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The 640 MEG Shareware Studio 2
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1992-09-24
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m*n^{d-2}m(n-m), so excess(S_1) = n^{d-2}m(n-m)^2. Consider S_0 union S_1.
We must add excess(S_1) edges to S_0 union S_1 to make it possible for the
digraph to be covered by a circuit, and these edges must go from {S_0 union
S_1} to S_2 = { v: v = [X^{d-3}SL^2] } by a similar argument as before.
Repeating this partitioning process, eventually we get to S_{d-1} = { v: v =
[SL^{d-1}] }, where union of S_0 to S_{d-1} will need edges to S_d = { v: v
= [L^d] }, where this process terminates. Note that at this time,
excess(union of S_0 to S_{d-1}) = m(n-m)^d, but in(S_d) = 0 and out(S_d) =
m(n-m)^d, and the process terminates.
What have we shown? Adding up blue edges and the red edges gives us a lower
bound on the total number of edges in a blue-edges covering circuit (not
necessarily Eulerian) in the complete digraph. This comes out to be
n^{d+1}-(n-m)^{d+1} edges.
Next, we note that if we had an optimal path covering all the blue edges, we
can transform it into a circuit by adding d edges. So, a minimal path can
be no more than d edges shorter than the minimal circuit covering all blue
edges. [Otherwise, we add d extra edges to make it into a shorter circuit.]
So the shortest blue covering path through the digraph is at least
n^{d+1}-{n-m}^{d+1}-d. With an initial pre-condition sequence of length d
(to establish the transition invariant), the shortest universal answering
machine sequence is of length at least n^{d+1}-(n-m)^{d+1}.
While this has not been that constructive, it is easy to see that we can
achieve this bound. If we looked at the vertices in each of the S_i's, we
just add exactly the edges to S_{i+1} and no more. The resultant digraph
would be Eulerian, and to find the minimal path we need only start at the
vertex labelled [{n-1}^d], find the Euler circuit, and omit the last d edges
from the tour.
==> combinatorics/gossip.p <==
n people each know a different piece of gossip. They can telephone each other
and exchange all the information they know (so that after the call they both
know anything that either of them knew before the call). What is the smallest
number of calls needed so that everyone knows everything?
==> combinatorics/gossip.s <==
1 for n=2
3 for n=3
2n-4 for n>=4
This can be achieved as follows: choose four professors (A, B, C, and D) as
the "core group". Each professor outside the core group phones a member of
the core group (it doesn't matter which); this takes n-4 calls. Now the
core group makes 4 calls: A-B, C-D, A-C, and B-D. At this point, each
member of the core group knows everything. Now, each person outside the
core group calls anybody who knows everything; this again requires n-4
calls, for a total of 2n-4.
The solution to the "gossip problem" has been published several times:
1. R. Tidjeman, "On a telephone problem", Nieuw Arch. Wisk. 3
(1971), 188-192.
2. B. Baker and R. Shostak, "Gossips and telephones", Discrete
Math. 2 (1972), 191-193.
3. A. Hajnal, E. C. Milner, and E. Szemeredi, "A cure for the
telephone disease", Canad Math. Bull 15 (1976), 447-450.
4. Kleitman and Shearer, Disc. Math. 30 (1980), 151-156.
5. R. T. Bumby, "A problem with telephones", Siam J. Disc. Meth. 2
(1981), 13-18.
==> combinatorics/grid.dissection.p <==
How many (possibly overlapping) squares are in an mxn grid?
==> combinatorics/grid.dissection.s <==
Given an n*m grid with n > m.
Orient the grid so n is its width. Divide the grid into two portions,
an m*m square on the left and an (n-m)*m rectangle on the right.
Count the squares that have their upper right-hand corners in the
m*m square. There are m^2 of size 1*1, (m-1)^2 of size 2*2, ...
up to 1^2 of size m*m. Now look at the n-m columns of lattice points
in the rectangle on the right, in which we find upper right-hand
corners of squares not yet counted. For each column we count m new
1*1 squares, m-1 new 2*2 squares, ... up to 1 new m*m square.
Combining all these counts in summations:
m m
total = sum i^2 + (n - m) sum i
i=1 i=1
(2m + 1)(m + 1)m (n - m)(m + 1)m
= ---------------- + ---------------
6 2
= (3n - m + 1)(m + 1)m/6
-- David Karr
==> combinatorics/subsets.p <==
Out of the set of integers 1,...,100 you are given ten different
integers. From this set, A, of ten integers you can always find two
disjoint subsets, S & T, such that the sum of elements in S equals the
sum of elements in T. Note: S union T need not be all ten elements of
A. Prove this.
==> combinatorics/subsets.s <==
First, a couple of points:
(1) All empty subsets of the 10 integers are disjoint and have the same sum.
This doesn't make for a very interesting problem. Thus, we impose the
additional restriction that S and T be non-empty.
(2) The 10 integers must be pairwise distinct. Consider, e.g., the 10
integers 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, and 1. There are no non-empty
disjoint subsets with equal sums.
Proof of puzzle:
There are 2^10 = 1,024 subsets of the 10 integers, but there can be only 901
possible sums, the number of integers between the minimum and maximum sums.
With more subsets than possible sums, there must exist at least one sum that
corresponds to at least two subsets. Call two subsets with equal sums A and B.
Let C = A intersect B; define S = A - C, T = B - C. Then S is disjoint from T,
and sum(S) = sum(A-C) = sum(A) - sub(C) = sum(B) - sum(C) = sum(B-C) = sum(T).
QED
==> cryptology/Beale.p <==
What are the Beale ciphers?
==> cryptology/Beale.s <==
The Beale ciphers are one of the greatest unsolved puzzles of all time.
About 100 years ago, a fellow by the name of Beale supposedly buried two
wagons-full of silver-coin filled pots in Bedford County, near Roanoke.
There are local rumors about the treasure being buried near Bedford Lake.
He wrote three encoded letters telling what was buried, where it was buried,
and who it belonged to. He entrusted these three letters to a friend and went
west. He was never heard from again.
Several years later, someone examined the letters and was able to break the
code used in the second letter. The code used either the text from the
Declaration of Independence. A number in the letter indicated which word
in the document was to be used. The first letter of that word replaced the
number. For example, if the first three words of the document were "We
hold these truths", the number 3 in the letter would represent the letter t.
One of the remaining letters supposedly contains directions on how to find
the treasure. To date, no one has solved the code. It is believed that
both of the remaining letters are encoded using either the same document
in a different way, or another very public document.
For those interested, write to:
The Beale Cypher Association
P.O. Box 975
Beaver Falls, PA 15010
Item #904 is the 1885 pamphlet version ($5.00). #152 is the
Cryptologia article by Gillogly that argues the hoax side ($2.00).
A year's membership is $25, and includes 4 newsletters.
TEXT for part 1
The Locality of the Vault.
71,194,38,1701,89,76,11,83,1629,48,94,63,132,16,111,95,84,341
975,14,40,64,27,81,139,213,63,90,1120,8,15,3,126,2018,40,74
758,485,604,230,436,664,582,150,251,284,308,231,124,211,486,225
401,370,11,101,305,139,189,17,33,88,208,193,145,1,94,73,416
918,263,28,500,538,356,117,136,219,27,176,130,10,460,25,485,18
436,65,84,200,283,118,320,138,36,416,280,15,71,224,961,44,16,401
39,88,61,304,12,21,24,283,134,92,63,246,486,682,7,219,184,360,780
18,64,463,474,131,160,79,73,440,95,18,64,581,34,69,128,367,460,17
81,12,103,820,62,110,97,103,862,70,60,1317,471,540,208,121,890
346,36,150,59,568,614,13,120,63,219,812,2160,1780,99,35,18,21,136
872,15,28,170,88,4,30,44,112,18,147,436,195,320,37,122,113,6,140
8,120,305,42,58,461,44,106,301,13,408,680,93,86,116,530,82,568,9
102,38,416,89,71,216,728,965,818,2,38,121,195,14,326,148,234,18
55,131,234,361,824,5,81,623,48,961,19,26,33,10,1101,365,92,88,181
275,346,201,206,86,36,219,324,829,840,64,326,19,48,122,85,216,284
919,861,326,985,233,64,68,232,431,960,50,29,81,216,321,603,14,612
81,360,36,51,62,194,78,60,200,314,676,112,4,28,18,61,136,247,819
921,1060,464,895,10,6,66,119,38,41,49,602,423,962,302,294,875,78
14,23,111,109,62,31,501,823,216,280,34,24,150,1000,162,286,19,21
17,340,19,242,31,86,234,140,607,115,33,191,67,104,86,52,88,16,80
121,67,95,122,216,548,96,11,201,77,364,218,65,667,890,236,154,211
10,98,34,119,56,216,119,71,218,1164,1496,1817,51,39,210,36,3,19
540,232,22,141,617,84,290,80,46,207,411,150,29,38,46,172,85,194
39,261,543,897,624,18,212,416,127,931,19,4,63,96,12,101,418,16,140
230,460,538,19,27,88,612,1431,90,716,275,74,83,11,426,89,72,84
1300,1706,814,221,132,40,102,34,868,975,1101,84,16,79,23,16,81,122
324,403,912,227,936,447,55,86,34,43,212,107,96,314,264,1065,323
428,601,203,124,95,216,814,2906,654,820,2,301,112,176,213,71,87,96
202,35,10,2,41,17,84,221,736,820,214,11,60,760
TEXT for part 2
(no title exists for this part)
115,73,24,807,37,52,49,17,31,62,647,22,7,15,140,47,29,107,79,84
56,239,10,26,811,5,196,308,85,52,160,136,59,211,36,9,46,316,554
122,106,95,53,58,2,42,7,35,122,53,31,82,77,250,196,56,96,118,71
140,287,28,353,37,1005,65,147,807,24,3,8,12,47,43,59,807,45,316
101,41,78,154,1005,122,138,191,16,77,49,102,57,72,34,73,85,35,371
59,196,81,92,191,106,273,60,394,620,270,220,106,388,287,63,3,6
191,122,43,234,400,106,290,314,47,48,81,96,26,115,92,158,191,110
77,85,197,46,10,113,140,353,48,120,106,2,607,61,420,811,29,125,14
20,37,105,28,248,16,159,7,35,19,301,125,110,486,287,98,117,511,62
51,220,37,113,140,807,138,540,8,44,287,388,117,18,79,344,34,20,59
511,548,107,603,220,7,66,154,41,20,50,6,575,122,154,248,110,61,52,33
30,5,38,8,14,84,57,540,217,115,71,29,84,63,43,131,29,138,47,73,239
540,52,53,79,118,51,44,63,196,12,239,112,3,49,79,353,105,56,371,557
211,505,125,360,133,143,101,15,284,540,252,14,205,140,344,26,811,138
115,48,73,34,205,316,607,63,220,7,52,150,44,52,16,40,37,158,807,37
121,12,95,10,15,35,12,131,62,115,102,807,49,53,135,138,30,31,62,67,41
85,63,10,106,807,138,8,113,20,32,33,37,353,287,140,47,85,50,37,49,47
64,6,7,71,33,4,43,47,63,1,27,600,208,230,15,191,246,85,94,511,2,270
20,39,7,33,44,22,40,7,10,3,811,106,44,486,230,353,211,200,31,10,38
140,297,61,603,320,302,666,287,2,44,33,32,511,548,10,6,250,557,246
53,37,52,83,47,320,38,33,807,7,44,30,31,250,10,15,35,106,160,113,31
102,406,230,540,320,29,66,33,101,807,138,301,316,353,320,220,37,52
28,540,320,33,8,48,107,50,811,7,2,113,73,16,125,11,110,67,102,807,33
59,81,158,38,43,581,138,19,85,400,38,43,77,14,27,8,47,138,63,140,44
35,22,177,106,250,314,217,2,10,7,1005,4,20,25,44,48,7,26,46,110,230
807,191,34,112,147,44,110,121,125,96,41,51,50,140,56,47,152,540
63,807,28,42,250,138,582,98,643,32,107,140,112,26,85,138,540,53,20
125,371,38,36,10,52,118,136,102,420,150,112,71,14,20,7,24,18,12,807
37,67,110,62,33,21,95,220,511,102,811,30,83,84,305,620,15,2,108,220
106,353,105,106,60,275,72,8,50,205,185,112,125,540,65,106,807,188,96,110
16,73,32,807,150,409,400,50,154,285,96,106,316,270,205,101,811,400,8
44,37,52,40,241,34,205,38,16,46,47,85,24,44,15,64,73,138,807,85,78,110
33,420,505,53,37,38,22,31,10,110,106,101,140,15,38,3,5,44,7,98,287
135,150,96,33,84,125,807,191,96,511,118,440,370,643,466,106,41,107
603,220,275,30,150,105,49,53,287,250,208,134,7,53,12,47,85,63,138,110
21,112,140,485,486,505,14,73,84,575,1005,150,200,16,42,5,4,25,42
8,16,811,125,160,32,205,603,807,81,96,405,41,600,136,14,20,28,26
353,302,246,8,131,160,140,84,440,42,16,811,40,67,101,102,194,138
205,51,63,241,540,122,8,10,63,140,47,48,140,288
CLEAR for part 2, made human readable.
I have deposited in the county of Bedford about four miles from
Bufords in an excavation or vault six feet below the surface
of the ground the following articles belonging jointly to
the parties whose names are given in number three herewith.
The first deposit consisted of ten hundred and fourteen pounds
of gold and thirty eight hundred and twelve pounds of silver
deposited Nov eighteen nineteen. The second was made Dec
eighteen twenty one and consisted of nineteen hundred and seven
pounds of gold and twelve hundred and eighty eight of silver,
also jewels obtained in St. Louis in exchange to save transportation
and valued at thirteen [t]housand dollars. The above
is securely packed i[n] [i]ron pots with iron cov[e]rs. Th[e] vault
is roughly lined with stone and the vessels rest on solid stone
and are covered [w]ith others. Paper number one describes th[e]
exact locality of the va[u]lt so that no difficulty will be had
in finding it.
CLEAR for part 2, using only the first 480 words of the
Declaration of Independence, then blanks filled in by
inspection. ALL mistakes shown were caused by sloppy
encryption.
0----5----10---15---20---25---30---35---40---45---
0 ihavedepositedinthecountyofbedfordaboutfourmilesfr
50 ombufordsinanexcavationorvaultsixfeetbelowthesurfa
100 ceofthegroundthefollowingarticlesbelongingjointlyt
150 othepartieswhosenamesaregiveninnumberthreeherewith
200 thefirstdepositconsistcdoftenhundredandfourteenpou
250 ndsofgoldandthirtyeighthundredandtwelvepoundsofsil
300 verdepositednoveighteennineteenthesecondwasmadedec
350 eighteentwentyoneandconsistedofnineteenhundredands
400 evenpoundsofgoldandtwelvehundredandeightyeightofsi
450 lveralsojewelsobtainedinstlouisinexchangetosavetra
500 nsportationandvaluedatthirteenrhousanddollarstheab
550 oveissecurelypackeditronpotswithironcovtrsthtvault
600 isroughlylinedwithstoneandthevesselsrestonsolidsto
650 neandarecovereduithotherspapernumberonedescribesth
700 cexactlocalityofthevarltsothatnodifficultywillbeha
750 dinfindingit
TEXT for part 3
Names and Residences.
317,8,92,73,112,89,67,318,28,96,107,41,631,78,146,397,118,98
114,246,348,116,74,88,12,65,32,14,81,19,76,121,216,85,33,66,15
108,68,77,43,24,122,96,117,36,211,301,15,44,11,46,89,18,136,68
317,28,90,82,304,71,43,221,198,176,310,319,81,99,264,380,56,37
319,2,44,53,28,44,75,98,102,37,85,107,117,64,88,136,48,154,99,175
89,315,326,78,96,214,218,311,43,89,51,90,75,128,96,33,28,103,84
65,26,41,246,84,270,98,116,32,59,74,66,69,240,15,8,121,20,77,80
31,11,106,81,191,224,328,18,75,52,82,117,201,39,23,217,27,21,84
35,54,109,128,49,77,88,1,81,217,64,55,83,116,251,269,311,96,54,32
120,18,132,102,219,211,84,150,219,275,312,64,10,106,87,75,47,21
29,37,81,44,18,126,115,132,160,181,203,76,81,299,314,337,351,96,11
28,97,318,238,106,24,93,3,19,17,26,60,73,88,14,126,138,234,286
297,321,365,264,19,22,84,56,107,98,123,111,214,136,7,33,45,40,13
28,46,42,107,196,227,344,198,203,247,116,19,8,212,230,31,6,328
65,48,52,59,41,122,33,117,11,18,25,71,36,45,83,76,89,92,31,65,70
83,96,27,33,44,50,61,24,112,136,149,176,180,194,143,171,205,296
87,12,44,51,89,98,34,41,208,173,66,9,35,16,95,8,113,175,90,56
203,19,177,183,206,157,200,218,260,291,305,618,951,320,18,124,78
65,19,32,124,48,53,57,84,96,207,244,66,82,119,71,11,86,77,213,54
82,316,245,303,86,97,106,212,18,37,15,81,89,16,7,81,39,96,14,43
216,118,29,55,109,136,172,213,64,8,227,304,611,221,364,819,375
128,296,1,18,53,76,10,15,23,19,71,84,120,134,66,73,89,96,230,48
77,26,101,127,936,218,439,178,171,61,226,313,215,102,18,167,262
114,218,66,59,48,27,19,13,82,48,162,119,34,127,139,34,128,129,74
63,120,11,54,61,73,92,180,66,75,101,124,265,89,96,126,274,896,917
434,461,235,890,312,413,328,381,96,105,217,66,118,22,77,64,42,12
7,55,24,83,67,97,109,121,135,181,203,219,228,256,21,34,77,319,374
382,675,684,717,864,203,4,18,92,16,63,82,22,46,55,69,74,112,134
186,175,119,213,416,312,343,264,119,186,218,343,417,845,951,124
209,49,617,856,924,936,72,19,28,11,35,42,40,66,85,94,112,65,82
115,119,233,244,186,172,112,85,6,56,38,44,85,72,32,47,63,96,124
217,314,319,221,644,817,821,934,922,416,975,10,22,18,46,137,181
101,39,86,103,116,138,164,212,218,296,815,380,412,460,495,675,820
952
Evidence in favor of a hoax-
. Too many players.
. Inflated quantities of treasure.
. Many discrepancies exist in all documents.
. The Declaration of Independence is too hokey a key.
. Part 3 (list of 30 names) considered too little text.
. W.F. Friedman couldn't crack it.
. Why even encrypt parts 1 & 3?
. Why use multi-part text, and why different keys for each part?
. Difficult to keep treasure in ground if 30 men know where it was buried.
. Who'd leave it with other than your own family?
. The Inn Keeper waited an extra 10 years before opening box with
ciphers in it? Who would do this, curiousity runs too deep in
humans?
. Why did anybody waste time deciphering paper 2, which had no title?
1 & 3 had titles! These should have been deciphered first?
. Why not just one single letter?
. Statistical analysis show 1&3 similar in very obscure ways, that
2 differs. Did somebody else encipher it? And why?
Check length of keytexts, and forward/backward next word
displacement selections.
. Who could cross the entire country with that much gold and only
10 men and survive back then?
. Practically everybody who visited New Mexico before 1821, left
by way of the Pearly Gates, as the Spanish got almost every
tourist:-)
References:
"The Beale Treasure: A History of a Mystery", by Peter Viemeister,
Bedord, VA: Hamilton's, 1987. ISBN: 0-9608598-3-7. 230 pages.
"The Codebreakers", by David Kahn, pg 771, CCN 63-16109.
1967.
"Gold in the Blue Ridge, The True Story of the Beale Treasure",
by P.B. Innis & Walter Dean Innis, Devon Publ. Co., Wash, D.C.
1973.
"Signature Simulation and Certain Cryptographic Codes", Hammer,
Communications of the ACM, 14 (1), January 1971, pp. 3-14.
"How did TJB Encode B2?", Hammer, Cryptologia, 3 (1), Jan. 1979, pp. 9-15.
"Second Order Homophonic Ciphers", Hammer, Cryptologia, 12 (1) Jan. 1988,
pp 11-20.
==> cryptology/Feynman.p <==
What are the Feynman ciphers?
==> cryptology/Feynman.s <==
When I was a graduate student at Caltech, Professor Feynman showed me three
samples of code that he had been challenged with by a fellow scientist at
Los Alamos and which he had not been able to crack. I also was unable to
crack them. I posted them to Usenet and Jack C. Morrison of JPL cracked
the first one. It is a simple transposition cipher: split the text into
5-column pieces, then read from lower right upward. What results are the
opening lines of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in Middle English.
1. Easier
MEOTAIHSIBRTEWDGLGKNLANEA
INOEEPEYSTNPEUOOEHRONLTIR
OSDHEOTNPHGAAETOHSZOTTENT
KEPADLYPHEODOWCFORRRNLCUE
EEEOPGMRLHNNDFTOENEALKEHH
EATTHNMESCNSHIRAETDAHLHEM
TETRFSWEDOEOENEGFHETAEDGH
RLNNGOAAEOCMTURRSLTDIDORE
HNHEHNAYVTIERHEENECTRNVIO
UOEHOTRNWSAYIFSNSHOEMRTRR
EUAUUHOHOOHCDCHTEEISEVRLS
KLIHIIAPCHRHSIHPSNWTOIISI
SHHNWEMTIEYAFELNRENLEERYI
PHBEROTEVPHNTYATIERTIHEEA
WTWVHTASETHHSDNGEIEAYNHHH
NNHTW
2. Harder
XUKEXWSLZJUAXUNKIGWFSOZRAWURO
RKXAOSLHROBXBTKCMUWDVPTFBLMKE
FVWMUXTVTWUIDDJVZKBRMCWOIWYDX
MLUFPVSHAGSVWUFWORCWUIDUJCNVT
TBERTUNOJUZHVTWKORSVRZSVVFSQX
OCMUWPYTRLGBMCYPOJCLRIYTVFCCM
UWUFPOXCNMCIWMSKPXEDLYIQKDJWI
WCJUMVRCJUMVRKXWURKPSEEIWZVXU
LEIOETOOFWKBIUXPXUGOWLFPWUSCH
3. New Message
WURVFXGJYTHEIZXSQXOBGSV
RUDOOJXATBKTARVIXPYTMYA
BMVUFXPXKUJVPLSDVTGNGOS
IGLWURPKFCVGELLRNNGLPYT
FVTPXAJOSCWRODORWNWSICL
FKEMOTGJYCRRAOJVNTODVMN
SQIVICRBICRUDCSKXYPDMDR
OJUZICRVFWXIFPXIVVIEPYT
DOIAVRBOOXWRAKPSZXTZKVR
OSWCRCFVEESOLWKTOBXAUXV
B
Chris Cole
Peregrine Systems
uunet!peregrine!chris
==> cryptology/Voynich.p <==
What are the Voynich ciphers?
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==> cryptology/Voynich.s <==
The Voynich Manuscript is a manuscript that first surfaced in the court of
Rudolf II (Holy Roman Emperor), who bought it for some large number of
gold pieces (600?). Rudolf was interested in the occult, and the strange
characters and bizarre illustrations suggested that it had some deep
mystical/magical significance. After Rudolf's court broke up, the
manuscript was sent to (if memory serves) Athanasius Kircher, with nobody
on the list having been able to read it. It ended up in a chest of other
manuscripts in the Villa Mondragone [?] in Italy, and was discovered there
by Wilfred Voynich, a collector, in about 1910 or so. He took it to a
linguist who wasn't a cryptanalyst, who identified it as a work by the
12th century monk Roger Bacon and produced extended bogus decryptions based
on shorthand characters he saw in it. A great deal of effort by the best
cryptanalysts in the country hasn't resulted in any breakthrough. William
F. Friedman (arguably the best) thought it was written in an artificial
language. I believe the manuscript is currently in the Beinecke Rare
Book Collection at [Harvard?].
Mary D'Imperio's paper is scholarly and detailed, and provides an
excellent starting point for anyone who is interested in the subject.
David Kahn's "The Codebreakers" has enough detail to tell you if you're
interested; it also has one or more plates showing the script and some
illustrations. I believe D'Imperio's monograph has been reprinted by
Aegean Park Press. A number of people have published their own ideas
about it, including Brumbaugh, without anybody agreeing. A recent
publication from Aegean Park Press offers another decryption; I haven't
seen that one.
If you want *my* guess, it's a hoax made up by Edmund Kelley and an
unnamed co-conspirator and sold to Rudolf through the reputation of John
Dee (Queen Elizabeth I's astrologer).
--
Jim Gillogly
{hplabs, ihnp4}!sdcrdcf!randvax!jim
jim@rand-unix.arpa
I read "Labyrinths of Reason" by William Poundstone recently. I'm
posting this to so many newsgroups in part to recommend this book, which,
while of a popular nature, gives a good analysis of a wide variety of
paradoxes and philosophical quandaries, and is a great read.
Anyway, it mentions something called the Voynich manuscript, which is
now at Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
It's a real pity that I didn't know about this manuscript and go see it
when I was at Yale.
The Voynich manuscript is apparently very old. It is a 232-page illuminated
manuscript written in a cipher that has never been cracked. (That's
what Poundstone says - but see my hypothesis below.) If I may quote
Poundstone's charming description, "Its author, subject matter, and
meaning are unfathomed mysteries. No one even knows what language the
text would be in if you deciphered it. Fanciful picutres of nude women,
peculiar inventions, and nonexistent flora and fauna tantalize the
would-be decipherer. Color sketches in the exacting style of a
medieval herbal depict blossoms and spices that never spring from earth
and constellations found in no sky. Plans for weird, otherworldly
plumbing show nymphets frolicking in sitz baths connected with
elbow-macaroni pipes. The manuscript has the eerie quality of a
perfectly sensible book from an alternate universe."
There is a picture of one page in Poundstone's book. It's written in a
flowing script using "approximately 21 curlicued symbols," some of which
are close to the Roman alphabet, but others of which supposedly resemble
Cyrillic, Glagolitic, and Ethiopian. There is one tiny note in Middle
High German, not necessarily by the original author, talking about the
Herbal of Matthiolaus. Some astrology charts in the manuscript have the
months labeled in Spanish. "What appears to be a cipher table on the
first page has long faded into illegibility," and on the other hand, some
scholars have guessed that a barely legible inscription on the *last*
page is a key!
It is said to have "languished for a long time at the Jesuit College of
Mondragone in Frascati, Italy. Then in 1912 it was purchased by Wilfred
M. Voynich, a Polish-born scientist and bibliophile... Voynich was the
son-in-law of George Boole, the logician..." A letter written in 1666
claims that Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II of Bohemia (1552-1612) bought
the manuscript for 600 gold ducats. He may have bought it from Dr.
John Dee, the famous astrologer. Rudolf thought the manuscript was
written by Roger Bacon! [Wouldn't it more likely have been written by
Dee, out to make a fast ducat?]
"Many of the most talented military code breakers of this century have
tried to decipher it as a show of prowess. Herbert Yardley, the
American code expert who solved the German cipher in WW1 and who cracked
a Japanese diplomatic cipher without knowing the Japanese language,
failed with the Voynich manuscript. So did John Manly, who unscrambled
the Waberski cipher, and William Friedman, who defeated the Japanese
"purple code" of the 1940's. Computers have been drafted into the
effort in recent years, to no avail."
Poundstone goes on to describe a kook, Newbold, who was apparently driven
batty in his attempt to crack the manuscript. He then mentions that one
Leo Levitov also claimed in 1987 to crack the cipher, saying that it was
the text of a 12th-century cult of Isis worshipers, and that it
describes a method of euthanasia by opening a vein in a warm bathtub,
among other morbid matters. According to Levitov's translation the text
begins:
"ones treat the dying each the man lying deathly ill the one person who
aches Isis each that dies treats the person"
Poundstone rejects this translation.
According to Poundstone, a William Bennett (see below) has analysed the
text with a computer and finds that its entropy is less than any known
European language, and closer to those of Polynesian languages.
My wild hypothesis, on the basis solely of the evidence above, is this.
Perhaps the text was meant to be RANDOM. Of course humans are lousy at
generating random sequences. So I'm wondering how attempted random
sequences (written in a weird alphabet) would compare statistically with
the Voynich manuscript.
Anyway, the only source Poundstone seems to cite, other than the
manuscript itself, is Leo Levitov's "Solution of the Voynich Manuscript,
A Liturgical Manual for the Endura Rite of the Cathari Heresy, the Cult
of Isis," Laguna Hills, Calif., Aegean Park Press, 1987, and William
Ralph Bennett Jr.'s "Scientific and Engineering Problem-Solving with the
Computer," Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall 1976.
I will check the Bennett book; the other sounds hard to get ahold of! I
would LOVE any further information about this bizarre puzzle. If anyone
knows Bennett and can get samples of the Voynich manuscript in
electronic form, I would LOVE to get my hands on it.
Also, I would appreciate any information on:
Voynich
The Jesuit College of Mondragone
Rudolf II
The letter by Rudolf II (where is it? what does it say?)
The attempts of Yardley, Friedman and Manly
The Herbal of Matthiolaus
and, just for the heck of it, the "Waberski cipher" and the "purple
code"!
This whole business sounds like a quagmire into which angels would fear
to tread, but a fool like me finds it fascinating.
-- sender's name lost (!?)
To counter a few hypotheses that were suggested here:
The Voynich Manuscript is certainly not strictly a polyalphabetic cipher
like Vigenere or Beaufort or (the one usually called) Porta, because of
the frequent repetitions of "words" at intervals that couldn't be
multiples of any key length. I suppose one could imagine that it's an
interrupted key Vig or something, but common elements appearing at places
other than the beginnings of words would seem to rule that out. The I.C.
is too high for a digraphic system like (an anachronistic) Playfair in any
European language.
One of the most interesting Voynich discoveries was made by Prescott Currier,
who discovered that the two different "hands" (visually distinct handwriting)
used different "dialects": that is, the frequencies for pages written in
one hand are different from those written in the other. I confirmed this
observation by running some correlation coefficients on the digraph matrices
for the two kinds of pages.
W. F. Friedman ("The Man Who Broke Purple") thought the Voynich was
written in some artificial language. If it's not a hoax, I don't see any
evidence to suggest he's wrong. My personal theory (yeah, I've offered
too many of those lately) is that it was constructed by Edward Kelley,
John Dee's scryer, with somebody else's help (to explain the second
handwriting) -- perhaps Dee himself, although he's always struck me as a
credulous dupe of Kelley rather than a co-conspirator (cf the Angelic
language stuff).
The best source I know for the Voynich is Mary D'Imperio's monograph
"The Voynich Manuscript: An Elegant Enigma", which is available from
Aegean Park Press.
--
Jim Gillogly
jim@rand.org
Here's an update on the Voynich manuscript. This will concentrate on
sources for information on the Voynich; later I will write a survey of
what I have found out so far. I begin with some references to the
case, kindly sent to me by Karl Kluge (the first three) and Micheal Roe
<M.Roe@cs.ucl.ac.uk> (the rest).
TITLE Thirty-five manuscripts : including the St. Blasien psalter, the
Llangattock hours, the Gotha missal, the Roger Bacon (Voynich)
cipher ms.
Catalogue ; 100
35 manuscripts.
CITATION New York, N.Y. : H.P. Kraus, [1962] 86 p., lxvii p. of plates, [1]
leaf of plates : ill. (some col.), facsims. ; 36 cm.
NOTES "30 years, 1932-1962" ([28] p.) in pocket. Includes indexes.
SUBJECT Manuscripts Catalogs.
Illumination of books and manuscripts Catalogs.
AUTHOR Brumbaugh, Robert Sherrick, 1918-
TITLE The most mysterious manuscript : the Voynich "Roger Bacon" cipher
manuscript / edited by Robert S. Brumbaugh.
CITATION Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, c1978. xii, 175 p.
: ill. ; 22 cm.
SUBJECT Bacon, Roger, 1214?-1294.
Ciphers.
AUTHOR D'Imperio, M. E.
TITLE The Voynich manuscript : an elegant enigma / M. E. D'Imperio.
CITATION Fort George E. Mead, Md. : National Security Agency/Central Security
Service, 1978. ix, 140 p. : ill. ; 27 cm.
NOTES Includes index. Bibliography: p. 124-131.
SUBJECT Voynich manuscript. [NOTE: see alternate publisher below!]
@book{Bennett76,
author = "Bennett, William Ralph",
title = "Scientific and Engineering Problem Solving with the Computer",
address = "Englewood Cliffs, NJ",
publisher = "Prentice-Hall",
year = 1976}
@book{dImperio78,
author = "D'Imperio, M E",
title = "The Voynich manuscript: An Elegant Enigma",
publisher= "Aegean Park Press",
year = 1978}
@article{Friedman62,
author = "Friedman, Elizebeth Smith",
title = "``The Most Mysterious Manuscript'' Still Mysterious",
booktitle = "Washington Post",
month = "August 5",
notes = "Section E",
pages = "1,5",
year = 1962}
@book{Kahn67,
author = "Kahn, David",
title = "The Codebreakers",
publisher = "Macmillan",
year = "1967"}
@article{Manly31,
author = "Manly, John Matthews",
title = "Roger Bacon and the Voynich MS",
boooktitle = "Speculum VI",
pages = "345--91",
year = 1931}
@article{ONeill44,
author = "O'Neill, Hugh",
title = "Botanical Remarks on the Voynich MS",
journal = "Speculum XIX",
pages = "p.126",
year = 1944}
@book{Poundstone88,
author = "Poundstone, W.",
title = "Labyrinths of Reason",
publisher = "Doubleday",
address = "New York",
month = "November",
year = 1988}
@article{Zimanski70,
author = "Zimanski, C.",
title = "William Friedman and the Voynich Manuscript",
journal = "Philological Quarterly",
year = "1970"}
@article{Guy91b,
author = "Guy, J. B. M.",
title = "Statistical Properties of Two Folios of the Voynich Manuscript",
journal = "Cryptologia",
volume = "XV",
number = "4",
pages = "pp. 207--218",
month = "July",
year = 1991}
@article{Guy91a,
author = "Guy, J. B. M.",
title = "Letter to the Editor Re Voynich Manuscript",
journal = "Cryptologia",
volume = "XV",
number = "3",
pages = "pp. 161--166",
year = 1991}
This is by no means a complete list. It doesn't include Newbold's
(largely discredited) work, nor work by Feely and Stong.
In addition, there is the proposed decryption by Leo Levitov (also
largely discredited):
"Solution of the Voynich Manuscript: A Liturgical Manual for the
Endura Rite of the Cathari Heresy, the Cult of Isis_, available from
Aegean Park Press, P. O. Box 2837, Laguna Hills CA 92654-0837."
According to Earl Boebert, this book is reviewed in
Cryptologia XII, 1 (January 1988). I should add that Brumbaugh's book
above gives a third, also largely discredited, decryption of the Voynich.
According to smb@att.ulysses.com, Aegean Park Press does mail-order
business and can be reached at the above address or at 714-586-8811
(an answering machine).
Micheal Roe has explained how one get microfilms of the whole
manuscript:
"The Beinecke Rare Book Library, Yale University sells a microfilm of the
manuscript. Their catalog number for the original is MS 408, ``The Voynich
`Roger Bacon' Cipher MS''. You should write to them.
The British Library [sic - should be Museum] has a photocopy of the MS
donated to them by John Manly circa 1931. They apparently lost it until
12 March 1947, when it was entered in the catalogue (without
cross-references under Voynich, Manly, Roger Bacon or any other useful
keywords...)
It appears as ``MS Facs 461: Positive rotographs of a Cipher MS (folios 1-56)
acquired in 1912 by Wilfred M. Voynich in Southern Europe.'
Correspondance between Newbold, Manly and various British Museum experts
appears under ``MS Facs 439: Leaves of the Voynich MS, alleged to be in
Roger Bacon's cypher, with correspondence and other pertinent material''
See John Manly's 1931 article in Speculum and Newbold's book for what the
correspondance was about! There are also a number of press cuttings.
Both of these in are in the manuscript collection, for which special
permission is needed in addition to a normal British Library reader's pass."
Also, Jim Gillogly has been extremely kind in making available
part of the manuscript that was transcribed and keyed in by Mary
D'Imperio (see above), using Prescott Currier's notation. It appears to
consist of 166 of the total 232 pages. I hope to do some statistical
studies on this, and I encourage others to do the same and let me know
what they find! As Jim notes, the file is pub/jim/voynich.tar.Z and is
available by anonymous ftp at rand.org. I've had a little trouble with
this file at page 165, where I read "1650voynich 664" etc., with page
166 missing. If anyone else notes this let Jim or I know.
Jim says he has confirmed by correlations between digraph matrices the
discovery by Prescott Crurrier that the manuscript is written in two
visibly distinct hands. These are marked "A" and "B" in the file
voynich.tar.Z.
Because of the possibility that the Voynich is nonsense, it would be
interesting to compare the Voynich to the Codex Seraphinianus, which
Kevin McCarty kindly reminded me of. He writes:
"This is very odd. I know nothing of the Voynich manuscript, but
I know of something which sounds very much like it and was created
by an Italian artist, who it now seems was probably influenced
by this work. It a book titled "Codex Seraphinianus", written in
a very strange script. The title page contains only the book's title
and the publisher's name: Abbeville Press, New York. The only clues
in English (in *any* recognizable language) are some blurbs on the
dust jacket that identify it as a modern work of art, and the copyright
notice, in fine print, which reads
"Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Serafini, Luigi.
Codex Seraphinianus.
1. Imaginary Languages. 2. Imaginary societies.
3. Encyclopedias and Dictionaries-- Miscellanea.
I. Title.
PN6381.S4 1983 818'.5407 83.-7076
ISBN 0-89659-428-9
First American Edition, 1983.
Copyright (c) 1981 by Franco Maria Ricci. All rights reserved
by Abbeville Press. No part of this book may be reproduced...
without permission in writing from the publisher. Inquiries should
be addressed to Abbeville Press, Inc., 505 Park Avenue, New York
10022. Printed and bound in Italy."
The book is remarkable and bizarre. It *looks* like an encyclopedia
for an imaginary world. Page after page of beautiful pictures
of imaginary flora and fauna, with annotations and captions in
a completely strange script. Machines, architecture, umm, 'situations',
arcane diagrams, implements, an archeologist pointing at a Rosetta stone
(with phony hieroglyphics), an article on penmanship (with unorthodox
pens), and much more, finally ending with a brief index.
The script in this work looks vaguely similar to the Voynich orthography
shown in Poundstone's book (I just compared them); the alphabets
look quite similar, but the Codex script is more cursive and less
bookish than Voynich. It runs to about 200 pages, and probably
ought to provide someone two things:
- a possible explanation of what the Voynich manuscript is
(a highly imaginative work of art)
- a textual work which looks like it was inspired by it and might
provide an interesting comparison for statistical study."
I suppose it would be too much to hope that someone has already
transcribed parts of the Codex, but nonetheless, if anyone has any in
electronic form, I would love to have a copy for comparative statistics.
Jacques Guy kindly summarized his analysis (in Cryptologia, see above)
of the Voynich as follows:
"I transcribed the two folios in Bennett's book and submitted them to
letter-frequency counts, distinguishing word-initial, word-medial,
word-final, isolated, line-initial, and line-final positions. I also
submitted that transcription to Sukhotin's algorithm which, given a text
written in an alphabetical system, identifies which symbols are vowels and
which are consonants. The letter transcribed CT in Bennett's system came
out as a consonant, the one transcribed CC as vowel. Now it so happens
that CT is exactly the shape of the letter "t" in the Beneventan script
(used in medieval Spain and Northern Italy), and CC is exactly the shape
of "a" in that same script. I concluded that the author had a knowledge
of that script, and that the values of CT and CC probably were "t" and
"a". There's a lot more, but more shaky."
By popular demand I've put a machine-readable copy of the Voynich Manuscript
up for anonymous ftp:
Host: rand.org
File: pub/jim/voynich.tar.Z
It uses Prescott Currier's notation, and was transcribed by Mary D'Imperio.
If you use it in any analysis, be sure to give credit to D'Imperio, who put
in a lot of effort to get it right.
--
Jim Gillogly
jim@rand.org
This post is essentially a summary of the fruit of a short research
quest at the local library.
Brief description of the Voynich manuscript:
The Voynich manuscript was bought (in about 1586) by the Holy Roman
Emperor Rudolf II. He believed it to be the work of Roger Bacon
an english 13th century philosopher. The manuscript consisted of about
200 pages with many illustrations. It is believed that the manuscript
contains some secret scientific or magical knowledge since it is entirely
written in secret writing (presumably in cipher).
The Voynich Manuscript is often abbreviated "Voynich MS" in all of the
books I have read on Voynich. This is done without explanation. I
suppose it is just a convention started by the founding analysts of
the manuscript to call it that.
William R. Newbold, one of the original analysts of the Voynich MS after
Voynich, claims to have arrived at a partial decipherment of the entire
manuscript. His book The Cipher of Roger Bacon [2] contains a history
of the unravelment of the cipher *and* keys to the cipher itself. As well
as translations of several pages of the manuscript.
Newbold derives his decipherment rules through a study of the medeival
mind (which he is a leading scholar in) as well as the other writings
of Roger Bacon. Says Newbold, ciphers in Roger Bacon's writings are not
new, as Bacon discusses in other works the need for monks to use
encipherment to protect their knowlege.
Newbold includes many partial decipherments from the Voynich MS but most of
them are presented in Latin only.
Newbolds deciphering rules (from The Cipher of Roger Bacon [1])
---------------------------------------------------------------
1. Syllabification: [double all but the first and last letters of each
word, and divide the product into biliteral groups or symbols.]
2. Translation: [translate these symbols into the alphabetic values]
3. Reversion: [change the alphabetic values to the phonetic values, by use
of the reversion alphabet]
4. Recomposition: [ rearrange the letters in order, and thus recompose the
true text].
The text I copied this from failed to note step 0 which was:
0. Ignore. [ignore the actual shape of every symbol and analyze only the
(random?) properties of the direction of swirl and crosshatch patterns
of the characters when viewed under a microscope. 14 distinct contruction
patterns can be identified among the (much larger) set of symbols]
John M. Manly in The Most Mysterious Manuscript [3], suggests that Newbold's
method of decipherment is totally invalid. Manly goes on to show that it
is not difficult to obtain *ANY DESIRABLE* message from the Voynich MS
using Newbold's rules. He shows that after fifteen minutes deciphering
a short sequence of letters he arrives at the plaintext message
"Paris is lured into loving vestals..."
and quips that he will furnish a continuation of the translation upon
request!
The reason I have spent so much time explaining Newbold's method is that
Newbold presents the most convincing argument for how he arrived at his
conclusions. Notwithstanding the fact that he invented the oija board of
deciphering systems.
Joseph Martin Feely, in his book on the Voynich MS [2] , claims to have
found the key to deciphering at least one page of the Voynich MS. His entire
book on the topic of the Voynich manuscript is devoted to the deciphering of
the single page 78. Feely presents full tables of translation of the page 78
from its written form into latin (and english). It seems that Feely was using
the exhaustive analysis method to determine the key.
Feely suggests the following translation of (the first fiew lines of) page
78 of the Voynich MS:
"the combined stream when well humidified, ramifies; afterward it is broken
down smaller; afterward, at a distance, into the fore-bladder it comes [1].
Then vesselled, it is after-a-while ruminated: well humidified it is
clothed with veinlets [2]. Thence after-a-bit they move down; tiny
teats they provide (or live upon) in the outpimpling of the veinlets.
They are impermiated; are thrown down below; they are ruminated; they are
feminized with the tiny teats. .... "
... and so on for three more pages of "english plaintext".
The descriptions by Feely say that this text is accompanied in the Voynich MS
by an illustration that (he says) is unmistakably the internal female
reproductive organs (I saw the plate myself and they DO look like fallopian
tubes *AFTER* I read the explanation).
The most informative work that I found (I feel) was "The Most Mysterious
Manuscript". Of the five books on Voynich that I found, this was the only
one that didn't claim to have found the key but was, rather, a collection
of essays on the history of the Voynich MS and criticisms of various attempts
by earlier scientists. It was also the *latest* book that I was able to
consult, being published in 1978.
My impression from the black and white plates of the Voynich MS I've seen, are
that the illustrations are very weird when compared to other 'illuminated'
manuscripts of this time. Particularly I would say that there is emphasis
on the female nude that is unusual for the art of this period. I can't say
that I myself believe the images to have ANYTHING to do with the text.
My own conjecture is that the manuscript is a one-way encipherment. A
cipher so clever that the inventor didn't even think of how it could be
deciphered. Sorta like an /etc/passwd file.
Bibliography
------------
1. William R. Newbold. _The Cipher of Roger Bacon_Roland G Kent, ed.
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1928.
2. Joseph Martin Feely. _Roger Bacon's Cipher: The Right Key Found_
Rochester N.Y.:Joseph Martin Feely, pub., 1943.
3. _The Most Mysterious Manuscript_ Robert S. Brumbaugh, ed. Southern Illinois
Press, 1978
Unix filters are so wonderful. Massaging the machine readable file, we find:
4182 "words", of which 1284 are used more than once, 308 used 8+ times,
184 used 15+ times, 23 used 100+ times.
Does this tell us anything about the language (if any) the text is written
in?
For those who may be interested, here are the 23 words used 100+ times:
121 2
115 4OFAE
114 4OFAM
155 4OFAN
195 4OFC89
162 4OFCC89
101 4OFCC9
189 89
111 8AE
492 8AM
134 8AN
156 8AR
248 OE
148 OR
111 S9
251 SC89
142 SC9
238 SOE
150 SOR
244 ZC89
116 ZC9
116 ZOE
Could someone email the Voynich Ms. ref list that appeared here not
very long ago? Thanks in advance...
Also... I came across the following ref that is fun(?):
The Voynich manuscript: an elegant enigma / M. E. D'Imperio
Fort George E. Mead, Md. : National Security Agency(!)
Central Security Service(?), 1978. ix, 140 p. : ill. ; 27 cm.
The (?!) are mine... Sorry if this was already on the list, but the
mention of the NSA (and what's the CSS?) made it jump out at me...
--
Ron Carter | rcarter@nyx.cs.du.edu rcarter GEnie 70707.3047 CIS
Director | Center for the Study of Creative Intelligence
Denver, CO | Knowledge is power. Knowledge to the people. Just say know.
Distribution: na
Organization: Wetware Diversions, San Francisco
Keywords:
From sci.archaeology:
>From: jamie@cs.sfu.ca (Jamie Andrews)
>Date: 16 Nov 91 00:49:08 GMT
>
> It seems like the person who would be most likely to solve
>this Voynich manuscript cipher would have
>(a) knowledge of the modern techniques for solving more complex
> ciphers such as Playfairs and Vigineres; and
>(b) knowledge of the possible contemporary and archaic languages
> in which the plaintext could have been written.
An extended discussion of the Voynich Manuscript may be found in the
tape of the same name by Terence McKenna. I'm not sure who is currently
publishing this particular McKenna tape but probably one of:
Dolphin Tapes, POB 71, Big Sur, CA 93920
Sounds True, 1825 Pearl St., Boulder, CO 80302
Sound Photosynthesis, POB 2111, Mill Valley, CA 94942
The Spring 1988 issue of Gnosis magazine contained an article by McKenna
giving some background of the Voynich Manuscipt and attempts to decipher
it, and reviewing Leo Levitov's "Solution of the Voynich Manuscript"
(published in 1987 by Aegean Park Press, POB 2837 Laguna Hills, CA 92654).
Levitov's thesis is that the manuscript is the only surviving primary
document of the Cathar faith (exterminated on the orders of the Pope in
the Albigensian Crusade in the 1230s) and that it is in fact not
encrypted material but rather is a highly polyglot form of Medieval
Flemish with a large number of Old French and Old High German loan
words, written in a special script.
As far as I know Levitov's there has been no challenge to Levitov's
claims so far.
Michael Barlow, who had reviewed Levitov's book in Cryptologia, had sent me
photocopies of the pages where much of the language was described
(pp.21-31). I have just found them, and am looking at them now as I am
typing this. Incidentally, I do not believe this has anything to do with
cryptology proper, but the decipherment of texts in unknown languages. So
if you are into cryptography proper, skip this.
Looking at the "Voynich alphabet" pp.25-27, I made a list of the letters of
the Voynich language as Levitov interprets them, and I added phonetic
descriptions of the sounds I *think* Levitov meant to describe. Here it is:
Letter# Phonetic Phonetic descriptions
(IPA) in linguists' jargon: in plain English:
1 a low open, central unrounded a as in father
e mid close, front, unrounded ay as in May
O mid open, back, rounded aw as in law
or o as in got
(British
pronunciation)
2 s unvoiced dental fricative s as in so
3 d voiced dental stop d
4 E mid, front, unrounded e as in wet
5 f unvoiced labiodental fricative f
6 i short, high open, front, i as in dim
unrounded
7 i: long, high, front, unrounded ea as in weak
8 i:E (?) I can't make head nor tail of Levitov's
explanations. Probably like "ei" in "weird"
dragging along the "e": "weeeird"! (British
pronunciation, with a silent "r")
9 C unvoiced palatal fricative ch in German ich
10 k unvoived velar stop k
11 l lateral, can't be more precise from
description, probably like l in "loony"
12 m voiced bilabial nasal m
13 n voiced dental nasal n
14 r (?) cannot tell precisely from Scottish r?
description Dutch r?
15 t no description; dental stop? t
16 t another form for #15 t
17 T (?) no description th as in this?
th as in thick?
18 TE (?) again, no description
or ET (?)
19 v voiced labiodental fricative v as in rave
20 v ditto, same as #19 ditto
(By now, you will have guessed what my conclusion about Levitov's
decipherment was)
In the column headed "Phonetic (IPA)" I have used capital letters for lack
of the special international phonetic symbols:
E for the Greek letter "epsilon"
O for the letter that looks like a mirror-image of "c"
C for c-cedilla
T for the Greek letter "theta"
The colon (:) means that the sound represented by the preceding letter is
long, e.g. "i:" is a long "i".
The rest, #21 to 25, are not "letters" proper, but represent groups
of two or more letters, just like #18 does. They are:
21 av
22a Ev
22b vE
23 CET
24 kET
25 sET
That gives us a language with 6 vowels: a (#1), e (#1 again), O (#1 again),
E (#4), i (#6), and i: (#7). Letter #8 is not a vowel, but a combination
of two vowels: i: (#7) and probably E (#4). Levitov writes that the
language is derived from Dutch. If so, it has lost the "oo" sound (English
spelling; "oe" in Dutch spelling), and the three front rounded vowels of
Dutch: u as in U ("you", polite), eu as in deur ("door"), u as in vlug
("quick"). Note that out of six vowels, three are confused under the same
letter (#1), even though they sound very different from one another: a, e,
O. Just imagine that you had no way of distinguishing between "last",
"lest" and "lost" when writing in English, and you'll have a fair idea of
the consequences.
Let us look at the consonants now. I will put them in a matrix, with the
points of articulation in one dimension, and the manner of articulation in
the other (it's all standard procedure when analyzing a language). Brackets
around a letter will mean that I could not tell where to place it exactly,
and just took a guess.
labial dental palatal velar
nasal m n
voiced stop d
unvoiced stop t k
voiced fricative v (T)
unvoiced fricative f s C
lateral l
trill (?) (r)
Note that there are only twelve consonant sounds. That is unheard of for a
European language. No European language has so few consonant sounds.
Spanish, which has very few sounds (only five vowels), has seventeen
distinct consonants sounds, plus two semi-consonants. Dutch has from 18 to
20 consonants (depending on speakers, and how you analyze the sounds.
Warning: I just counted them on the back of an envelope; I might have
missed one or two). What is also extraordinary in Levitov's language is
that it lacks a "g", and *BOTH* "b" and "p". I cannot think of one single
language in the world that lacks both "b" and "p". Levitov also says that
"m" occurs only word-finally, never at the beginning, nor in the middle of
a word. That's true: the letter he says is an "m" is always word-final in
the reproductions I have seen of the Voynich MS. But no language I know of
behaves like that. All have an "m" (except one American Indian language,
which is very famous for that, and the name of which escapes me right now),
but, if there is a position where "m" never appears in some languages, that
position is word-finally. Exactly the reverse of Levitov's language.
What does Levitov say about the origin of the language?
"The language was very much standardized. It was an application of a
polyglot oral tongue into a literary language which would be understandable
to people who did not understand Latin and to whom this language could be
read."
At first reading, I would dismiss it all as nonsense: "polyglot oral
tongue" means nothing in linguistics terms. But Levitov is a medical
doctor, so allowances must be made. The best meaning I can read into
"polyglot oral tongue" is "a language that had never been written before
and which had taken words from many different languages". That is perfectly
reasonable: English for one, has done that. Half its vocabulary is Norman
French, and some of the commonest words have non-Anglo-Saxon origins.
"Sky", for instance, is a Danish word. So far, so good.
Levitov continues: "The Voynich is actually a simple language because it
follows set rules and has a very limited vocabulary.... There is a
deliberate duality and plurality of words in the Voynich and much use of
apostrophism".
By "duality and plurality of words" Levitov means that the words are highly
ambiguous, most words having two or more different meanings. I can only
guess at what he means by apostrophism: running words together, leaving
bits out, as we do in English: can not --> cannot --> can't, is not -->
ain't.
Time for a tutorial in the Voynich language as I could piece it together
from Levitov's description. Because, according to Levitov, letter #1
represent 3 vowels sounds, I will represent it by just "a", but remember:
it can be pronounced a, e, or o. But I will distinguish, as does Levitov,
between the two letters which he says were both pronounced "v", using "v"
for letter #20 and "w" for letter #21.
Some vocabulary now. Some verbs first, which Levitov gives in the
infinitive. In the Voynich language the infinitive of verbs ends in -en,
just like in Dutch and in German. I have removed that grammatical ending in
the list which follows, and given probable etymologies in parentheses
(Levitov gives doesn't give any):
ad = to aid, help ("aid")
ak = to ache, pain ("ache")
al = to ail ("ail")
and = to undergo the "Endura" rite ("End[ura]", probably)
d = to die ("d[ie]")
fad = to be for help (from f= for and ad=aid)
fal = to fail ("fail")
fil = to be for illness (from: f=for and il=ill)
il = to be ill ("ill")
k = to understand ("ken", Dutch and German "kennen" meaning "to know")
l = to lie deathly ill, in extremis ("lie", "lay")
s = to see ("see", Dutch "zien")
t = to do, treat (German "tun" = to do)
v = to will ("will" or Latin "volo" perhaps)
vid = to be with death (from vi=with and d=die)
vil = to want, wish, desire (German "willen")
vis = to know ("wit", German "wissen", Dutch "weten")
vit = to know (ditto)
viT = to use (no idea, Latin "uti" perhaps?)
vi = to be the way (Latin "via")
eC = to be each ("each")
ai:a = to eye, look at ("eye", "oog" in Dutch)
en = to do (no idea)
Example given by Levitov: enden "to do to death" made up of "en"
(to do), "d" (to die) and "en" (infinitive ending). Well, to me,
that's doing it the hard way. What's wrong with just "enden" = to
end (German "enden", too!)
More vocabulary:
em = he or they (masculine) ("him")
er = her or they (feminine) ("her")
eT = it or they ("it" or perhaps "they" or Dutch "het")
an = one ("one", Dutch "een")
"There are no declensions of nouns or conjugation of verbs. Only the
present tense is used" says Levitov.
Examples:
den = to die (infinitive) (d = die, -en = infinitive)
deT = it/they die (d = die, eT = it/they)
diteT = it does die (d = die, t = do, eT = it/they, with an "i" added to
make it easier to pronounce, which is quite common and natural
in languages)
But Levitov contradicts himself immediately, giving another tense (known
as present progressive in English grammar):
dieT = it is dying
But I may be unfair there, perhaps it is a compound: d = die, i = is
...-ing, eT = it/they.
Plurals are formed by suffixing "s" in one part of the MS, "eT" in another:
"ans" or "aneT" = ones.
More:
wians = we ones (wi = we, wie in Dutch, an = one, s = plural)
vian = one way (vi = way, an = one)
wia = one who (wi = who, a = one)
va = one will (v = will, a = one)
wa = who
wi = who
wieT = who, it (wi = who, eT = it)
witeT = who does it (wi = who, t = do, eT = it/they)
weT = who it is (wi = who, eT = it, then loss of "i", giving "weT")
ker = she understands (k = understand, er =she)
At this stage I would like to comment that we are here in the presence of a
Germanic language which behaves very, very strangely in the way of the
meanings of its compound words. For instance, "viden" (to be with death) is
made up of the words for "with", "die" and the infinitive suffix. I am sure
that Levitov here was thinking of a construction like German "mitkommen"
which means "to come along" (to "withcome"). I suppose I could say "Bitte,
sterben Sie mit" on the same model as "Bitte, kommen Sie mit" ("Come with
me/us, please), thereby making up a verb "mitsterben", but that would mean
"to die together with someone else", not "to be with death".
Let us see how Levitov translates a whole sentence. Since he does not
explain how he breaks up those compound words I have tried to do it using
the vocabulary and grammar he provides in those pages. My tentative
explanations are in parenthesis.
TanvieT faditeT wan aTviteT anTviteT atwiteT aneT
TanvieT = the one way (T = the (?), an = one, vi =way, eT = it)
faditeT = doing for help (f = for, ad = aid, i = -ing, t = do, eT = it)
wan = person (wi/wa = who, an = one)
aTviteT = one that one knows (a = one, T = that, vit = know, eT = it.
Here, Levitov adds one extra letter which is not in the text,
getting "aTaviteT", which provide the second "one" of his
translation)
anTviteT = one that knows (an =one, T = that, vit = know, eT = it)
atwiteT = one treats one who does it (a = one, t = do, wi = who,
t = do, eT = it. Literally: "one does [one] who does it".
The first "do" is translated as "treat", the second "one" is
added in by Levitov: he added one letter, which gives him
"atawiteT")
aneT = ones (an = one, -eT = the plural ending)
Levitov's translation of the above in better English: "the one way for
helping a person who needs it, is to know one of the ones who do treat
one".
Need I say more? Does anyone still believe that Levitov's translations are
worth anything?
As an exercise, here is the last sentence on p.31, with its word-for-word
translation by Levitov. I leave you to work it out, and to figure out what
it might possibly mean. Good luck!
tvieT nwn anvit fadan van aleC
tvieT = do the ways
nwn = not who does (but Levitov adds a letter to make it "nwen")
anvit = one knows
fadan = one for help
van = one will
aleC = each ail
==> cryptology/swiss.colony.p <==
What are the 1987 Swiss Colony ciphers?
==> cryptology/swiss.colony.s <==
Did anyone solve the 1987 'Crypto-gift' contest that was run by
Swiss Colony? My friend and I worked on it for 4 months, but
didn't get anywhere. My friend solved the 1986 puzzle in
about a week and won $1000. I fear that we missed some clue that
makes it incredibly easy to solve. I'm including the code, clues
and a few notes for those of you so inclined to give it a shot.
197,333,318,511,824,
864,864,457,197,333,
824,769,372,769,864,
865,457,153,824,511,223,845,318,
489,953,234,769,703,489,845,703,
372,216,457,509,333,153,845,333,
511,864,621,611,769,707,153,333,
703,197,845,769,372,621,223,333,
197,845,489,953,223,769,216,223,
769,769,457,153,824,511,372,223,
769,824,824,216,865,845,153,769,
333,704,511,457,153,333,824,333,
953,372,621,234,953,234,865,703,
318,223,333,489,944,153,824,769,
318,457,234,845,318,223,372,769,
216,894,153,333,511,611,
769,704,511,153,372,621,
197,894,894,153,333,953,
234,845,318,223
CHRIS IS BACK WITH GOLD FOR YOU
HIS RHYMES CONTAIN THE SECRET.
YOU SCOUTS WHO'VE EARNED YOUR MERIT BADGE
WILL QUICKLY LEARN TO READ IT.
SO WHEN YOUR CHRISTMAS HAM'S ALL GONE
AND YOU'RE READY FOR THE TUSSLE,
BALL UP YOUR HAND INTO A FIST
AND SHOW OUR MOUSE YOUR MUSCLE.
PLEASE READ THESE CLUES WE LEAVE TO YOU
BOTH FINE ONES AND THE COARSE;
IF CARE IS USED TO HEED THEM ALL
YOU'LL SUFFER NO REMORSE.
Notes:
The puzzle comes as a jigsaw that when assembled has the list of
numbers. They are arranged as indicated on the puzzle, with commas.
The lower right corner has a drawing of 'Secret Agent Chris Mouse'.
He holds a box under his arm which looks like the box
the puzzle comes in. The upper left
corner has the words 'NEW 1987 $50,000 Puzzle'. The lower
left corner is empty. The clues are printed on the
entry form in upper case, with the punctuation as shown.
Ed Rupp
...!ut-sally!oakhill!ed
Motorola, Inc., Austin Tx.
==> decision/allais.p <==
The Allais Paradox involves the choice between two alternatives:
A. 89% chance of an unknown amount
10% chance of $1 million
1% chance of $1 million
B. 89% chance of an unknown amount (the same amount as in A)
10% chance of $2.5 million
1% chance of nothing
What is the rational choice? Does this choice remain the same if the
unknown amount is $1 million? If it is nothing?
==> decision/allais.s <==
This is "Allais' Paradox".
Which choice is rational depends upon the subjective value of money.
Many people are risk averse, and prefer the better chance of $1
million of option A. This choice is firm when the unknown amount is
$1 million, but seems to waver as the amount falls to nothing. In the
latter case, the risk averse person favors B because there is not much
difference between 10% and 11%, but there is a big difference between
$1 million and $2.5 million.
Thus the choice between A and B depends upon the unknown amount, even
though it is the same unknown amount independent of the choice. This
violates the "independence axiom" that rational choice between two
alternatives should depend only upon how those two alternatives
differ.
However, if the amounts involved in the problem are reduced to tens of
dollars instead of millions of dollars, people's behavior tends to
fall back in line with the axioms of rational choice. People tend to
choose option B regardless of the unknown amount. Perhaps when
presented with such huge numbers, people begin to calculate
qualitatively. For example, if the unknown amount is $1 million the
options are:
A. a fortune, guaranteed
B. a fortune, almost guaranteed
a tiny chance of nothing
Then the choice of A is rational. However, if the unknown amount is
nothing, the options are:
A. small chance of a fortune ($1 million)
large chance of nothing
B. small chance of a larger fortune ($2.5 million)
large chance of nothing
In this case, the choice of B is rational. The Allais Paradox then
results from the limited ability to rationally calculate with such
unusual quantities. The brain is not a calculator and rational
calculations may rely on things like training, experience, and
analogy, none of which would be help in this case. This hypothesis
could be tested by studying the correlation between paradoxical
behavior and "unusualness" of the amounts involved.
If this explanation is correct, then the Paradox amounts to little
more than the observation that the brain is an imperfect rational
engine.
==> decision/division.p <==
N-Person Fair Division
If two people want to divide a pie but do not trust each other, they can
still ensure that each gets a fair share by using the technique that one
person cuts and the other person chooses. Generalize this technique
to more than two people. Take care to ensure that no one can be cheated
by a coalition of the others.
==> decision/division.s <==
N-Person Fair Division
Number the people from 1 to N. Person 1 cuts off a piece of the pie.
Person 2 can either diminish the size of the cut off piece or pass.
The same for persons 3 through N. The last person to touch the piece
must take it and is removed from the process. Repeat this procedure
with the remaining N - 1 people, until everyone has a piece.
(cf. Luce and Raiffa, "Games and Decisions", Wiley, 1957, p. 366)
There is a cute result in combinatorics called the Marriage Theorem.
A village has n men and n women, such that for all 0 < k <= n and for any
set of k men there are at least k women, each of whom is in love with at least
one of the k men. All of the men are in love with all of the women :-}.
The theorem asserts that there is a way to arrange the village into n
monogamous couplings.
The Marriage Theorem can be applied to the Fair Pie-Cutting Problem.
One player cuts the pie into n pieces. Each of the players labels
some non-null subset of the pieces as acceptable to him. For reasons
given below he should "accept" each piece of size > 1/n, not just the
best piece(s). The pie-cutter is required to "accept" all of the pieces.
Given a set S of players let S' denote the set of pie-pieces
acceptable to at least one player in S. Let t be the size of the largest
set (T) of players satisfying |T| > |T'|. If there is no such set, the
Marriage Theorem can be applied directly. Since the pie-cutter accepts
every piece we know that t < n.
Choose |T| - |T'| pieces at random from outside T', glue them
together with the pieces in T' and let the players in T repeat the game
with this smaller (t/n)-size pie. This is fair since they all rejected
the other n-t pieces, so they believe this pie is larger than t/n.
The remaining n-t players can each be assigned one of the remaining
n-t pie-pieces without further ado due to the Marriage Theorem. (Otherwise
the set T above was not maximal.)
==> decision/dowry.p <==
Sultan's Dowry
A sultan has granted a commoner a chance to marry one of his hundred
daughters. The commoner will be presented the daughters one at a time.
When a daughter is presented, the commoner will be told the daughter's
dowry. The commoner has only one chance to accept or reject each
daughter; he cannot return to a previously rejected daughter.
The sultan's catch is that the commoner may only marry the daughter with
the highest dowry. What is the commoner's best strategy assuming
he knows nothing about the distribution of dowries?
==> decision/dowry.s <==
Solution
Since the commoner knows nothing about the distribution of the dowries,
the best strategy is to wait until a certain number of daughters have
been presented then pick the highest dowry thereafter. The exact number to
skip is determined by the condition that the odds that the highest dowry
has already been seen is just greater than the odds that it remains to be
seen AND THAT IF IT IS SEEN IT WILL BE PICKED. This amounts to finding the
smallest x such that:
x/n > x/n * (1/(x+1) + ... + 1/(n-1)).
Working out the math for n=100 and calculating the probability gives:
The commoner should wait until he has seen 37 of the daughters,
then pick the first daughter with a dowry that is bigger than any
preceding dowry. With this strategy, his odds of choosing the daughter
with the highest dowry are surprisingly high: about 37%.
(cf. F. Mosteller, "Fifty Challenging Problems in Probability with Solutions",
Addison-Wesley, 1965, #47; "Mathematical Plums", edited by Ross Honsberger,
pp. 104-110)
==> decision/envelope.p <==
Someone has prepared two envelopes containing money. One contains twice as
much money as the other. You have decided to pick one envelope, but then the
following argument occurs to you: Suppose my chosen envelope contains $X,
then the other envelope either contains $X/2 or $2X. Both cases are
equally likely, so my expectation if I take the other envelope is
.5 * $X/2 + .5 * $2X = $1.25X, which is higher than my current $X, so I
should change my mind and take the other envelope. But then I can apply the
argument all over again. Something is wrong here! Where did I go wrong?
In a variant of this problem, you are allowed to peek into the envelope
you chose before finally settling on it. Suppose that when you peek you
see $100. Should you switch now?
==> decision/envelope.s <==
Let's follow the argument carefully, substituting real numbers for
variables, to see where we went wrong. In the following, we will assume
the envelopes contain $100 and $200. We will consider the two equally
likely cases separately, then average the results.
First, take the case that X=$100.
"I have $100 in my hand. If I exchange I get $200. The value of the exchange
is $200. The value from not exchanging is $100. Therefore, I gain $100
by exchanging."
Second, take the case that X=$200.
"I have $200 in my hand. If I exchange I get $100. The value of the exchange
is $100. The value from not exchanging is $200. Therefore, I lose $100
by exchanging."
Now, averaging the two cases, I see that the expected gain is zero.
So where is the slip up? In one case, switching gets X/2 ($100), in the
other case, switching gets 2X ($200), but X is different in the two
cases, and I can't simply average the two different X's to get 1.25X.
I can average the two numbers ($100 and $200) to get $150, the expected
value of switching, which is also the expected value of not switching,
but I cannot under any circumstances average X/2 and 2X.
This is a classic case of confusing variables with constants.
OK, so let's consider the case in which I looked into the envelope and
found that it contained $100. This pins down what X is: a constant.
Now the argument is that the odds of $50 is .5 and the odds of $200
is .5, so the expected value of switching is $125, so we should switch.
However, the only way the odds of $50 could be .5 and the odds of $200
could be .5 is if all integer values are equally likely. But any
probability distribution that is finite and equal for all integers
would sum to infinity, not one as it must to be a probability distribution.
Thus, the assumption of equal likelihood for all integer values is
self-contradictory, and leads to the invalid proof that you should
always switch. This is reminiscent of the plethora of proofs that 0=1;
they always involve some illegitimate assumption, such as the validity
of division by zero.
Limiting the maximum value in the envelopes removes the self-contradiction
and the argument for switching. Let's see how this works.
Suppose all amounts up to $1 trillion were equally likely to be
found in the first envelope, and all amounts beyond that would never
appear. Then for small amounts one should indeed switch, but not for
amounts above $500 billion. The strategy of always switching would pay
off for most reasonable amounts but would lead to disastrous losses for
large amounts, and the two would balance each other out.
For those who would prefer to see this worked out in detail:
Assume the smaller envelope is uniform on [$0,$M], for some value
of $M. What is the expectation value of always switching? A quarter of
the time $100 >= $M (i.e. 50% chance $X is in [$M/2,$M] and 50% chance
the larger envelope is chosen). In this case the expected switching
gain is -$50 (a loss). Thus overall the always switch policy has an
expected (relative to $100) gain of (3/4)*$50 + (1/4)*(-$50) = $25.
However the expected absolute gain (in terms of M) is:
/ M
| g f(g) dg, [ where f(g) = (1/2)*Uniform[0,M)(g) +
/-M (1/2)*Uniform(-M,0](g). ]
= 0. QED.
OK, so always switching is not the optimal switching strategy. Surely
there must be some strategy that takes advantage of the fact that we
looked into the envelope and we know something we did not know before
we looked.
Well, if we know the maximum value $M that can be in the smaller envelope,
then the optimal decision criterion is to switch if $100 < $M, otherwise stick.
The reason for the stick case is straightforward. The reason for the
switch case is due to the pdf of the smaller envelope being twice as
high as that of the larger envelope over the range [0,$M). That is, the
expected gain in switching is (2/3)*$100 + (1/3)*(-$50) = $50.
What if we do not know the maximum value of the pdf? You can exploit
the "test value" technique to improve your chances. The trick here is
to pick a test value T. If the amount in the envelope is less than the
test value, switch; if it is more, do not. This works in that if T happens
to be in the range [M,2M] you will make the correct decision. Therefore,
assuming the unknown pdf is uniform on [0,M], you are slightly better off
with this technique.
Of course, the pdf may not even be uniform, so the "test value" technique
may not offer much of an advantage. If you are allowed to play the game
repeatedly, you can estimate the pdf, but that is another story...
==> decision/exchange.p <==
At one time, the Mexican and American dollars were devalued by 10 cents on each
side of the border (i.e. a Mexican dollar was 90 cents in the US, and a US
dollar was worth 90 cents in Mexico). A man walks into a bar on the American
side of the border, orders 10 cents worth of beer, and tenders a Mexican dollar
in change. He then walks across the border to Mexico, orders 10 cents worth of
beer and tenders a US dollar in change. He continues this throughout the day,
and ends up dead drunk with the original dollar in his pocket.
Who pays for the drinks?
==> decision/exchange.s <==
The man paid for all the drinks. But, you say, he ended up with the same
amount of money that he started with! However, as he transported Mexican
dollars into Mexico and US dollars into the US, he performed "economic work"
by moving the currency to a location where it was in greater demand (and thus
valued higher). The earnings from this work were spent on the drinks.
Note that he can only continue to do this until the Mexican bar runs out
of US dollars, or the US bar runs out of Mexican dollars, i.e., until
he runs out of "work" to do.
==> decision/newcomb.p <==
Newcomb's Problem
A being put one thousand dollars in box A and either zero or one million
dollars in box B and presents you with two choices:
(1) Open box B only.
(2) Open both box A and B.
The being put money in box B only if it predicted you will choose option (1).
The being put nothing in box B if it predicted you will do anything other than
choose option (1) (including choosing option (2), flipping a coin, etc.).
Assuming that you have never known the being to be wrong in predicting your
actions, which option should you choose to maximize the amount of money you
get?
==> decision/newcomb.s <==
This is "Newcomb's Paradox".
You are presented with two boxes: one certainly contains $1000 and the
other might contain $1 million. You can either take one box or both.
You cannot change what is in the boxes. Therefore, to maximize your
gain you should take both boxes.
However, it might be argued that you can change the probability that
the $1 million is there. Since there is no way to change whether the
million is in the box or not, what does it mean that you can change
the probability that the million is in the box? It means that your
choice is correlated with the state of the box.
Events which proceed from a common cause are correlated. My mental
states lead to my choice and, very probably, to the state of the box.
Therefore my choice and the state of the box are highly correlated.
In this sense, my choice changes the "probability" that the money is
in the box. However, since your choice cannot change the state of the
box, this correlation is irrelevant.
The following argument might be made: your expected gain if you take
both boxes is (nearly) $1000, whereas your expected gain if you take
one box is (nearly) $1 million, therefore you should take one box.
However, this argument is fallacious. In order to compute the
expected gain, one would use the formulas:
E(take one) = $0 * P(predict take both | take one) +
$1,000,000 * P(predict take one | take one)
E(take both) = $1,000 * P(predict take both | take both) +
$1,001,000 * P(predict take one | take both)
While you are given that P(do X | predict X) is high, it is not given
that P(predict X | do X) is high. Indeed, specifying that P(predict X
| do X) is high would be equivalent to specifying that the being could
use magic (or reverse causality) to fill the boxes. Therefore, the
expected gain from either action cannot be determined from the
information given.
==> decision/prisoners.p <==
Three prisoners on death row are told that one of them has been chosen
at random for execution the next day, but the other two are to be
freed. One privately begs the warden to at least tell him the name of
one other prisoner who will be freed. The warden relents: 'Susie will
go free.' Horrified, the first prisoner says that because he is now
one of only two remaining prisoners at risk, his chances of execution
have risen from one-third to one-half! Should the warden have kept his
mouth shut?
==> decision/prisoners.s <==
Each prisoner had an equal chance of being the one chosen to be
executed. So we have three cases:
Prisoner executed: A B C
Probability of this case: 1/3 1/3 1/3
Now, if A is to be executed, the warden will randomly choose either B or C,
and tell A that name. When B or C is the one to be executed, there is only
one prisoner other than A who will not be executed, and the warden will always
give that name. So now we have:
Prisoner executed: A A B C
Name given to A: B C C B
Probability: 1/6 1/6 1/3 1/3
We can calculate all this without knowing the warden's answer.
When he tells us B will not be executed, we eliminate the middle two
choices above. Now, among the two remaining cases, C is twice
as likely as A to be the one executed. Thus, the probability that
A will be executed is still 1/3, and C's chances are 2/3.
---
* PCB/UseNet Gateway from Sparkware #3
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From: uunet!questrel!chris (Chris Cole)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles,news.answers
Subject: rec.puzzles FAQ, part 4 of 15
Summary: This posting contains a list of
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From: CHRIS COLE Read: YES
Subj: REC.PUZZLES FAQ, PART 5 O Conf: (1446) answers
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Version: 3
==> decision/red.p <==
I show you a shuffled deck of standard playing cards, one card at a
time. At any point before I run out of cards, you must say "RED!".
If the next card I show is red (i.e. diamonds or hearts), you win. We
assume I the "dealer" don't have any control over what the order of
cards is.
The question is, what's the best strategy, and what is your
probability of winning ?
==> decision/red.s <==
If a deck has n cards, r red and b black, the best strategy wins
with a probability of r/n. Thus, you can say "red" on the first card,
the last card, or any other card you wish.
Proof by induction on n. The statement is clearly true for one-card decks.
Suppose it is true for n-card decks, and add a red card.
I will even allow a nondeterministic strategy, meaning you say "red"
on the first card with probability p. With probability 1-p,
you watch the first card go by, and then apply the "optimal" strategy
to the remaining n-card deck, since you now know its composition.
The odds of winning are therefore: p * (r+1)/(n+1) +
(1-p) * ((r+1)/(n+1) * r/n + b/(n+1) * (r+1)/n).
After some algebra, this becomes (r+1)/(n+1) as expected.
Adding a black card yields: p * r/(n+1) +
(1-p) * (r/(n+1) * (r-1)/n + (b+1)/(n+1) * r/n).
This becomes r/(n+1) as expected.
==> decision/rotating.table.p <==
Four glasses are placed upside down in the four corners of a square
rotating table. You wish to turn them all in the same direction,
either all up or all down. You may do so by grasping any two glasses
and, optionally, turning either over. There are two catches: you are
blindfolded and the table is spun after each time you touch the
glasses. How do you do it?
==> decision/rotating.table.s <==
1. Turn two adjacent glasses up.
2. Turn two diagonal glasses up.
3. Pull out two diagonal glasses. If one is down, turn it up and you're done.
If not, turn one down and replace.
4. Take two adjacent glasses. Invert them both.
5. Take two diagonal glasses. Invert them both.
References
Probing the Rotating Table"
W. T. Laaser and L. Ramshaw
_The Mathematical Gardner_,
Wadsworth International, Belmont CA 1981.
... we will see that such a procedure exists if and
only if the parameters k and n satisfy the inequality
k >= (1-1/p)n, where p is the largest prime factor
of n.
The paper mentions (without discussing) two other generalizations:
more than two orientations of the glasses (Graham and Diaconis)
and more symmetries in the table, e.g. those of a cube (Kim).
==> decision/stpetersburg.p <==
What should you be willing to pay to play a game in which the payoff is
calculated as follows: a coin is flipped until in comes up heads on the
nth toss and the payoff is set at 2^n dollars?
==> decision/stpetersburg.s <==
Classical decison theory says that you should be willing to pay any
amount up to the expected value of the wager. Let's calculate the
expected value: The probability of winning at step n is 2^-n, and the
payoff at step n is 2^n, so the sum of the products of the
probabilities and the payoffs is:
E = sum over n (2^-n * 2^n) = sum over n (1) = infinity
So you should be willing to pay any amount to play this game. This is
called the "St. Petersburg Paradox."
The classical solution to this problem was given by Bernoulli. He
noted that people's desire for money is not linear in the amount of
money involved. In other words, people do not desire $2 million twice
as much as they desire $1 million. Suppose, for example, that people's
desire for money is a logarithmic function of the amount of money.
Then the expected VALUE of the game is:
E = sum over n (2^-n * C * log(2^n)) = sum over n (2^-n * C' * n) = C''
Here the C's are constants that depend upon the risk aversion of the
player, but at least the expected value is finite. However, it turns
out that these constants are usually much higher than people are really
willing to pay to play, and in fact it can be shown that any
non-bounded utility function (map from amount of money to value of
money) is prey to a generalization of the St. Petersburg paradox. So
the classical solution of Bernoulli is only part of the story.
The rest of the story lies in the observation that bankrolls are always
finite, and this dramatically reduces the amount you are willing to bet
in the St. Petersburg game.
To figure out what would be a fair value to charge for playing the game
we must know the bank's resources. Assume that the bank has 1 million
dollars (1*K*K = 2^20). I cannot possibly win more than $1 million
whether I toss 20 tails in a row or 2000.
Therefore my expected amount of winning is
E = sum n up to 20 (2^-n * 2^n) = sum n up to 20 (1) = $20
and my expected value of winning is
E = sum n up to 20 (2^-n * C * log(2^n)) = some small number
This is much more in keeping with what people would really pay to
play the game.
Incidentally, T.C. Fry suggested this change to the problem in 1928
(see W.W.R. Ball, Mathematical Recreations and Essays, N.Y.: Macmillan,
1960, pp. 44-45).
The problem remains interesting when modified in this way,
for the following reason. For a particular value of the bank's
resources, let
e denote the expected value of the player's winnings; and let
p denote the probability that the player profits from the game, assuming
the price of getting into the game is 0.8e (20% discount).
Note that the expected value of the player's profit is 0.2e. Now
let's vary the bank's resources and observe how e and p change. It
will be seen that as e (and hence the expected value of the profit)
increases, p diminishes. The more the game is to the player's
advantage in terms of expected value of profit, the less likely it is
that the player will come away with any profit at all. This
is mildly counterintuitive.
==> decision/switch.p <==
Switch? (The Monty Hall Problem)
Two black marbles and a red marble are in a bag. You choose one marble from the
bag without looking at it. Another person chooses a marble from the bag and it
is black. You are given a chance to keep the marble you have or switch it with
the one in the bag. If you want to end up with the red marble, is there an
advantage to switching? What if the other person looked at the marbles remaining
in the bag and purposefully selected a black one?
==> decision/switch.s <==
Generalize the problem from three marbles to n marbles.
If there are n marbles, your odds of having selected the red one are 1/n. After
the other person selected a black one at random, your odds go up to 1/(n-1).
There are n-2 marbles left in the bag, so your odds of selecting the red one
by switching are 1/(n-2) times the odds that you did not already select it
(n-2)/(n-1) or 1/(n-1), the same as the odds of already selecting it. Therefore
there is no advantage to switching.
If the person looked into the bag and selected a black one on purpose, then
your odds of having selected the red one are not improved, so the odds of
selecting the red one by switching are 1/(n-2) times (n-1)/n or (n-1)/n(n-2).
This is (n-1)/(n-2) times better than the odds without switching, so you
should switch.
This is a clarified version of the Monty Hall "paradox":
You are a participant on "Let's Make a Deal." Monty Hall shows you
three closed doors. He tells you that two of the closed doors have a
goat behind them and that one of the doors has a new car behind it.
You pick one door, but before you open it, Monty opens one of the two
remaining doors and shows that it hides a goat. He then offers you a
chance to switch doors with the remaining closed door. Is it to your
advantage to do so?
The original Monty Hall problem (and solution) appears to be due to
Steve Selvin, and appears in American Statistician, Feb 1975, V. 29,
No. 1, p. 67 under the title ``A Problem in Probability.'' It should
be of no surprise to readers of this group that he received several
letters contesting the accuracy of his solution, so he responded two
issues later (American Statistician, Aug 1975, V. 29, No. 3, p. 134).
I extract a few words of interest, including a response from Monty
Hall himself:
... The basis to my solution is that Monty Hall knows which box
contains the prize and when he can open either of two boxes without
exposing the prize, he chooses between them at random ...
Benjamin King pointed out the critical assumptions about Monty
Hall's behavior that are necessary to solve the problem, and
emphasized that ``the prior distribution is not the only part of
the probabilistic side of a decision problem that is subjective.''
Monty Hall wrote and expressed that he was not ``a student of
statistics problems'' but ``the big hole in your argument is that
once the first box is seen to be empty, the contestant cannot
exchange his box.'' He continues to say, ``Oh, and incidentally,
after one [box] is seen to be empty, his chances are not 50/50 but
remain what they were in the first place, one out of three. It
just seems to the contestant that one box having been eliminated,
he stands a better chance. Not so.'' I could not have said it
better myself.
The basic idea is that the Monty Hall problem is confusing for two
reasons: first, there are hidden assumptions about Monty's motivation
that cloud the issue in some peoples' minds; and second, novice probability
students do not see that the opening of the door gave them any new
information.
Monty can have one of three basic motives:
1. He randomly opens doors.
2. He always opens the door he knows contains nothing.
3. He only opens a door when the contestant has picked the grand prize.
These result in very different strategies:
1. No improvement when switching.
2. Double your odds by switching.
3. Don't switch!
Most people, myself included, think that (2) is the intended
interpretation of Monty's motive.
A good way to see that Monty is giving you information by opening doors is to
increase the number of doors from three to 100. If there are 100 doors,
and Monty shows that 98 of them are empty, isn't it pretty clear that
the chance the prize is behind the remaining door is 99/100?
Reference (too numerous to mention, but this one should do):
Leonard Gillman
"The Car and the Goats"
The American Mathematical Monthly, 99:1 (Jan 1992), pp. 3-7.
==> decision/truel.p <==
A, B, and C are to fight a three-cornered pistol duel. All know that
A's chance of hitting his target is 0.3, C's is 0.5, and B never misses.
They are to fire at their choice of target in succession in the order
A, B, C, cyclically (but a hit man loses further turns and is no longer
shot at) until only one man is left. What should A's strategy be?
==> decision/truel.s <==
This is problem 20 in Mosteller _Fifty Challenging Problems in Probability_
and it also appears (with an almost identical solution) on page 82 in
Larsen & Marx _An Introduction to Probability and Its Applications_.
Here's Mosteller's solution:
A is naturally not feeling cheery about this enterprise. Having the
first shot he sees that, if he hits C, B will then surely hit him, and
so he is not going to shoot at C. If he shoots at B and misses him,
then B clearly {I disagree; this is not at all clear!} shoots the more
dangerous C first, and A gets one shot at B with probability 0.3 of
succeeding. If he misses this time, the less said the better. On the
other hand, suppose A hits B. Then C and A shoot alternately until one
hits. A's chance of winning is (.5)(.3) + (.5)^2(.7)(.3) +
(.5)^3(.7)^2(.3) + ... . Each term cooresponds to a sequence of misses
by both C and A ending with a final hit by A. Summing the geometric
series we get ... 3/13 < 3/10. Thus hitting B and finishing off with
C has less probability of winning for A than just missing the first shot.
So A fires his first shot into the ground and then tries to hit B with
his next shot. C is out of luck.
As much as I respect Mosteller, I have some serious problems with this
solution. If we allow the option of firing into the ground, then if
all fire into the ground with every shot, each will survive with
probability 1. Now, the argument could be made that a certain
strategy for X that both allows them to survive with probability 1
*and* gives less than a probability of survival of less than 1 for
at least one of their foes would be preferred by X. However, if
X pulls the trigger and actually hits someone what would the remaining
person, say Y, do? If P(X hits)=1, clearly Y must try to hit X, since
X firing at Y with intent to hit dominates any other strategy for X.
If P(X hits)<1 and X fires at Y with intent to hit, then
P(Y survives)<1 (since X could have hit Y). Thus, Y must insure that
X can not follow this strategy by shooting back at X (thus insuring
that P(X survives)<1). Therefore, I would conclude that the ideal
strategy for all three players, assuming that they are rational and
value survival above killing their enemies, would be to keep firing
into the ground. If they don't value survival above killing their
enemies (which is the only a priori assumption that I feel can be
safely made in the absence of more information), then the problem
can't be solved unless the function each player is trying to maximize
is explicitly given.
--
-- clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long)
OK - I'll have a go at this.
How about the payoff function being 1 if you win the "duel" (i.e. if at some
point you are still standing and both the others have been shot) and 0
otherwise? This should ensure that an infinite sequence of deliberate misses
is not to anyone's advantage. Furthermore, I don't think simple survival
makes a realistic payoff function, since people with such a payoff function
would not get involved in the fight in the first place!
[ I.e. I am presupposing a form of irrationality on the part of the
fighters: they're only interested in survival if they win the duel. Come
to think of it, this may be quite rational - spending the rest of my life
firing a gun into the ground would be a very unattractive proposition to
me :-)
]
Now, denote each position in the game by the list of people left standing,
in the order in which they get their turns (so the initial position is
(A,B,C), and the position after A misses the first shot (B,C,A)). We need to
know the value of each possible position for each person.
By definition:
valA(A) = 1 valB(A) = 0 valC(A) = 0
valA(B) = 0 valB(B) = 1 valC(B) = 0
valA(C) = 0 valB(C) = 0 valC(C) = 1
Consider the two player position (X,Y). An infinite sequence of misses has
value zero to both players, and each player can ensure a positive payoff by
trying to shoot the other player. So both players deliberately missing is a
sub-optimal result for both players. The question is then whether both
players should try to shoot the other first, or whether one should let the
other take the first shot. Since having the first shot is always an
advantage, given that some real shots are going to be fired, both players
should try to shoot the other first. It is then easy to establish that:
valA(A,B) = 3/10 valB(A,B) = 7/10 valC(A,B) = 0
valA(B,A) = 0 valB(B,A) = 1 valC(B,A) = 0
valA(B,C) = 0 valB(B,C) = 1 valC(B,C) = 0
valA(C,B) = 0 valB(C,B) = 5/10 valC(C,B) = 5/10
valA(C,A) = 3/13 valB(C,A) = 0 valC(C,A) = 10/13
valA(A,C) = 6/13 valB(A,C) = 0 valC(A,C) = 7/13
Now for the three player positions (A,B,C), (B,C,A) and (C,A,B). Again, the
fact that an infinite sequence of misses is sub-optimal for all three
players means that at least one player is going to decide to fire. However,
it is less clear than in the 2 player case that any particular player is
going to fire. In the 2 player case, each player knew that *if* it was
sub-optimal for him to fire, then it was optimal for the other player to
fire *at him* and that he would be at a disadvantage in the ensuing duel
because of not having got the first shot. This is not necessarily true in
the 3 player case.
Consider the payoff to A in the position (A,B,C). If he shoots at B, his
expected payoff is:
0.3*valA(C,A) + 0.7*valA(B,C,A) = 9/130 + 0.7*valA(B,C,A)
If he shoots at C, his expected payoff is:
0.3*valA(B,A) + 0.7*valA(B,C,A) = 0.7*valA(B,C,A)
And if he deliberately misses, his expected payoff is:
valA(B,C,A)
Since he tries to maximise his payoff, we can immediately eliminate shooting
at C as a strategy - it is strictly dominated by shooting at B. So A's
expected payoff is:
valA(A,B,C) = MAX(valA(B,C,A), 9/130 + 0.7*valA(B,C,A))
A similar argument shows that C's expected payoffs in the (C,A,B) position are:
For shooting at A: 0.5*valC(A,B,C)
For shooting at B: 35/130 + 0.5*valC(A,B,C)
For missing: valC(A,B,C)
So C either shoots at B or deliberately misses, and:
valC(C,A,B) = MAX(valC(A,B,C), 35/130 + 0.5*valC(A,B,C))
Each player can obtain a positive expected payoff by shooting at one of the
other players, and it is known that an infinite sequence of misses will
result in a zero payoff for all players. So it is known that some player's
strategy must involve shooting at another player rather than deliberately
missing.
Now look at this from the point of view of player B. He knows that *if* it
is sub-optimal for him to shoot at another player, then it is optimal for at
least one of the other players to shoot. He also knows that if the other
players choose to shoot, they will shoot *at him*. If he deliberately
misses, therefore, the best that he can hope for is that they miss him and
he is presented with the same situation again. This is clearly less good for
him than getting his shot in first. So in position (B,C,A), he must shoot at
another player rather than deliberately miss.
B's expected payoffs are:
For shooting at A: valB(C,B) = 5/10
For shooting at C: valB(A,B) = 7/10
So in position (B,C,A), B shoots at C for an expected payoff of 7/10. This
gives us:
valA(B,C,A) = 3/10 valB(B,C,A) = 7/10 valC(B,C,A) = 0
So valA(A,B,C) = MAX(3/10, 9/130 + 21/100) = 3/10, and A's best strategy is
position (A,B,C) is to deliberately miss, giving us:
valA(A,B,C) = 3/10 valB(A,B,C) = 7/10 valC(A,B,C) = 0
And finally, valC(C,A,B) = MAX(0, 35/130 + 0) = 7/26, and C's best strategy
in position (C,A,B) is to shoot at B, giving us:
valA(C,A,B) = 57/260 valB(C,A,B) = 133/260 valC(C,A,B) = 7/26
I suspect that, with this payoff function, all positions with 3 players can
be resolved. For each player, we can establish that if their correct
strategy is to fire at another player, then it is to fire at whichever of
the other players is more dangerous. The most dangerous of the three players
then finds that he has nothing to lose by firing at the second most
dangerous.
Questions:
(a) In the general case, what are the optimal strategies for the other two
players, possibly as functions of the hit probabilities and the cyclic
order of the three players?
(b) What happens in the 4 or more player case?
-- David Seal <dseal@armltd.co.uk>
==> english/acronym.p <==
What acronyms have become common words?
==> english/acronym.s <==
The following is the list of acronyms which have become common nouns.
An acronym is "a word formed from the initial letter or letters of each
of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term" (Webster's Ninth).
A common noun will occur uncapitalized in Webster's Ninth.
Entries in the following table include the year in which they first
entered the language (according to the Ninth), and the Merriam-Webster
dictionary that first contains them. The following symbols are used:
NI1 New International (1909)
NI1+ New Words section of the New International (1931)
NI2 New International Second Edition (1934)
NI2+ Addendum section of the Second (1959, same as 1954)
NI3 Third New International (1961)
9C Ninth New Collegiate (1983)
12W 12,000 Words (separately published addendum to the Third, 1986)
asdic Anti-Submarine Detection Investigation Committee (1940, NI2+)
dew Distant Early Warning (1953, 9C)
dopa DihydrOxyPhenylAlanine (1917, NI3)
fido Freaks + Irregulars + Defects + Oddities (1966, 9C)
jato Jet-Assisted TakeOff (1947, NI2+)
laser Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (1957, NI3)
lidar LIght Detection And Ranging (1963, 9C)
maser Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (1955, NI3)
nitinol NIckel + TIn + Naval Ordinance Laboratory (1968, 9C)
rad Radiation Absorbed Dose (1918, NI3)
radar RAdio Detection And Ranging (ca. 1941, NI2+)
rem Roentgen Equivalent Man (1947, NI3)
rep Roentgen Equivalent Physical (1947, NI3)
scuba Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (1952, NI3)
snafu Situation Normal -- All Fucked (Fouled) Up (ca. 1940, NI2+)
sofar SOund Fixing And Ranging (1946, NI2+)
sonar SOund NAvigation Ranging (1945, NI2+)
tepa Tri-Ethylene Phosphor-Amide (1953, 9C)
zip Zone Improvement Plan (1963, 9C)
Below are blends that technically are also acronyms:
alnico ALuminum + NIckel + CObalt (1935, NI2+)
avgas AViation GASoline (1943, NI3)
boff Box OFFice (1946, NI3)
ceramal CERAMic ALloy (ca. 1948, NI2+)
cermet CERamic METal (1948, NI2+)
comsymp COMmunist SYMPathizer (ca. 1961, 9C)
cyborg CYBernetic ORGanism (ca. 1962, 9C)
dorper DORset horn + blackhead PERsian (1949, NI3)
elhi ELementary school + HIgh school (1948, 9C)
gox Gaseous OXygen (1959, 9C)
hela HEnrietta LAcks (1953, 9C)
kip KIlo- + Pound (1914, NI2)
linac LINear ACcelerator (1950, 9C)
loran LOng-RAnge Navigation (ca. 1932, NI2+)
lox Liquid OXygen (1923, 9C)
mascon MASs CONcentration (1968, 9C)
maximin MAXImum + MINimum (1951, 9C)
minimax MINImum + MAXimum (1918, 9C)
modem MOdulator + DEModulator (ca. 1952, 9C)
motocross MOTOr + CROSS-country (1951, 9C)
napalm NAphthenic and PALMitic acids (1942, NI2+)
parsec PARallax SECond (ca. 1913, NI1+)
redox REDuction + OXidation (1828, NI2)
selsyn SELf-SYNchronizing (1936, NI2+)
shoran SHOrt-RAnge Navigation (ca. 1932, NI2+)
silvex SILVa + EXterminator (1961, 9C)
sitcom SITuation COMedy (1965, 9C)
teleran TELEvision-RAdar Navigation (1946, NI2+)
telex TELeprinter EXchange (ca. 1943, 9C)
vidicon VIDeo + ICONoscope (1950, NI3)
wilco WILl COmply (ca. 1938, NI3)
Acronyms from other languages:
agitprop AGITatsiya + PROPaganda (Russian, ca. 1926, NI2+)
flak FLiegerAbwehrKanonen (German, 1938, NI2+)
gestapo GEheime STAatsPOlizei (German, 1934, NI2+)
gulag Glavnoe Upravlenie ispravitel'notrudovykh LAGerei (Russian, 1974, 9C)
kolkhoz KOLlektivnoe KHOZyaistvo (Russian, 1921, NI2)
moped MOtor + PEDal (Swedish, ca. 1955, 9C)
sambo SAMozashchita Bez Oruzhiya (Russian, 1972, 9C)
Selected near misses:
athodyd Aero-THermODYnamic Duct (1945, NI2+) -- blend
awol Absent WithOut Leave (1919, NI2+) -- usually capitalized
benday BENjamin DAY (1903, NI1+) -- blend
deet Di-Ethyl Tolumide (1962, 9C) -- pronunciation of D. E. T.
echovirus Enteric Cytopathogenic Human Orphan VIRUS (1955, 9C) -- blend
hi-fi HIgh FIdelity (1948, NI2+) -- hyphenated
ibuprofen Iso-BUtyl PROpionic PHENyl (1969, 12W) -- PH pronounced f
jaygee Junior Grade (1943, NI3) -- pronunciation of J. G.
jayvee Junior Varsity (1937, NI3) -- pronunciation of J. V.
jeep General Purpose (1940, NI2+) -- pronunciation of G. P.
op-ed OPposite EDitorial (1970, 9C) -- hyphenated
pj's PaJamas (1951, NI3) -- punctuated
nazi NAtionalsoZIalist (German, 1930, NI2) -- shorten & alter
nystatin New York STATe + -IN (1952, NI3) -- extraneous suffix
reovirus Respiratory Enteric Orphan VIRUS (1959, 9C) -- blend
sci-fi SCIence FIction (1955, 9C) -- hyphenated
siloxane SILicon + OXygen + methANE (1922, NI3) -- blend
tokamak TOroidskaja KAmera MAGneticheskaja (Russian, 1965, 9C) -- G pron. k
tradevman TRAining DEVices MAN (ca. 1947, NI3) -- blend
updo UPswept hairDO (1946, NI2+) -- blend
veep Vice President (1940, NI2+) -- pronunciation of V. P.
warfarin Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation + coumARIN (ca. 1950, NI3) - blend
yuppie Young Urban Professional + -PIE (1983, 9C) -- extraneous suffix
Acronyms that should be in Webster's Ninth:
biopic BIOgraphical PICture (12W)
fifo First In, First Out (NI2+)
lifo Last In, First Out (NI2+)
nomic NO Metal In Composition (NI3) (John Bulten)
quango QUAsi-Non Governmental Organization (12W)
shazam Solomon Hercules Atlas Zeus Achilles Mercury (12W)
tacan TACtical Air Navigation (12W)
Supposed acronyms:
posh Port Out, Starboard Home
spiff Sales Productivity Incentive Fund
tip To Insure (should be Ensure) Politeness (or Promptness)
==> english/ambiguous.p <==
What word in the English language is the most ambiguous?
What is the greatest number of parts of speech that a single word
can be used for?
==> english/ambiguous.s <==
In Webster's Ninth, "set" occupies 1.2 columns, has 25 vb entries, 11 vi
entries, 23 noun entries, 7 adjective entries; "take" occupies 1.3 columns,
has 19 vb entries, 8 vi entries, 4 noun entries.
The word "like" occupies eight parts of speech:
verb "Fruit flies like a banana."
noun "He has his likes and dislikes."
adjective "People of like tastes agree."
adverb "The truth is more like this."
conjunction "Time flies like an arrow."
preposition "She cries like a woman."
interjection "Like, man, that was far out."
verbal auxiliary "So loud I like to fell out of bed."
==> english/antonym.p <==
What words, when a single letter is added, reverse their meanings?
Exclude words that are obtained by adding an "a-" to the beginning.
==> english/antonym.s <==
e: fast -> feast, fiancee -> fiance
h: treat -> threat
r: fiend -> friend
s: he -> she
t: here -> there
==> english/behead.p <==
Is there a sentence that remains a sentence when all its words are beheaded?
==> english/behead.s <==
Show this bold Prussian that praises slaughter, slaughter brings rout.
==> english/capital.p <==
What words change pronunciation when capitalized (e.g., polish -> Polish)?
==> english/capital.s <==
A partial list is:
askew
august
begin
chile
colon
concord
degas
ewe (African language)
herb
job
levy
lima
messier
mobile
natal
nice
polish
rainier
ravel
reading
tang (Chinese dynasty)
tangier
worms (Germany city)
==> english/charades.p <==
A ....... surgeon was ....... to operate because he had .......
==> english/charades.s <==
A notable surgeon was not able to operate because he had no table.
==> english/contradictory.proverbs.p <==
What are some proverbs that contradict one another?
==> english/contradictory.proverbs.s <==
Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
Look before you leap.
He who hesitates is lost.
Nothing venture, nothing gain.
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
Seek and ye shall find.
Curiosity killed the cat.
Save for a rainy day.
Tomorrow will take care of itself.
Life is what we make it.
What is to be will be.
Too many cooks spoil the broth.
Many hands make light work.
One man's meat is another man's poison.
Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
With age comes wisdom.
Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings come all wise sayings.
Bear ye one another's burdens. (Gal. 6:2)
For every man shall bear his own burden. (Gal. 6:5)
Great minds run in the same channel.
Fools think alike.
A rolling stone gathers no moss.
A setting hen never lays.
==> english/contranym.p <==
What words are their own antonym?
==> english/contranym.s <==
In his 1989 book _Crazy English_, Richard Lederer calls such words contranyms
and lists more than 35, although some are phrases instead of words.
These can be divided into homographs (same spelling) and homophones (same pronun
A partial list of homographs:
aught = all, nothing
bill = invoice, money
cleave = to separate, to join
clip = cut apart, fasten together
comprise = contain, compose
dust = to remove, add fine particles
fast = rapid, unmoving
literally = actually, figuratively
moot = debatable, not needing to be debated (already decided)
note = promise to pay, money
oversight = care, error
peep = look quietly, beep
peer = noble, companion
put = lay, throw
puzzle = pose problem, solve problem
quantum = very small, very large (quantum leap)
ravel = entangle, disentangle
resign = to quit, to sign up again
sanction = to approve of, to punish
sanguine = murderous, optimistic
scan = to examine closely, to glance at quickly
set = fix, flow
skin = to cover with, remove outer covering
speak = express verbally, express nonverbally
table = propose [British], set aside
temper = calmness, passion
trim = cut things off, put things on
A very short list of homophones:
aural, oral = heard, spoken
fiance, fiancee = female betrothed, male betrothed
raise, raze = erect, tear down
A pair of French words which can be very confusing:
La symetrie (symmetry) and L'asymetrie (asymmetry).
Latin:
immo = yes, no
Possibilities:
draw (curtains, open or close) (money, withdraw, accumulate interest)
eke
==> english/element.p <==
The name of what element ends in "h"?
==> english/element.s <==
Bismuth.
"The Elements" by Tom Lehrer
Sung to the tune of "The Major-General's Song" from Gilbert & Sullivan's
"The Pirates of Penzance":
There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium
And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium
And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium
And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium,
Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium
And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium
And gold and protactinium and indium and gallium
And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium.
There's yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium
And boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium
And strontium and silicon and silver and samarium
And BISMUTH, bromine, lithium, beryllium and barium.
There's holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium
And phosphorous and francium and fluorine and terbium
And manganese and mercury, molybdenum, magnesium,
Dysprosium and scandium and cerium and cesium
And lead, praseodymium and platinum, plutonium,
Palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium
And tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium
And cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium.
There's sulfur, californium and fermium, berkelium
And also mendelevium, einsteinium, nobelium
And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc and rhodium
And chlorine, carbon, cobalt, copper, tungsten, tin and sodium.
These are the only ones of which the news has come to Ha'vard
And there may be many others but they haven't been discavard.
==> english/equations.p <==
Each equation below contains the initials of words that will make the phrase
correct. Figure out the missing words. Lower case is used only to help the
initials stand out better.
Example: 26 = L. of the A.
would be 26 = Letters of the Alphabet
1 = G. L. for M. K.
1 = S. C. in D. P.
1 = S. S. for a M.
1 = W. on a U.
2 = H. in a W.
2 = P. in a P.
3 = B. M., S. H. T. R.!
3 = D. of the C.
3 = W. M.
4 = Q. in a F. G.
4 = S. in a Y.
5 = D. in a Z. C.
5 = D. of the C.
5 = S. in the S. C.
5 = T. on a F.
6 = P. in a P.
6 = T. Z. in the U. S.
6 = of O. and a H. D. of the O.
7 = C. in a R.
7 = K. of F. in H. P.
7 = W. of the W.
8 = L. on a S.
8 = L. on an O.
8 = S. on a S. S.
9 = D. in a Z. C., with the S. C.
9 = L. of a C.
9 = P. in the S. S.
10 = L. I. B.
11 = P. on a C. T.
11 = P. on a F. T.
12 = D. of C.
12 = D. of J.
12 = S. of the Z.
12 = T. of I.
13 = B. D.
13 = S. on the A. F.
14 = D. in a F.
15 = M. on a D. M. C.
16 = O. in the P.
18 = H. on the G. C.
20 = C. in a P.
24 = B. B. B. in a P.
24 = B. B. to a C.
24 = H. in a D.
25 = Y. of M. for a S. A.
26 = L. of the A.
29 = D. in F. in a L. Y.
32 = D. F. at which W. F.
36 = I. on a Y. S.
40 = D. and N. of the G. F.
43 = B. in E. C. of N.
46 = C. in the H. B.
50 = W. to L. Y. L.
52 = W. in a Y.
54 = C. in a D.
57 = H. V.
64 = S. on a C.
76 = T. L. the B. P.
88 = C. in the S.
88 = P. K.
90 = D. in a R. A.
96 = T., by ?
100 = B. of B. on a W.
101 = D.
101 = a S. M. L.
200 = D. for P. G. in M.
206 = B. in the H. B.
365 = D. in a Y.
432 = P. in a H.
500 = M. in the I. F. H.
500 = S. in a R.
1000 = I. in N. Y.
1000 = W. that a P. is W.
1001 = A. N.
20000 = L. U. the S.
==> english/equations.s <==
This puzzle originally was printed in "Games" magazine in 1981, by Will Shortz.
Many people have added to it since then.
1 = G. L. for M. K. (1 giant leap for man kind)
1 = S. C. in D. P. (1 single calorie in diet pepsi)
1 = S. S. for a M. (1 small step for a man)
1 = W. on a U. (1 wheel on a unicycle)
2 = H. in a W. (2 halves in a whole)
2 = P. in a P. (2 peas in a pod)
3 = B. M., S. H. T. R.! (3 blind mice, see how they run!)
3 = D. of the C. (Days of the Condor -- movie)
3 = W. M. (3 wise men)
4 = Q. in a F. G. (4 quarters in a football game)
4 = S. in a Y. (4 seasons in a year)
5 = D. in a Z. C. (5 digits in a zip code)
5 = D. of the C. (Days of the Condor -- book)
5 = S. in the S. C. (stars in the Southern Cross)
5 = T. on a F. (5 toes on a foot)
6 = P. in a P. (6 pigs in a poke)
6 = T. Z. in the U. S. (time zones in the United States)
6 = of O. and a H. D. of the O. (6 of one and a half dozen of the other)
7 = C. in a R. (colors in a rainbow : ROYGBIV)
7 = K. of F. in H. P. (7 kinds of fruit in hawaiian punch)
7 = W. of the W. (7 wonders of the world)
8 = L. on a S. (legs on a spider)
8 = L. on an O. (8 legs on an octopus)
8 = S. on a S. S. (8 sides on a stop sign)
9 = D. in a Z. C., with the S. C. (digits in a zip code, with the street code)
9 = L. of a C. (9 lives of a cat)
9 = P. in the S. S. (9 planets in the solar system)
10 = L. I. B. (10 little indian boys)
11 = P. on a C. T. (11 players on a cricket team)
11 = P. on a F. T. (11 players on a football team)
12 = D. of C. (12 days of Christmas)
12 = D. of J. (disciples of Jesus)
12 = S. of the Z. (12 signs of the zodiac)
12 = T. of I. (12 tribes of Israel)
13 = B. D. (13 = baker's dozen)
13 = S. on the A. F. (13 stripes on the American flag)
14 = D. in a F. (14 days in a fortnight)
15 = M. on a D. M. C. (15 men on a dead man's chest)
16 = O. in the P. (ounces in the pound)
18 = H. on the G. C. (18 holes on the golf course)
20 = C. in a P. (20 cigarettes in a pack)
24 = B. B. B. in a P. (24 black birds baked in a pie)
24 = B. B. to a C. (24 beer bottles to a case)
24 = H. in a D. (24 hours in a day)
25 = Y. of M. for a S. A. (25 years of marriage for a silver anniversary)
26 = L. of the A. (letters of the alphabet)
29 = D. in F. in a L. Y. (29 days in Febuary in a leap year.)
32 = D. F. at which W. F. (32 degrees Fahrenheit at which water freezes)
36 = I. on a Y. S. (36 inches on a yard stick)
40 = D. and N. of the G. F. (40 days and nights of the great flood)
43 = B. in E. C. of N. (beans in each cup of Nescafe)
46 = C. in the H. B. (chromosomes in the human body)
50 = W. to L. Y. L. (50 ways to leave your lover)
52 = W. in a Y. (52 weeks in a year)
54 = C. in a D. (with the J.) (54 cards in a deck with the jokers)
57 = H. V. (57 heinz varieties)
64 = S. on a C. (64 squares on a checkerboard)
76 = T. L. the B. P. (76 trombones led the big parade)
88 = C. in the S. (constellations in the sky)
88 = P. K. (88 piano keys)
90 = D. in a R. A. (90 degrees in a right angle)
96 = T., by ? (96 Tears, by ?)
100 = B. of B. on a W. (100 bottles of beer on a wall)
101 = D. (101 dalmations)
101 = a S. M. L. (101, a silly millimeter longer)
200 = D. for P. G. in M. (200 dollars for passing go in monopoly)
206 = B. in the H. B. (206 bones in the human body)
365 = D. in a Y. (365 days in a year)
432 = P. in a H. (pints in a hogshead)
500 = M. in the I. F. H. (500 miles in the Indianapolis Five Hundred)
500 = S. in a R. (sheets in a ream)
1000 = I. in N. Y. (1000 islands in new york)
1000 = W. that a P. is W. (1000 words that a picture is worth)
1001 = A. N. (1001 arabian nights, as in tales of)
20000 = L. U. the S. (20000 leagues under the sea)
==> english/fossil.p <==
What are some examples of idioms that include obsolete words?
==> english/fossil.s <==
These are called fossil expresions -- words that have dropped out of
common use but hang around in idioms. Not all of them are separate
words, some are part of other words or have prefixes or suffixes
attached. There are also words which have current meaning, but the
meaning in the idiom is unrelated to it.
idiom fossil meaning of fossil
--------------------------------------------------
swashbuckler buckler small shield
newfangled fangled siezed
rank and file file column
to and fro fro from
gormless gorm attention
hem and haw haw make the sound "haw"
hem and haw hem make the sound "hem"
hue and cry hue outcry
kit and kaboodle kaboodle collection
out of kilter kilter order
kith and kin kith friends
let or hinderance let hinderance
footpad pad highwayman
pratfall prat buttocks
rank and file rank row
raring to go raring enthusiastic
ruthless ruth compassion
short shrift shrift confession
spick-and-span span chunk of wood
spick-and-span spick nail (spike)
swashbuckler swash bluster or stagger
bank teller tell to count
==> english/frequency.p <==
In the English language, what are the most frequently appearing:
1) letters overall?
2) letters BEGINNING words?
3) final letters?
4) digrams (ordered pairs of letters)?
==> english/frequency.s <==
web2 = word list from Webster's Second Unabridged
web2a = hyphenated words and phrases from Webster's Second Unabridged
both = web2 + web2a
net = several gigabytes of Usenet traffic
1) Most frequently appearing letters overall:
web2: eiaorn tslcup mdhygb fvkwzx qj
both: eairon tslcud pmhgyb fwvkzx qj
net: etaoin srhldc umpfgy wbvkxj qz
2) Most frequently appearing letters BEGINNING words:
web: spcaut mbdrhi eofgnl wvkjqz yx
both: spcatb umdrhf eigowl nvkqjz yx
net: taisow cmbphd frnelu gyjvkx qz
3) Most frequent final letters:
web: eysndr ltacmg hkopif xwubzv jq
both: eydsnr tlagcm hkpoiw fxbuzv jq
net: estndr yolafg mhipuk cwxbvz jq
4) Most frequent digrams (ordered pairs of letters)
web: er in ti on te al an at ic en is re ra le ri ro st ne ar ...
both: er in te ti on an re al at le en ra ic ar st ri ro ed ne ...
net: th he in er re an on at te es or en ar ha is ou it to st nd ...
Program to compute this from word list in standard input:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>
typedef struct {
int count;
char name[3];
} FREQ;
FREQ all[256],initial[256],terminal[256],digram[65536];
int compare(p,q)
FREQ *p,*q;
{ return q->count - p->count;
}
void sort_and_print(freq,count,description)
FREQ *freq;
int count;
char *description;
{ register FREQ *p;
(void)qsort(freq,count,sizeof(*freq),compare);
puts(description);
for (p=freq;p<freq+count;p++)
if (p->count) printf("%s %d\n",p->name,p->count);
}
main()
{ char s[BUFSIZ];
register char *p;
register int i;
while (gets(s)!=NULL) {
if (islower(*s)) {
initial[*s].count++;
sprintf(initial[*s].name,"%c",*s);
for (p=s;*p;p++) {
if (isalpha(*p)) {
all[*p].count++;
sprintf(all[*p].name,"%c",*p);
if (isalpha(p[1])) {
i = p[0]*256 + p[1];
digram[i].count++;
sprintf(digram[i].name,"%c%c",p[0],p[1]);
}
}
}
terminal[*--p].count++;
sprintf(terminal[*p].name,"%c",*p);
}
}
sort_and_print(all,256,"overall character distribution: ");
sort_and_print(initial,256,"initial character distribution: ");
sort_and_print(terminal,256,"terminal character distribution: ");
sort_and_print(digram,65536,"digram distribution: ");
}
==> english/gry.p <==
Find three completely different words ending in "gry."
==> english/gry.s <==
Aside from "angry" and "hungry" and words derived therefrom, there is
only one word ending with "-gry" in Webster's Third Unabridged: "aggry."
However, this word is defective in that it is part of a phrase "aggry beads."
The OED's usage examples all talk about "aggry beads."
Moving to older dictionaries, we find that "gry" itself is a word in Webster's
Second Unabridged (and the OED):
gry, n. [L. gry, a trifle; Gr. gry, a grunt]
1. a measure equal to one-tenth of a line. [Obs.] (Obs. = obsolete)
2. anything very small. [Rare.]
This is a list of 94 words, phrases and names ending in "gry":
[Explanation of references is given at the end of the list.]
aggry [OED:1:182; W2; W3]
Agry Dagh (Mount Agry) [EB11]
ahungry [OED:1:194; FW; W2]
angry [OED; FW; W2; W3]
anhungry [OED:1:332; W2]
Badagry [Johnston; EB11]
Ballingry [Bartholomew:40; CLG:151; RD:164, pl.49]
begry [OED:1:770,767]
bewgry [OED:1:1160]
bowgry [OED:1:1160]
braggry [OED:1:1047]
Bugry [TIG]
Chockpugry [Worcester]
Cogry [BBC]
cony-gry [OED:2:956]
conyngry [OED:2:956]
Croftangry [DFC, as "Chrystal Croftangry"]
dog-hungry [W2]
Dshagry [Stieler]
Dzagry [Andree]
eard-hungry [CED (see "yird"); CSD]
Echanuggry [Century:103-104, on inset map, Key 104 M 2]
Egry [France; TIG]
ever-angry [W2]
fire-angry [W2]
Gagry [EB11]
gry (from Latin _gry_) [OED:4/2:475; W2]
gry (from Romany _grai_) [W2]
haegry [EDD (see "hagery")]
half-angry [W2]
hangry [OED:1:329]
heart-angry [W2]
heart-hungry [W2]
higry pigry [OED:5/1:285]
hogry [EDD (see "huggerie"); CSD]
hogrymogry [EDD (see "huggerie"); CSD (as "hogry-mogry")]
hongry [OED:5/1:459; EDD:3:282]
huggrymuggry [EDD (see "huggerie"); CSD (as "huggry-muggry")]
hungry [OED; FW; W2; W3]
Hungry Bungry [Daily Illini, in ad for The Giraffe, Spring 1976]
Jagry [EB11]
kaingry [EDD (see "caingy")]
land-hungry [W2]
Langry [TIG; Times]
Lisnagry [Bartholomew:489]
MacLoingry [Phillips (as "Flaithbhertach MacLoingry")]
mad-angry [OED:6/2:14]
mad-hungry [OED:6/2:14]
magry [OED:6/2:36, 6/2:247-48]
malgry [OED:6/2:247]
Margry [Indians (see "Pierre Margry" in bibliog., v.2, p.1204)]
maugry [OED:6/2:247-48]
mawgry [OED:6/2:247]
meagry [OED:6/2:267]
meat-hungry [W2]
menagry [OED (see "managery")]
messagry [OED]
overangry [RH1; RH2]
Pelegry [CE (in main index as "Raymond de Pelegry")]
Pingry [Bio-Base; HPS:293-94, 120-21]
podagry [OED; W2 (below the line)]
Pongry [Andree (Supplement, p.572)]
pottingry [OED:7/2:1195; Jamieson:3:532]
puggry [OED:8/1:1573; FW; W2; W3]
pugry [OED:8/1:1574]
rungry [EDD:5:188]
scavengry [OED (in 1715 quote under "scavengery")]
Schtschigry [LG/1:2045; OSN:97]
Seagry [TIG; EB11]
Segry [Johnston; Andree]
self-angry [W2]
self-hungry ?
Shchigry [CLG:1747; Johnson:594; OSN:97,206; Times:185,pl.45]
shiggry [EDD]
Shtchigry [LG/1:2045; LG/2:1701]
Shtshigry [Lipp]
skugry [OED:9/2:156, 9/1:297; Jamieson:4:266]
Sygry [Andree]
Tangry [France]
Tchangry [Johnson:594; LG/1:435,1117]
Tchigry [Johnson:594]
tear-angry [W2]
tike-hungry [CSD]
Tingry [France; EB11 (under "Princesse de Tingry")]
toggry [Simmonds (as "Toggry", but all entries are capitalized)]
ulgry [Partridge; Smith:24-25]
unangry [W2]
vergry [OED:12/1:123]
Virgy [CLG:2090]
Wirgy [CLG:2090; NAP:xxxix; Times:220, pl.62; WA:948]
wind-angry.
wind-hungry [W2]
yeard-hungry [CED (see "yird")]
yerd-hungry [CED (see "yird"); OED]
yird-hungry [CED (see "yird")]
Ymagry [OED:1:1009 (col. 3, 1st "boss" verb), (variant of "imagery")]
This list was gathered from the following articles:
George H. Scheetz. In Goodly Gree: With Goodwill. Word Ways 22:195 (Nov. 1989)
Murray R. Pearce. Who's Flaithbhertach MacLoingry? Word Ways 23:6 (Feb. 1990)
Harry B. Partridge. Gypsy Hobby Gry. Word Ways 23:9 (Feb. 1990)
References:
(Many references are of the form [Source:volume:page] or [Source:page].)
Andree, Richard. Andrees Handatlas (index volume). 1925.
Bartholomew, John. Gazetteer of the British Isles: Statistical and
Topographical. 1887.
BBC = BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of English Names.
Bio-Base. (Microfiche) Detroit: Gale Research Company. 1980.
CE = Catholic Encyclopedia. 1907.
CED = Chambers English Dictionary. 1988.
Century = "India, Northern Part." The Century Atlas of the World. 1897, 1898.
CLG = The Colombia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World. L.E.Seltzer, ed. 1952.
CSD = Chambers Scots Dictionary. 1971 reprint of 1911 edition.
Daily Illini (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).
DFC = Dictionary of Fictional Characters. 1963.
EB11 = Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed.
EDD = The English Dialect Dictionary. Joseph Wright, ed. 1898.
France = Map Index of France. G.H.Q. American Expeditionary Forces. 1918.
FW = Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary of the English Language. 1943.
HPS = The Handbook of Private Schools: An Annual Descriptive Survey of
Independent Education, 66th ed. 1985.
Indians = Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. F. W. Hodge. 1912.
Jamieson, John. An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language. 1879-87.
Johnston, Keith. Index Geographicus... 1864.
LG/1 = Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer
or Geographical Dictionary of the World. 1888.
LG/2 = Lippincott's New Gazetteer: ... 1906.
Lipp = Lippincott's Pronouncing Gazetteer of the World. 1861, undated
edition from late 1800's; 1902.
NAP = Narodowy Atlas Polski. 1973-1978 [Polish language]
OED = The Oxford English Dictionary. 1933. [Form: OED:volume/part number if
applicable:page]
OSN: U.S.S.R. Volume 6, S-T. Official Standard Names Approved by the United
States Board on Geographic Names. Gazetteer #42, 2nd ed. June 1970.
Partridge, Harry B. "Ad Memoriam Demetrii." Word Ways, 19 (Aug. 1986): 131.
Phillips, Lawrence. Dictionary of Biographical Reference. 1889.
RD = The Reader's Digest Complete Atlas of the British Isles, 1st ed. 1965.
RH1 = Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged. 1966.
RH2 = Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition
Unabridged. 1987.
Simmonds, P.L. Commercial Dictionary of Trade Products. 1883.
Smith, John. The True Travels, Adventvres and Observations: London 1630.
Stieler, Adolph. Stieler's Handatlas (index volume). 1925.
TIG = The Times Index-Gazetteer of the World. 1965.
Times = The Times Atlas of the World, 7th ed. 1985.
W2 = Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language,
Second Edition, Unabridged. 1934.
W3 = Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language,
Unabridged. 1961.
WA = The World Atlas: Index-Gazetteer. Council of Ministires of the USSR, 1968.
Worcester, J.E. Universal Gazetteer, Second Edition. 1823.
Some words containing "gry" that do not end with "gry": agrypnia,
agrypnotic, Gryllidae, gryllid, gryllus, Gryllus, grylloblattid,
Gryllotalpa, gryllos, grypanian, Gryphaea, Gryll, Gryphaea, gryposis,
grysbok, gryphon, Gryphosaurus, Grypotherium, grysbuck. Most of these
are in Webster's Second also with one from Webster's Third Edition and
one from the Random House Dictionary, Second Edition Unabridged.
==> english/homographs.p <==
List all homographs (words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently)
==> english/homographs.s <==
This list composed by Mark Brader <msb@sq.com>
Classes:
A - All of the following "defects" absent
B - Basic meanings are related
C - Capitalization differs ("capitonyms")
D - Different spellings also exist (US vs UK, hyphenation, etc.)
E - Equal pronunciations also exist (US vs UK, regional, etc.)
F - Foreign word, or may be distinguished with accent marks
G - Gcontrived :-), coined, jargon, or other uncommon word
N - Alleged, but I could not find support for this one in my dictionary
and it is not familiar to me
3 - 3-way homograph
4 - 4-way homograph
B abstract {corresponding noun and verb; henceforth abbreviated NV}
B abuse {NV}
B addict {NV}
B advocate {NV}
BG affect {alter; emotion}
B affiliate {NV}
B affix {NV}
G agape {wide open; form of love}
B aggregate {NV}
G ai {sloth; ouch!}
BE ally {NV}
B alternate {NV}
BD analyses {plural noun; singular verb (UK)}
B animate {verb; adjective}
A appropriate {take posession of; suitable}
B approximate {verb; adjective}
E are {form of to be; unit of area}
B arithmetic {noun; adjective}
B articulate {verb; adjective}
4DFG as {like; Roman coin; Persian card game; pl. of a}
B aspirate {NV}
B associate {NV}
B attribute {NV}
C august
A axes {plural of ax; plural of axis}
A bases {plural of base; plural of basis}
A bass {~ fiddle; fishing for ~}
N blessed
A bow(ed) {~ and arrow; ~ to the king}
E buffet {jostle; ~ lunch}
B bustier {undergarment; more busty}
B close {~ call; ~ the door}
B closer {door ~; more close}
B coagulate {NV}
G coax {urge; coaxial cable}
3FG colon {":"; colonial farmer; Costa Rican monetary unit}
B combat {NV}
B combine {NV}
A commune {take Communion; administrative district}
A compact {closely arranged; treaty}
B compound {NV}
B compress {NV}
B conduct {NV}
B confect {NV}
B confines {NV}
B conflict {NV}
B conglomerate {NV}
B conjugate {NV}
BE conserve {preserve; jam}
A console {soothe; keyboard desk}
B consort {NV}
B construct {NV}
B consummate {verb; adjective}
N contact
E content {what is contained; satisfied}
B contest {NV}
B contract {NV}
B contrast {NV}
N convent
A converse {logic term; to talk}
B convert {NV}
B convict {NV}
BE coordinate {NV}
FG dame {woman; term in the game of Go}
DE decameter {poetic line with 10 feet; 10 meters (US)}
B defect {flaw; turn traitor}
E defense {sports term; fortification}
BE delegate {NV}
B deliberate {adjective; verb}
A desert {leave alone; Sahara ~}
B desolate {adjective; verb}
D dingy {dull; small boat}
BE discharge {NV}
N divers {plural diver; various}
F do {perform; tonic note of scale}
A does {~ the buck see the ~?}
A dove {dived; pigeon}
F dozen {12; stun (Scottish)}
B drawer {one who draws; chest of ~s}
B duplicate {NV}
B elaborate {verb; adjective}
A entrance {door; delight}
BDE envelop {NV}
N envelope
N ergotism {logical reasoning; ergot poisoning}
B escort {NV}
N escrow
B essay {piece of writing; try}
B estimate {NV}
CFG ewe {female sheep; African language}
B excuse {NV}
B exploit {NV}
BF expose {NV}
B ferment {NV}
N fiasco {failure; bottle}
BDE fillet {cut of meat/fish; band of ribbon/wood}
G formal {ceremonious; methylal}
DEG genet {civetlike animal; horselike animal}
A gill {volume unit; organ in fish}
A glower {sullen look; one that glows}
B graduate {NV}
F he {pronoun; Hebrew letter}
CE herb {name; plant}
A hinder {hamper; posterior}
B house {NV}
B import {NV}
A incense {infuriate; perfume for burning}
B increase {NV}
B initiate {NV}
B insert {NV}
B insult {NV}
B intern {NV}
A intimate {~ relations; to suggest}
A invalid {cripple; erroneous}
B invite {NV}
G is {form of to be; plural of i}
B jagged {slashed or cut; having a zigzag edge}
C Job
BCF jubilate {rejoice; joyous song}
CF junker/Junker
3A lather {suds; lath worker; lathe worker}
A lead {~ pipe; ~ astray}
B {past tense verb; adjective}
BE legged {past tense verb; adjective}
CF Lima
B live {~ in peace; ~ audience}
B lives {~ in peace; for all of our ~}
D lower {to let down; frown}
F manes {plural of mane; Roman gods}
F mate {friend; type of tea}
N mead
A minute {60 seconds; tiny}
B misconduct {NV}
BE mobile {movable; wind-blown sculpture}
B moderate {NV}
EG molar {back tooth; chemical term}
A moped {brooded; fun vehicle}
B mouse {rodent; to hunt them}
B mouth {NV}
A mow {pile of hay; to cut down}
B multiply {verb; adverb}
A number {decimal ~; more numb}
B object {thing; complain}
E offense {sports term; attack}
3DG os {bone; esker; pl. of o}
A overage {too old; surplus}
BD paralyses {plural noun; singular verb (UK)}
A pasty {pastelike; British meat pie}
3FG pate {head; food paste; porcelain paste for ceramics}
A peaked {sharply pointed; unhealthy looking}
A peer {equal; one who pees}
B perfect {verb; adjective}
G periodic {regularly occurring; ~ acids, HIO4 and related substances}
B permit {NV}
C Placer
C polish
A poll {head; group of students}
B predicate {NV}
N premise
A present {current; Christmas ~}
E primer {intro book/material (US); device for priming}
B proceeds {goes; income}
B produce {give rise to; fruits and vegetables}
B progress {to move forward; work in ~}
A project {planned undertaking; to throw forward}
N prospect
B protest {NV}
A pussy {cat; infected}
B putter/putting {golf club; one that puts}
DG rabat {clerical garment; pottery piece used for polishing}
DG rabbi {clerical garment; Jewish religious official}
B ragged {teased; tattered}
F re {pertaining to; 2nd note of scale}
B read {present tense; past tense}
C Reading
F real {actual; former Spanish coin}
B rebel {NV}
B recess {NV}
B recoil {NV}
B record {NV}
D recreate {relax; create again}
3BD redress {compensate; compensation; dress again}
B refill {NV}
B refund {NV}
B refuse {NV}
B regress {NV}
B reject {NV}
N repent {regret; creeping}
B replay {NV}
D represent {stand for; present again}
B rerun {NV}
D research {investigate; search again}
A resent {be indignant; sent again}
D reserve {hold back; serve again}
D resign {quit; sign again}
D resolve {settle dispute; solve again}
D resort {vacation spot; sort again}
F resume {work summary; restart}
A river {watercourse; one who rives}
F rose {flower; wine}
DE routing {making a route for (US spelling); woodworking term}
A row {a fight; ~,~,~ your boat}
DF sake {purpose; Japanese drink}
3AF salve {ointment; salvage; hail!}
N second
B segment {NV}
B separate {NV}
A severer {cutter; more severe}
3AG sewer {one who sews; storm ~; head servant at table}
A shower {one who shows; ~ stall}
B syndicate {NV}
A singer {one who singes; one who sings}
A skied {past tense of ski; past tense of sky}
A slaver {slave taker; drool}
A slough {swamp; cast-off}
A sow {~ seeds; female pig}
A stingy {meager; able to sting}
B subject {NV}
A supply {in a supple way; ~ and demand}
B survey {NV}
B suspect {NV}
N swinger {whopper; one that swings}
CF tang {flavor; Chinese dynasty}
A tarry {covered in tar; dawdle}
A tear {~ down; shed a ~}
A thou {you; slang for thousand}
A thymic {of thyme; of thymus}
A tier {one who ties; row or rank}
B torment {NV}
A tower {one who tows; leaning ~}
B transfer {NV}
B transplant {NV}
B transport {NV}
DG unionized {~ labor; ~ hydrogen}
B upset {NV}
G us {we; plural of u}
B use {NV}
A violist {viol player; viola player}
A wind {~ the clock; north ~}
CF worms
A wound {injury; wrapped around}
N yak {ox; laugh}
==> english/homophones.p <==
What words have four or more spellings that sound alike?
==> english/homophones.s <==
air, aire, are, ayr, ayer, e'er, ere, err, heir
cense, cents, scents, sense
eau, eaux, O, oh, owe
==> english/j.ending.p <==
What words and names end in j?
==> english/j.ending.s <==
Following is a compilation of words ending in j from various
dictionaries. Capitalized words and words marked as foreign
are included, but to keep the list to a managable size,
personal and place names are excluded.
aflaj plural of falaj (Cham)
benj variant of bhang - hemp plant (NI2)
bhimraj the rachet-tailed drongo (F&W)
Bhumij branch of Munda tribes in India (NI3)
Chuj a people of Northwestern Guatemala (NI3)
esraj an Indian musical instrument with 3 or 4 strings (OED2)
falaj a water channel as part of the ancient irrigation
system of Oman (Cham)
Funj variant of Fung - a people dominant in Sennar (NI3)
gaj Omanese coin (NI2)
genj a common type of cotton cloth in Sudan (F&W)
gunj a grannery in India (NI2)
hadj variant of hajj (NI3)
haj variant of hajj (NI3)
hajilij the bito - a small scrubby tree that grows in dry
parts of Africa and Asia (NI2)
hajj pilgimage to Mecca (NI3)
hij obsolete form of hie or high (OED2)
Jubaraj variant of Yuvaraja - the male heir to an Indian
pricipality (OED2)
kaleej variant of kalij (NI3)
kalij any of several crested Indian pheasants (NI3)
kankrej guzerat - a breed of Indian cattle (NI3)
kharaj a tax on unbelievers (NI2)
Khawarij plural of Kharijite - a member of the oldest
religious sect of Islam (NI3)
khiraj variant of kharaj (NI2)
kilij a Turkish saber with a crescent shaped blade (RHD)
kurunj variant of kurung - the Indian beech (NI2)
Maharaj variant of Maharaja - East Indian prince (OED2)
munj a tough Asiatic grass (NI3)
naranj Maldive Island name for mancala - an Arabian board
game (CD)
pakhawaj a doubleheaded drum used in Indian music (OED2)
raj rule (NI3)
saj the Indian laurel (NI2)
samaj Hindu religious society (NI3)
sohmaj variant of samaj (NI2)
somaj variant of samaj (NI2)
svaraj variant of swaraj (F&W)
swaraj local self-government in India (NI3)
taj a tall conical cap worn by Moslems (NI3)
tedj variant of tej (OED2)
tej Ethiopian mead (OED2)
Viraj in Hindu Mythology, the mysterious primeval being
when differentiating itself into male and female (F&W)
Yuvaraj same as Jubaraj (OED2)
Yuveraj same as Jubaraj (OED2)
Yuvraj same as Jubaraj (OED2)
zij Persian astronomical tables (F&W)
This list is almost certainly not complete. For example, on
page 187 of Beyond Language, Dmitri Borgmann has "Udruj" in a
word list. What reference he dug this word out of is unknown;
the combined efforts of the NPL electronic mailing list could
not produce the source of this word. So additions to this list
will be welcomed by the author.
REFERENCES
CD - The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, 1911
Cham - Chambers English Dictionary, 1988
F&W - Funk & Wagnall's New Standard Dictionary of the English
Language, 1941
NI2 - Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition,
1942
NI3 - Webster's Third New International Dictionary, 1981
OED2 - Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989
RHD - Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 1966
---
Dan Tilque -- dant@logos.WR.TEK.COM
==> english/ladder.p <==
Find the shortest word ladders stretching between the following pairs:
hit - ace
pig - sty
four - five
play - game
green - grass
wheat - bread
order - chaos
order - impel
sixth - hubby
speedy - comedy
chasing - robbers
effaces - cabaret
griming - goblets
vainest - injects
vainest - infulae
---
* PCB/UseNet Gateway from Sparkware #3
∙HEADER:USENET
Path: channel1!uupsi!psinntp!uunet!questrel!chris
From: uunet!questrel!chris (Chris Cole)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles,news.answers
Subject: rec.puzzles FAQ, part 5 of 15
Summary: This posting contains a list of
Message-ID: <puzzles-faq-5_717034101@questrel.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1992 00:08:56 GMT
Expires: Sat, 3 Apr 1993 00:08:21 GMT
References: <puzzles-faq-1_717034101@questrel.com>
Sender: chris@questrel.com (Chris Cole)
Reply-To: uunet!questrel!faql-comment
Followup-To: rec.puzzles
Organization: Questrel, Inc.
Lines: 1594
Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Date: 09-21-92 (21:16) Number: 8706 Channel 1 (R) [HST 192
To: ALL Refer#: NONE
From: CHRIS COLE Read: YES
Subj: REC.PUZZLES FAQ, PART 6 O Conf: (1446) answers
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
· Newsgroup: news.answers
· Message-ID: <puzzles-faq-6_717034101@questrel.com>
· Subject: rec.puzzles FAQ, part 6 of 15
Archive-name: puzzles-faq/part06
Last-modified: 1992/09/20
Version: 3
==> english/ladder.s <==
Using every unabridged dictionary available, the best yet found are:
hit ait act ace
pig peg seg sey sty
four foud fond find fine five
play blay bray bras baas bams gams game
green grees greys grays grass
wheat theat treat tread bread
order older elder eider cider cides codes coles colls coals chals chaos
order ormer armer ammer amper imper impel
sixth sixty silty silly sally sably sabby nabby nubby hubby
speedy speeds steeds steers sheers shyers sayers payers papers papery popery
popely pomely comely comedy
griming priming prising poising toising toiling coiling colling collins collies
dollies doilies dailies bailies bailees bailers failers fablers gablers gabbers
gibbers gibbets gobbets goblets
chasing ceasing cessing messing massing masting marting martins martens martels
cartels carpels carpers campers cambers combers cobbers combers robbers
vainest fainest fairest sairest saidest saddest maddest middest mildest wildest
wiliest winiest waniest caniest cantest contest confest confess confers conners
canners fanners fawners pawners pawnees pawnces paunces jaunces jaunced jaunted
saunted stunted stented stenned steined stained spained splined splines salines
savines savings pavings parings earings enrings endings ondings ondines undines
unlines unlives unwives unwires unwares unbares unbared unpared unpaged uncaged
incaged incased incised incises incites indites indices indicts inducts indults
insults insulas insulae infulae
This is not another travelling salesman - it is merely finding the diameter of
connected components of that graph. The simple algorithm for this is to do
one depth first search from each word, resulting in an O(n*m) worst case
algorithm (where n is the number of words, and m is the number of arcs). In
practice, it is actually somewhat better, since the graph breaks down into
many connected components. However, the diameters (and solutions) depend on
what dictionary is used. Here are the results from various dictionaries:
From /usr/dict/words (restricted to words all lower case alphabetical) (19,694
words): sixth - hubby (46 steps)
From the official scrabble players dictionary (94,276 words): effaces -
cabaret (57 steps)
From the british official scrabble words (134,051 words): vainest - infulae
(73 steps)
From webster's ninth new collegiate dictionary (abridged) (78, 167 words):
griming - goblets (56 steps)
From all of the above, merged (180,676 words): vainest - injects (58 steps)
To see the effect the dictionary has on paths, here are the lengths of the
shortest paths these pairs, and for the ones mentioned in previous posts, for
each dictionary (a - means that there is no path using only words from that
dictionary):
UDW OSPD OSW W9 ALL
hit - ace 5 3 3 5 3
pig - sty - 5 4 5 4
four - five 6 6 5 7 5
play - game 8 7 7 8 7
green - grass 13 4 4 7 4
wheat - bread 6 6 6 6 6
sixth - hubby 46 9 9 - 9
effaces - cabaret - 57 - - 33
vainest - infulae - - 73 - 52
griming - goblets - 22 19 56 15
vainest - injects - - 72 - 58
==> english/less.ness.p <==
Find a word that forms two other words, unrelated in meaning, when "less"
and "ness" are added.
==> english/less.ness.s <==
base -> baseless, baseness
light -> lightless, lightness
sound -> soundless, soundness
wit -> witless, witness
==> english/letter.rebus.p <==
Define the letters of the alphabet using self-referential common phrases (e.g.,
"first of all" defines "a").
==> english/letter.rebus.s <==
A first of all, midday
B fifth of bourbon, starting block
C fifth of scotch
D end of the world, back of my hand
E end of the line, beginning of the end
F starting friction, front
G middle of the night, starting gate
H end of the earth, top of the heap, middle of nowhere
I next of kin
J center of project
K bottom of the deck, two of a kind
L bottom of the barrel, starting line
M top of my head
N center of attention, final countdown, end run
O second in command
P bottom of the heap, the first of painters, starting point
Q at the front of the queue, top quality
R middle of the road, center of inertia
S _Last of the Mohicans_, start of something big
T top o' the morning, one's wit's end, bottom of my heart, last, central
U second guess
V center of gravity
W end of the rainbow, top of the world
X wax finish, climax
Y top of your head, center of the cyclone, early years, final extremity
Z led zeppelin
==> english/lipograms.p <==
What books have been written without specific letters, vowels, etc.?
==> english/lipograms.s <==
Such a book is called a lipogram.
A novel-length example in English (omitting e) exists, titled _Gadsby_.
Georges Perec wrote a French novel titled _La Disparition_ which does
not contain the letter 'e', except in a few bits of text that the
publisher had to include in or on the book somewhere -- such as the
author's name :-). But these were all printed in red, making them
somehow ``not count''.
Perec also wrote another novel in which `e' was the only vowel.
In _La Disparition_, unlike _Gadsby_, the lipogrammatic
technique is reflected in the story. Objects disappear or become
invisible. We know, however, more or less why the characters can't
find things like eggs or even remember their names -- because the
words for them can't be used.
Amazingly, it's been ``translated'' into English (by Harry Mathews, I
think).
Another work which manages to [almost] adhere to restrictive
alphabetic rules while also remaining readable as well as providing
amusement and literary satisfaction (though you have to like
disjointed fiction) is _Alphabetical Africa_ by Walter Abish. The
rules (which of course he doesn't explain, you can't help noticing
most of them) have to do with initial letters of words. There are 52
chapters. In the first, all words begin with `a'; in the second, all
words begin with either `a' or `b'; etc, until all words are allowed
in chapter 26. Then in the second half, the letters are taken away
one by one. It's remarkable when, for instance, you finally get `the'
and realize how much or little you missed it; earlier, when `I' comes
in, you feel something like the difference between third- and
first-person narration. As one of the blurbs more or less says (I
don't have it here to quote), reading this is like slowly taking a
deep breath and letting it out again.
----
Mitch Marks mitchell@cs.uchicago.edu
==> english/multi.lingual.p <==
What words in multiple languages are related in interesting ways?
==> english/multi.lingual.s <==
Synonymous reversals:
Dutch: nier (kidney), French: rein
French: etats, English: state
==> english/near.palindrome.p <==
What are some long near palindromes, i.e., words that except for one
letter would be palindromes?
==> english/near.palindrome.s <==
Here are the longest near palindromes in Webster's Ninth Collegiate:
catalatic footstool red pepper
detonated locofocos red spider
dew-clawed nabataean retreater
eisegesis possessor stargrass
foolproof ratemeter webmember
==> english/palindromes.p <==
What are some long palindromes?
==> english/palindromes.s <==
The first words spoken were a palindrome:
Madam, I'm Adam.
or perhaps:
Madam in Eden, I'm Adam.
The response, of course, must have been:
Eve
Napolean's lament:
Able was I ere I saw Elba.
Has been improved with:
Unremarkable was I ere I saw Elba, Kramer, nu?
A fish is a:
laminar animal
Other palindromes in ascending length (drum roll please):
Dennis sinned.
Sir, I'm Iris.
Sup not on pus.
Name no one man.
Naomi, did I moan?
Enid and Edna dine.
Revenge Meg? Never!
No lemons, no melon.
A Toyota's a Toyota.
Ma is a nun, as I am.
He harasses Sarah, eh?
Niagara, O roar again!
He lived as a devil, eh?
Nurse, I spy gupsies, run!
Sit on a potato pan, Otis!
Slap a ham on Omaha, pals!
A slut nixes sex in Tulsa.
Rats live on no evil star.
Ten animals I slam in a net.
Go deliver a dare, vile dog.
Was it a car or a cat I saw?
Was it Eliot's toilet I saw?
Al lets Della call Ed Stella.
Draw, O Caeser, erase a coward.
Did Eve salt an atlas? Eve did.
No pinot noir on Orion to nip on.
Naomi, sex at noon taxes! I moan.
Evil I did dwell; lewd did I live.
Yo, bad anaconda had no Canada boy .
Egad! A base tone denotes a bad age.
Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.
Red dude kill lion. No ill-liked udder.
I roamed under it as a tired, nude Maori.
To Peru, named llama mall 'De Manure Pot'.
Straw? No, too stupid a fad. I put soot on warts.
Now, Ned, I am a maiden nun; Ned, I am a maiden won.
Here we no got conical ill lilac in octogon ewer, eh?
Salamander a ton now. Raw war won not, a Red Nam, alas.
Fool! A dog lives sad a boxer, Rex. O bad ass evil god aloof!
'Tenor Octopus Night' netted a cadet tenth ginsu pot, coronet.
Won total, I am a pro. Bali radar I labor. Pa, mail a tot now!
Yo, boy! Trap gnus, nude. 'Kangaroo Rag' naked unsung party, O boy!
Did I strap red nude, red rump, also slap murdered underparts? I did!
Doc, note: I dissent. A fast never prevents a fatness. I diet on cod.
So regards Rat's Lib: regrets no more hero monster gerbil stars' drag Eros.
Degas, are we not drawn onward, we freer few, drawn onward to new eras aged?
Garret, I ogle. Enemy democrats party; trap star comedy men, eel goiter rag.
Sagas emit taxes, rat snot, or pastrami. I'm Arts, a proton star - sex at
times a gas.
Dr. Ana, Cataracts. Uranium enema smarts if fist rams, Amen! Emu in a
rust car at a canard.
T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang emanating, is sad; I'd assign it a
name: gnat dirt upset on drab pot toilet.
Those wonderful proper names:
Dennis, Nell, Edna, Leon, Nedra, Anita, Rolf, Nora, Alice, Carol, Leo,
Jane, Reed, Dena, Dale, Basil, Rae, Penny, Lana, Dave, Denny, Lena,
Ida, Bernadette, Ben, Ray, Lila, Nina, Jo, Ira, Mara, Sara, Mario, Jan,
Ina, Lily, Arne, Bette, Dan, Reba, Diane, Lynn, Ed, Eva, Dana, Lynne,
Pearl, Isabel, Ada, Ned, Dee, Rena, Joel, Lora, Cecil, Aaron, Flora,
Tina, Arden, Noel, and Ellen sinned.
A poem:
Mood's mode!
Pallas, I won!
(Diaper pane, sold entire.)
Melt till ever sere, hide it.
Drown a more vile note;
(Tar of rennet.)
Ah, trowel, baton, eras ago.
The reward? A "nisi." Two nag.
Otary tastes putrid, yam was green.
Odes up and on; stare we.
Rats nod. Nap used one-erg saw.
(May dirt upset satyr?)
A toga now; 'tis in a drawer, eh?
Togas are notable.
(Worth a tenner for Ate`.)
Tone liver. O Man, word-tied I.
Here's revel!
Little merit, Ned? Lose, Nap?
Repaid now is all apedom's doom.
-- Hubert Phillips:
Headmaster's Palindromic List on his Memo Pad:
Test on Erasmus Dr of Law
Deliver soap Stop dynamo (OTC)
Royal: phone no.? Tel: Law re Kate Race
Ref. Football. Caps on for prep
Is sofa sitable on? Pots- no tops
XI--Staff over Knit up ties ('U')
Sub-edit Nurse's order Ned (re paper)
Canning is on test (snub slip-up) Eve's simple hot dish (crib)
Birch (Sid) to help Miss Eve Pupil's buns
Reaper den T-set: no sign in a/c
Use it Red roses
Put inkspot on stopper Run Tide Bus?
Prof.--no space Rev off at six
Caretaker (wall, etc.) Noel Bat is a fossil
Too mand d*** pots Lab to offer one 'Noh' play--
Wal for duo? (I'd name Dr. O) or 'Pals Reviled'?
See few owe fees (or demand IOU?) Sums are not set.
-- Joyce Johnson
(_New_Statesman_ competition in 1967. 126 words, 467 letters)
Some word (not letter) palindromes:
So patient a doctor to doctor a patient so.
Girl, bathing on Bikini, eyeing boy, finds boy eyeing bikini on bathing girl.
In German:
Ein Neger mit Gazelle zagt im Regen nie.
In Serbo-Croat:
Ana voli Milovana.
Ana nabra par banana.
Imena Amen nema, a me mi.
U pero soli i los o repu.
Ako jad moli silom daj oka.
Odano mati pita: a ti pitam, o nado?
Evo sam iza padam mada pazim asove.
v v v v
A krt u razu mi laze no one zalim u zaru trka.
Palindromes in other languages that are palindromes in English:
Hebrew: aba or abba, English: dad
German: tat, English: deed
The timeless classic:
A man, a plan, a canal; Panama?
Has been improved by:
A dog, a plan, a canal: pagoda!
-- anonymous
A man, a plan, a cat, a canal; Panama?
-- Jim Saxe, plan file @ CMU, 9 October 1983
A man, a plan, a cat, a ham, a yak, a yam, a hat, a canal--Panama!
-- Guy Jacobson, plan file @ CMU late 1983
A man, a plan, a caret, a ban, a myriad, a sum, a lac, a liar, a hoop, a
pint, a catalpa, a gas, an oil, a bird, a yell, a vat, a caw, a pax, a wag,
a tax, a nay, a ram, a cap, a yam, a gay, a tsar, a wall, a car, a luger, a
ward, a bin, a woman, a vassal, a wolf, a tuna, a nit, a pall, a fret, a
watt, a bay, a daub, a tan, a cab, a datum, a gall, a hat, a fag, a zap, a
say, a jaw, a lay, a wet, a gallop, a tug, a trot, a trap, a tram, a torr, a
caper, a top, a tonk, a toll, a ball, a fair, a sax, a minim, a tenor, a
bass, a passer, a capital, a rut, an amen, a ted, a cabal, a tang, a sun, an
ass, a maw, a sag, a jam, a dam, a sub, a salt, an axon, a sail, an ad, a
wadi, a radian, a room, a rood, a rip, a tad, a pariah, a revel, a reel, a
reed, a pool, a plug, a pin, a peek, a parabola, a dog, a pat, a cud, a nu,
a fan, a pal, a rum, a nod, an eta, a lag, an eel, a batik, a mug, a mot, a
nap, a maxim, a mood, a leek, a grub, a gob, a gel, a drab, a citadel, a
total, a cedar, a tap, a gag, a rat, a manor, a bar, a gal, a cola, a pap, a