Math Is Fun Forum

justlookingforthemoment

Moderator

Registered: 2005-05-26

Posts: 2,161

Google's Puzzle Challenges

Not sure if any of you followed the Da Vince Code Quest thing which Google ran last month. Now, Google has Puzzlemaster Wei-Hwa posting a challenge question each day (you have to use the 'Personalised' Google Home Page). I'll post them here, and you guys can solve them.

First one; I think we've had this countless times before:

May 26th, 2006: While we're still getting some fancier stuff ready behind the scenes, I thought this would be a good place to put some neo-classic puzzles. Hope you like this one:

Using the numbers 3, 3, 8, 8 (in any order), make a mathematical expression that equals 24. You can use only addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (and parentheses), but in any order you wish. Note that you have to use all four numbers; otherwise 3 times 8 would be valid -- and that wouldn't be much of a puzzle, would it?

Jai Ganesh

Administrator

Registered: 2005-06-28

Posts: 48,384

Re: Google's Puzzle Challenges

---

It appears to me that if one wants to make progress in mathematics, one should study the masters and not the pupils. - Niels Henrik Abel.

Nothing is better than reading and gaining more and more knowledge - Stephen William Hawking.

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,713

Re: Google's Puzzle Challenges

Our Puzzlemaster has The Power.

---

"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

John E. Franklin

Member

Registered: 2005-08-29

Posts: 3,588

Re: Google's Puzzle Challenges

Nice work ganesh, 8 / (1/3), I like it!

---

igloo myrtilles fourmis

justlookingforthemoment

Moderator

Registered: 2005-05-26

Posts: 2,161

Re: Google's Puzzle Challenges

June 2nd, 2006: If a tree falls in the woods because of a wound, then what little object will not hear the sound? Answer: a deaf leaf.

A Why Me Rhyme is a pair of words that look like they should rhyme (after all, only their first letter is different), but don't really. For example, depending on the colorist, Etrigan could be considered a lemon demon. See if you can figure out these twelve Why Me Rhymes from their descriptions:

   a) What is heard when your little girl is having fun
   b) A disgustingly dirty sticker
   c) A siesta for weirdos
   d) A friendly rejection
   e) Lists of all sorts of animals to be eaten
   f) An unrefined crucifix
   g) A type of bar bet, maybe?
   h) Makes a news agency irrelevant
   i) Stamps that someone refuses to return
   j) Makes contact with feminine hygiene products
   k) A price reduction given only to certain noblemen
   l) Newer style of patio furniture

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,713

Re: Google's Puzzle Challenges

Only one I have so far:

f) gross cross

---

"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

justlookingforthemoment

Moderator

Registered: 2005-05-26

Posts: 2,161

Re: Google's Puzzle Challenges

I don't know the answers [ooh, but I've found that I can check them and get back a 'wrong' or 'right'], but that sounds right, Rod [and actually, yes it is]. Good job!

k) viscount discount

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,713

Re: Google's Puzzle Challenges

a) daughter laughter

---

"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

c0de

Member

Registered: 2006-06-05

Posts: 1

Re: Google's Puzzle Challenges

Hi all,

First post

I'm still working on some of them but here is what I have so far. I'll be editing them as I get some progress.

What is heard when your little girl is having fun -

A disgustingly dirty sticker -

A siesta for weirdos -

A friendly rejection -

Lists of all sorts of animals to be eaten -

An unrefined crucifix -

A type of bar bet, maybe? -

Makes a news agency irrelevant -

Stamps that someone refuses to return -

Makes contact with feminine hygiene products -

A price reduction given only to certain noblemen -

Newer style of patio furniture -

EDIT: DONE!

// c0de

Last edited by c0de (2006-06-05 06:53:40)

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,713

Re: Google's Puzzle Challenges

Impressive, I think you got them all!

And thanks for using the hide tag.

---

"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

justlookingforthemoment

Moderator

Registered: 2005-05-26

Posts: 2,161

Re: Google's Puzzle Challenges

Too good, c0de! What a great first post. Looks like it took you all of seven minutes.

And well done too, Rod. Close, but no cigar.

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,713

Re: Google's Puzzle Challenges

And I had figured out the siesta one too - just hadn't posted it

So, is that it from c0de? One brilliant post, then disappears into the night?

---

"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

iam_clint

Member

Registered: 2006-06-08

Posts: 1

Re: Google's Puzzle Challenges

the math one was 8 / (3-(8/3)) based on how they wanted it sent in it was posted correctly up above my post but they wanted it like this bleh..

and for the new google quiz

What is heard when your little girl is having fun yadda yadda

i reverse engineered their javascript and made a decoder cause they show all the answers encoded in their javascript you may take a look at how i did it i posted their code and my decode code so you may see how it was done -- www.geocities.com/iam_clint/decode

Last edited by iam_clint (2006-06-08 04:41:33)

justlookingforthemoment

Moderator

Registered: 2005-05-26

Posts: 2,161

Re: Google's Puzzle Challenges

June 9th, 2006: The Google US Puzzle Championship is next Saturday, June 16th. It's used to select the US Puzzle Team, but puzzle-lovers of all sorts should find something interesting in the puzzles. Let's have a big "G" (for Google):

Here's a puzzle based on Erich Friedman's "Distance," from the 2003 Google U.S. Puzzle Championship. Label 14 of the circles above with different numbers from 1 to 14, such that the distance between 1 and 2 is less than the distance between 2 and 3, and so on. Four circles should remain empty.

Click for puzzle link...

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,713

Re: Google's Puzzle Challenges

i reverse engineered their javascript and made a decoder cause they show all the answers encoded in their javascript

Well done, clint.

Justlooking: Great Info, thanks!

---

"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

justlookingforthemoment

Moderator

Registered: 2005-05-26

Posts: 2,161

Re: Google's Puzzle Challenges

June 15th, 2006: It's hard not to be tempted by parody. It will probably be a while until we can actually get online collaboration, but I was able to come up with some interesting variants of Minesweeper. You can try them out (as well as the standard game) this week:

Click for puzzle link.

Your puzzle, of course, is to figure out what the rules to the variants are. Shouldn't be too hard, although there are quite a few secrets to discover!

justlookingforthemoment

Moderator

Registered: 2005-05-26

Posts: 2,161

Re: Google's Puzzle Challenges

June 23rd, 2006: Three weeks ago I was playing in The Game. One particular challenge was a timed maze (written by Stanford students Rachel Weinstein and Frank Losasso) that we had to play on a dance pad. It took my team surprisingly long, probably because we hadn't slept for 20 hours and we had failed to notice an important rule...

Now, you can share a little bit of that experience. Start clicking and see if you can figure out the rules and solve the maze. When you win, you won't be able to reset the puzzle any more -- that's deliberate.

Click for puzzle link.