements.


[Edited by Schik on 08-06-2004 at 01:17 AM GMT]

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Scott
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I think its 4. I can post reasons if I am correct.

Schik
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Scott wrote:
I think its 4. I can post reasons if I am correct.

That is not the answer I have. I'd be willing to listen to your reasoning though.

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Scott
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Scratch that answer I just realised I made a mistake. Back to the drawing board.

New answer 84.

[Edited by Scott on 08-06-2004 at 03:11 AM GMT]

krammer
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My final answer works at 420... seems a bit large but I can't find any errors in calculation. Not that that means much.

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masonjason
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I'm afraid I work it out at 420 also.

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Schik
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krammer is correct! Well, so is masonjason but krammer's first.


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krammer
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Righto, next puzzle. Might be fairly well-known, but anyway...

What is the next number in the following sequence - and why?

1, 4, 3, 11, 15, 13...

And as a hint, no complex mathematics is needed to solve this puzzle.

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Frodo
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hmm...

one
four
three
eleven
fifteen
thirteen

seventeen would be the lowest number written with nine letters?

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Treguard
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<pedant>

...or by similar logic "minus ten" would perhaps be a smaller answer? (counting the space as a "letter" ).

</pedant>

trick
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Treguard wrote:
...or by similar logic "minus ten" would perhaps be a smaller answer? (counting the space as a "letter" ).

In that case you can just as well count '-' as a letter and say -infinity

krammer
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17 is the answer I was expecting, so Frodo, you're up.

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Frodo
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Please remember, English is not my primary language, so if anything in my wording is unclear, please ask - I am not flame-resistant these days.

I wanted to do a puzzle with switches and light bulbs, but I saw you guys already did that one, ages ago, so I will just go for a numeric puzzle, that does not need anything past basic highschool math (I think *G*) and a bit of logic.

Construct a nine digit number, keeping in mind the following rules:

- use every one of the digits 1 through 9

- the number must be divisable by 9

- if you take the last digit off (leaving an eight digit number), it must be divisible by 8

- taking the last digit away again (so, leaving a seven digit number), it must be divisible by 7

- this goes on, until you have a two digit number - being the first two digits of the original number - that is divisible by 2.

- Just to avoid confusion - when I say "divisible", I mean divisible without leaving a ramainder.

What's the number?

[Edited by Frodo on 08-06-2004 at 05:36 PM GMT]

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trick
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I'd say negative infinity, but Schik would hit me, so I won't.

- Gerry

Frodo
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trick wrote:
I'd say negative infinity, but Schik would hit me, so I won't.

Then I won't say it is an incorrect answer.

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Grtz,

Frodo

Schik
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381654729 seems to work.

Next puzzle:

You can get 6 for $3, 24 for $6, and 120 for $9. What is it?

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DiMono
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381654729

Edit: Gah, you and your fast fingers got in there ahead of me. I may as well explain why it works that way though.

All the even digits must be even, and the middle digit must be a 5. It doesn't matter what the last digit is, because the sum of 1-9 is 45, and any number whose digits add to a number divisible 9 is itself divisible by 9, so that part is automatic.

Similarly, any digit whose digits add to a number divisible by 3 is divisible by 3. This means the first set of 3 digits must be divisible by 3, as must the second set of 3 digits. The only number combinations that can be used for the middle are 456, 654, 258, and 852.

Testing the third and fourth number sets is easy, because there are only 4 numbers that can be before them: 147, 741, 369, and 963. Any other combination would invalidate a previous restriction. None of the 8 combinations allow an 8 digit number divisible by 8, so we're working with 456 and 654. Our options for the first 3 digits are as follows:

123, 321, 129, 921, 723, 327, 729, 927
183, 381, 189, 981, 783, 387, 789, 987

It happens that for all those combinations, the fourth digit must be a 6 instead of a 4, so our number is going to look like OEO654OEO. Now it's just trial and error, and 381654729 is the only solution that works. And that's how we got to the number we got to.

[Edited by DiMono on 08-06-2004 at 06:50 PM GMT]

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gamer_extreme_101
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Schik wrote:
You can get 6 for $3, 24 for $6, and 120 for $9. What is it?

House numbers, of course.

[Edited by gamer_extreme_101 on 08-06-2004 at 06:58 PM GMT]

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Schik
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gamer_extreme_101 wrote:
You can get 6 for $3, 24 for $6, and 120 for $9. What is it?

House numbers, of course.That was quick. Good job.


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Oneiromancer
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gamer_extreme_101 wrote:
Oh man, I had heard that one too many times, that's all.

Sorry man, you're in violation of the rules of the game:

3. If you have heard the answer before please wait 24 hours before posting it. Part of the fun of this will be solving a new puzzle for yourself, we don't want all the puzzles to be spoiled right away for everyone. If no one seems to be able to solve it (or even get close) then go ahead and answer. Exceptions might be made for really old puzzles that everyone knows, but in that case I'd rather see posts like "I know this one, everyone does, can I please say the answer?" to establish your place, and then we'll see if everyone agrees.

I'm going to have to disqualify this puzzle and have Schik post another one. This isn't like the other tags.

Game on,

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agaricus5
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Schik wrote:

gamer_extreme_101 wrote:

You can get 6 for $3, 24 for $6, and 120 for $9. What is it?

House numbers, of course.

That was quick. Good job.

House numbers? Is this an American thing, by chance? (I guess by the dollar sign)

I have never heard of getting house numbers for money before.

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