Archive-name: puzzles/faq Posting-frequency: weekly Rec-puzzles-archive-name: puzzles/faq Last-modified: Sat Apr 29 1995 Version: 1.31 Welcome to the rec.puzzles Frequently Asked Questions List. The purpose of this article is to assist readers in determining if their nifty new puzzle is not quite so nifty or new after all and to introduce new readers of rec.puzzles to newsgroup etiquette. Questions and comments about this FAQ should be emailed to positron@neosoft.com. Changes from the last version are marked with a + in the first column for new lines and a | in the first column for changed lines. | The only change from the last version is the removal of the | notice that the FAQ was 'unofficial'... we're now approved | by the *.answers moderators and this is the official version. This FAQ is maintained by Jonathan S. Haas, positron@neosoft.com. It is posted weekly, on Saturday mornings. 0. INTRODUCTION AND CONTENTS The rec.puzzles newsgroup is generally a friendly one, and the signal-to-noise ratio is relatively high compared with that of other Usenet newsgroups. However, many rec.puzzles readers have a MAJOR PET PEEVE -- seeing the same old puzzles (and the same old answers, and the same old discussions) over and over and over and ... Please, before you post a puzzle to rec.puzzles, heed the information in this article! Briefly, this consists of: 0. Introduction and contents. 1. What you should do before you post a puzzle. 2. Frequently asked puzzles (specific). 2.1. Monty Hall. 2.2. You have 12 coins, one of which is EITHER light or heavy... 2.3. The bellboy (where is the missing dollar?). 2.4. 1, 11, 21, 1211, ???, .... 2.5. What's the probability that my other child is a girl? 2.6. What color is the bear? 2.7. Two envelopes, one contains twice as much money as the other... 2.8. Can you draw a line through all the segments in this diagram... 2.9. 26 L of the A. 3. Frequently asked puzzles (general). 3.1. Situation puzzles. 3.2. Weighing/balance puzzles. 3.3. Sequence puzzles. 3.4. English language records. 3.5. Logic puzzles. 4. Posting puzzle solutions. 5. Information about the rec.puzzles archive. 5.1. The archive index. 5.2. Accessing individual puzzles. 5.3. Getting to the archive by FTP, gopher, and WWW. 6. Information about the rec.puzzles oracle. 7. Credit where credit is due. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. WHAT YOU SHOULD DO BEFORE YOU POST A PUZZLE: Before you post any puzzle to rec.puzzles, you should take the following steps to ensure that the puzzle is not an oldie. o READ THE NEWSGROUP FOR AT LEAST A MONTH! (Reading for some time before posting is proper etiquette for ANY Usenet newsgroup. If you did not realize that, it would be a good idea to read the advice that's posted regularly to news.announce.newusers.) o Read this article. (Good for you! You're doing it!) o Look through the rec.puzzles archive (see Section 4 below). If you can't tell whether your puzzle is in the archive (it's not always clear from the index), ask the oracle. o Ask the rec.puzzles oracle (see Section 5 below). If your nifty new puzzle was given to you as an Nth-generation photocopy, or sent to you by email from someone who got it by email from someone who..., there's a VERY good chance it's been around in rec.puzzles before. Follow the steps above before posting. If what you really want is not to pose your question for the puzzlement of rec.puzzles readers, but rather simply to find out the answer to the puzzle (presumably fairly quickly), then your best bet is to go straight to the archive, possibly followed by the oracle. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. FREQUENTLY ASKED PUZZLES (SPECIFIC): This section contains, in no particular order, short summaries of the most commonly occurring puzzles on rec.puzzles. Unless you have some really devastatingly new twist or observation on these puzzles, you probably shouldn't post. Exception: Discussion of the archive's solutions to puzzles is often welcomed in the newsgroup. (But it might be a good idea to check with the oracle about it first.) In this section, and throughout the FAQ, the phrases between arrows ==> like this <== are the names of puzzles as they appear in the archive. The stuff in [square brackets] is the name of the file you should look for, once you're in the rec.puzzles archive directory, if you are accessing the archive by ftp (see Section 4.3 below). 2.1. ==> monty.hall <== [decision] Three doors; one has a prize. If you pick the door with the prize, you get the prize. You pick a door, Monty Hall opens another door revealing a dud, and offers you the option to switch doors. Should you switch? NOTE: This may be the grand champion of all tiresome puzzles on rec.puzzles. Without a doubt, it has generated more bandwidth than any other puzzle over the last few years. No matter how many times we smack it, it keeps rearing its ugly head. (Not unlike Whack-A-Mole in that respect...) 2.2. ==> balance <== [logic/part5] You have 12 coins, one of which is counterfeit. The counterfeit is indistinguishable from the rest except that it is either heavier or lighter (but you don't know which). How can you determine which coin is the counterfeit in 3 weighings on a balance scale? NOTE: This puzzle occasionally gives Monty Hall stiff competition for overall tiresomeness, not because of long regurgitated discussions, but because at times it seems to be re-posted about every other week. 2.3. ==> 29 <== [logic/part1] Three men in a hotel, each pays $10, the bellboy pockets $2, etc. What happened to the missing dollar? 2.4. ==> series.07 <== [series] What is the next number in this sequence? 1, 11, 21, 1211, ... NOTE: Probably because it appears, without a solution, in Cliff Stoll's book _The Cuckoo's Egg_, this has become the grand champion of tiresome sequences, the general category of which warrants mention in Section 3 below. 2.5. ==> oldest.girl <== [probability] At least one of my children is a girl. What is the probability that the other one is a girl? 2.6. ==> bear <== [geometry/part1] A hunter walks south 1 mile, then east 1 mile, then north 1 mile, ends up where he started, and shoots a bear. What color is the bear? NOTE: Not only does everyone know the "obvious" answer, but everyone knows the infinite number of "less obvious" answers as well. Everyone also knows where polar bears *really* live. 2.7. ==> envelope <== [decision] I have two envelopes, one of which contains twice as much money as the other. You choose one envelope, I show you the money in it, and then give you the choice of keeping it, or taking the money in the unopened envelope. Should you switch? 2.8. ==> konigsberg <== [geometry/part1] Can you draw a line through each edge on the diagram below without crossing any edge twice and without lifting your pencil from the paper? +---+---+---+ | | | | +---+-+-+---+ | | | +-----+-----+ 2.9. ==> equations <== [language/part1] 26 L of the A 8 S on a SS 9 P in TS of the FAQ [9 puzzles in this section of the FAQ] NOTE: Tim Vaughan hit the nail right on the head when he said: 1,000,000 N of T these P have been P to R.P By the way, credit for this puzzle in its original form is due to Will Shortz of GAMES magazine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. FREQUENTLY ASKED PUZZLES (GENERAL): This section gives information on some general categories of puzzles that pop up over and over again. 3.1. ==> situation.puzzles <== [logic/part3 and logic/part4] A man lies dead with 53 bicycles in front of him. A man walks into a bar, asks for a drink, the bartender points a gun at him, the man says "thank you" and leaves. Nobody's sure what these are really called, but here on rec.puzzles we call them "situation puzzles". The keeper of the canonical list of situation puzzles is Jed Hartman. Comments, questions, suggestions, etc., should be sent to him. For information on how to contact him, read the archive entry. 3.2. Weighing and balance scale puzzles The 12-objects puzzle mentioned in the previous section is one example of this type of puzzle. There are many variations, and we've seen most of them in rec.puzzles. In the archive index, look under the general category "logic/weighings". 3.3. Sequence puzzles O, T, T, F, F, S, ? ==> series.06 <== [series] 5, 6, 5, 6, 5, 5, 7, 6, ? ==> series.21 <== [series] ... The problem with letter sequences is that we've seen most of them, quite possibly even that one you just thought of all by yourself. Check out the archive, in the general category "series", to make sure yours isn't there. The problem with number sequences is that many puzzlers find them unsatisfying, since there are infinitely many formulas that will fit any finite sequence, and the concept of "simplest" or "best" formula is a slippery one. Since number sequences inevitably lead to the same old discussion, it's probably best to avoid them in rec.puzzles. Fans of number sequences may enjoy _A Handbook of Integer Sequences_, by N.J.A. Sloane, Academic Press, New York, 1973, and _Supplement I to A Handbook of Integer Sequences_, Sloane, Bell Labs, Murray Hill, New Jersey, 1974. In spring 1994 Sloane announced a nifty new service, the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. To look up a sequence, send e-mail to sequences@research.att.com containing up to five requests like the following: lookup 4 9 16 25 36 The reply will report all sequences in the encyclopedia (up to a limit of seven) that match your sequence. An empty message to that address will get you more detailed instructions. For further information, send email to njas@research.att.com. 3.4. English language records What's the shortest sentence with all 26 letters? ==> pangram <== What's the longest one-syllable word? ==> syllable <== What three common English words end in -gry? ==> gry <== (all of those are in: [language/part2]) These and zillions of other questions -- almost anything you could ever think of -- are answered under the general archive category "language". By the way, there are only two *common* English words that end in -gry, but there are scads of uncommon ones. 3.5. Logic puzzles There are a bajillion categories and variations of logic puzzles. Some familiar ones from the archive are: ==> number <== [logic/part1] Mr. S and Mr. P are "perfect logicians". Mr. S is given the sum of two numbers; Mr. P is given their product. The following conversation ensues. ... ==> unexpected <== [logic/part5] Swedish civil defense authorities announced that a civil defense drill would be held one day the following week, but the actual day would be a surprise. ... ==> ropes <== [logic/part2] Two fifty foot ropes are suspended from a forty foot ceiling, about twenty feet apart. Armed with only a knife, how much of the rope can you steal? In addition to miscellaneous logic puzzles, there are numerous puzzles of the sort found in books by logician Raymond Smullyan. Examples of these are "liar/truthteller" puzzles (wherein the puzzle is to determine the answer to some problem by posing questions to people, some or all of whom always lie or never lie) and "unseen mark" puzzles (wherein a number of people have marks that can be seen only by others, and the puzzle is to determine how the people can figure out their own marks). Before you post a logic puzzle to rec.puzzles, see the archive category "logic", especially the subcategory "logic/smullyan". Better still, read all of Smullyan's books. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Posting puzzle solutions When someone posts a puzzle that you know the solution to, or better yet, posts a puzzle that you discover the solution to after hours of thinking, it's natural to want to post the solution to that puzzle to proclaim your achievement to the world. Such posts are called "spoilers". There's nothing wrong with posting a spoiler, however, certain etiquette guidelines should be followed. First, check to see if anyone else has already posted the solution. There's little point in spoiling a puzzle that's already been spoiled. Multiple spoilers for a puzzle just eat bandwidth and lower the signal-to-noise ratio. Once you've determined that your spoiler won't be redundant, you can go ahead and compose your followup. It is *important* that you *warn* people that you are posting a spoiler, so they can skip your post if they choose. After all, it's no fun to come across an original and challenging puzzle, look forward to solving it, and then accidentally read a solution posted by an inconsiderate poster. When you post a spoiler, you should include the warning [SPOILER] after you quote the puzzle, but before you include your solution. (Several people also include [SPOILER] in the subject line of their posting.) After the [SPOILER] flag, insert a page break by pressing control-L; it should look like this: ^L. The Page break will cause most newsreaders to pause at that point and give the reader a chance to move on to the next post if they'd rather not read your spoiler. If your editor won't let you insert a page break, 20 or 30 blank lines will do. For people who *do* want to read your spoiler, it's a good idea to show your work and any reasoning you did. When someone chooses to read a spoiler, it's usually because that person has given up on solving the puzzle on his own, and wants to know how to solve it. A bare answer does no good, and isn't very entertaining. [insert examples of "good" and "bad" spoilers here] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. THE rec.puzzles ARCHIVE Formerly known as the "rec.puzzles FAQ", the archive is a treasure trove of puzzles and their solutions. Maintained by Chris Cole (chris@questrel.questrel.com), the archive currently contains over 500 puzzles, including those mentioned in this FAQ, and others of many varieties. (It is not, as the name might suggest, an archive of all postings that come down the pike in rec.puzzles.) Corrections to and comments on archive entries should be emailed to archive-comment@questrel.com. Discussion of the solutions in the archive is usually welcomed in rec.puzzles. 5.1. The archive index The easiest way to figure out the archive is to get and read the index. The index contains brief descriptions of all of the puzzles in the archive. To request a copy of the index, send email to archive-request@questrel.com, with a body that looks like this: return_address your_name@your_site.your_domain send index For example, if your net address is "mickey@disneyland.com", send this message: return_address mickey@disneyland.com send index The index will be sent by an auto-reply daemon that runs overnight, so don't expect an immediate response. 5.2. Accessing individual puzzles Individual puzzles from the archive may be requested by sending email to the same address as above, containing one or more lines of the form send where is the name by which the puzzle is called in the archive index. You may use the full name or just the last part of it. For example, to request the 12-coins problem (see Section 2 above), either of the following "send" lines will work: send logic/weighing/balance send balance As with the index, an auto-reply daemon will respond overnight. You may also request multiple puzzles by putting multiple "send" lines in your request message. Please refrain from requesting the entire archive by email. Use FTP. 5.3. Getting to the archive by FTP, gopher, or WWW FTP The entire archive is also accessible via anonymous FTP, from any site which maintains archives of the newsgroups news.answers or rec.answers. One such site is rtfm.mit.edu, where the archive is in the directory /pub/usenet/news.answers/puzzles/archive. The file part01 contains the index. The remaining files contain alternating problem text and solution text for all the puzzles. Some other FTP sites are: ftp://ftp.cs.ruu.nl/pub/NEWS.ANSWERS/puzzles/archive ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/news.answers/puzzles/archive Compressed plain text. ftp://ftp.cis.ksu.edu/pub/mirrors/news.answers/puzzles/archive Compressed plain text. ftp://gaia.ucs.orst.edu/pub/mirrors/rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/ news.answers/puzzles/archive GOPHER From the global home page, the menu choices to access the archives at "cs.ttu.edu" are: North America/USA/Texas/Texas Tech University, Computer Sciences /Entertainment/Games/Puzzles To access "uni-hohenheim.de" your menu choices are: Europe/Germany/University of Hohenheim/Lots of Interesting Stuff /FAQ Frequently Asked Questions/rec/puzzles/archive WEB http://alpha.acast.nova.edu/puzzles.html Linked to the gopher server immediately above. http://einstein.et.tudelft.nl/~arlet/puzzles/index.html Unknown date; partially HTMLized. http://xraysgi.ims.uconn.edu:8080 By keyword as well as subject. 6. THE rec.puzzles ORACLE This is a group of rec.puzzles regulars, who are familiar with the rec.puzzles archive, and who will find your answer there if it exists, or maybe compose an original answer if they are interested enough! At any rate, they promise to respond to your question within two days, and perhaps save you the embarrassment of posting a well-worn question. They will respond within two days even if they do not know the answer to your question. To query the rec.puzzles oracle, send email containing your question to the following address: puzzle-oracle@questrel.com Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Send them to the oracle, or to Chris Cole (address given earlier). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE This FAQ was authored by Tom Magliery, mag@ncsa.uiuc.edu. Many, many thanks to him for all his hard work putting it together. The following people have proofread, criticized, corrected, or otherwise contributed to this FAQ: Mark Brader, Chris Cole, David Grabiner, Jed Hartman, David Karr, Stein Kulseth, Jerry McCollom, Neil Sloane, Tim Vaughan. -- __/\__ Jonathan S. Haas | Jake liked his women the way he liked \ / positron@neosoft.com | his kiwi fruit: sweet yet tart, firm- /_ _\ Finger for PGP 2.3 key | fleshed yet yielding to the touch, and \/ Don't Tread On Me | covered with short brown fuzzy hair.