Hm, I can do that with 4 9's, (99/9 + 9) but not only three. Shucks.

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"Are you a story-teller, Thomas Covenant?"
"I was, once."
"And you gave it up? That is as sad a tale in three words as any you might have told me. But a life without a tale is like a sea without salt. How do you live?"
-Stephen Donaldson

(9+9)/.9
Nine plus Nine equals 18 divided by .9 equalls 20.
Or are decimals illegal?

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[Wrong Pattern! So sorry!]


[This message has been edited by Gage_Stryker (edited 07-31-2002).]

Correct.

"Boss, I have a complaint," said the young investment counselor. "Jones and I were hired at the same time, and both of us have handled about the same number of assignments. They've all been worth about the same, and each required a "yes-or-no" decision. Now, I've been keeping track of our recommendations, and I've done pretty well--I've been right about 70% of the time. Jones though knows nothing about investments--he hasn't made the right recommendation more than 10% of the time. I know that you're as aware of this as I am, and yet you've given him a promotion and a raise, while turning me down. How come?"
Did the boss have any valid reason for his action?

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Sonderlich Die, welche sich "die Guten" heissen, fand ich als die giftigsten Fliegen: sie stechen in aller Unschuld, sie lügen in aller Unschuld; wie vermöchten sie, gegen mich--gerecht zu sein! ... Die Dummheit der Guten nämlich ist unergründlich. -- Friedrich Nietzsche, Also Sprach Zarathustra (7.19)

Maybe Jones is the boss. The counselor said that Jones was promoted. Jones' promotion was to boss.

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"Heaven is defined as an American salary, a Chinese cook, an English house, and a Japanese wife. Hell is defined as having a Chinese salary, an English cook, a Japanese house, and an American wife."

[This message has been edited by PyroQuake (edited 07-28-2002).]

Perhaps the dumb one got a promotion to janitor? But then the raise wouldn't make any sense. Hrm...

Oh! I've got it!

Jones' boss is his father/brother/sister or some relative that favors family over hard workers.

This is though...
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"I'll admit it, I was never good with people. Even as a child, my imaginary friend would go to play with the kid down the street."
House of Soy (Last update- 7-23-02) | Heraan Info Core (Event Horizon Webstory)

[This message has been edited by SoySauce (edited 07-28-2002).]

[This message has been edited by SoySauce (edited 07-28-2002).]

The fact is that Jones was actually more reliable in his recommendations than the guy speaking in the riddle. Jones was accurate only 10 percent of the time. This means that he was wrong at least 90% of the time. Knowing this, the firm could confidently recommend the opposite of whatever Jones said, and be right at least 90% of the time. Going by the guy speaking in the riddle, they would only have a success rate of about 70%. Thus the boss was justified in promoting Jones over the guy speaking in the riddle.

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"One day you'll find your whole life has changed - act quick, be brave, your heart will show you the way"

[This message has been edited by Thunder (edited 07-28-2002).]

Correct.

An object is in motion through a stationary medium. If the surrounding medium were absent, the object would continue moving indefinitely at the same speed. However, because of the energy lost as friction with the medium, the object speeds up. Explain.

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Sonderlich Die, welche sich "die Guten" heissen, fand ich als die giftigsten Fliegen: sie stechen in aller Unschuld, sie lügen in aller Unschuld; wie vermöchten sie, gegen mich--gerecht zu sein! ... Die Dummheit der Guten nämlich ist unergründlich. -- Friedrich Nietzsche, Also Sprach Zarathustra (7.19)

Could the object be a hot air balloon? Friction produces heat, and more heat causes the balloon to rise faster.

And no one's got my pattern one yet. Hmm... I may have to start giving out hints in a bit.

------------------
Gage Stryker,
No IRC 'till August 25th
2nd Runner Up, Prove Captaintripps wrong contest.
This post is subject to all the protections and benifits of the posting code

Well I might as well guess. Although the friction and object part make this sound odd.
The object could be some sort of sound or seismic wave and the medium would most likely have a higher density than the surroundings making the wave speed up.

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The object would have to be orbiting something, as that's the only situation I can think of that by removing the stationary medium, the object would continue indefinitely at the same speed. I don't get the friction part.

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35. The liberal hates you.

It's surprising, given all the computer-savvy people here who should easily recognize binary numbers.


it could also be a propeller on a boat (although something else would be needed to push the boat through the water).

O X O X
O X X X
X O O O
X O O O


Clearly it's a little ascii-art drawing of a goalpost.

*Kicks football through the uprights* Three points!

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"One day you'll find your whole life has changed - act quick, be brave, your heart will show you the way"

Hint time. Someone barely touched upon the answer, but didn't do it sufficiently.

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Sonderlich Die, welche sich "die Guten" heissen, fand ich als die giftigsten Fliegen: sie stechen in aller Unschuld, sie lügen in aller Unschuld; wie vermöchten sie, gegen mich--gerecht zu sein! ... Die Dummheit der Guten nämlich ist unergründlich. -- Friedrich Nietzsche, Also Sprach Zarathustra (7.19)

Time to refine my first guess. If the object was a particle of light it would travel indefinetly at the same speed. If the Medium however had a lower density than the surroundings the object would accelerate due to this change. Newton's first Law of Motion would show that the object would remain at a constant velocity if there were no forces acting upon it. When the object goes through the medium friction acts upon it and forces it to accelerate. Now that am I'm done rambling, I feel much better even if i am completely off.

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Could it be a vacuum as in space?

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All hell that ends well -Me
Are you accusing me of planting the bomb in that building that I put a bomb in??? -Me
Weebl and Bob | Pumpkin Puke | MaG League- Overrider
The Underdogs Smiles:Underdog Smiles

X O O X

It's counting in binary...

0000
0001
0010
0011
0100
0101
0111
1000
1001

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Ignie Ferroque. Just Tech.
leviathan@sourcecod

[This message has been edited by oasamostexianu (edited 07-29-2002).]

What happened to 0110?

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Sonderlich Die, welche sich "die Guten" heissen, fand ich als die giftigsten Fliegen: sie stechen in aller Unschuld, sie lügen in aller Unschuld; wie vermöchten sie, gegen mich--gerecht zu sein! ... Die Dummheit der Guten nämlich ist unergründlich. -- Friedrich Nietzsche, Also Sprach Zarathustra (7.19)

There is no friction in movement in a vacuum. Hence the statement that a body in motion tends to stay in motion until something opposes it.

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Sonderlich Die, welche sich "die Guten" heissen, fand ich als die giftigsten Fliegen: sie stechen in aller Unschuld, sie lügen in aller Unschuld; wie vermöchten sie, gegen mich--gerecht zu sein! ... Die Dummheit der Guten nämlich ist unergründlich. -- Friedrich Nietzsche, Also Sprach Zarathustra (7.19)

Although I like firestorm's answer, I'll try a different approach.

Some kind of satellite or shuttle is in a low orbit over Earth. If there was no atmosphere at its level of orbit, its velocity would be sufficient to maintain a constant orbital speed. Since there is an atmosphere, its orbital velocity is slowed by friction such that it cannot maintain orbit and falls back toward Earth. Acceleration due to gravity brings it to a higher reentry speed than its original orbital speed.

I'm not even sure if this is possible.

Otherwise, the object is the theoretical tachyon which gets faster as it loses energy.

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Hi. I'm Dingo. Can I have your baby?

[This message has been edited by Dingo (edited 07-30-2002).]

I forgot it, obviously.

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Ignie Ferroque. Just Tech.
leviathan@sourcecod

More than possible, it's right!

Next one:

A barber posted this in his front window one day:

WHAT DO YOU THINK
I'LL SHAVE YOU FOR NOTHING
AND GIVE YOU A DRINK

Within an hour he had a massive queue in front of the store waiting to get free shaves and a drink. Amusedly, he told to each patron-to-be how the sign maker made two errors in printing the sign. Quite miniscule, really; no words were omitted, nor any spelling errors encountered.

What should the sign say?

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Sonderlich Die, welche sich "die Guten" heissen, fand ich als die giftigsten Fliegen: sie stechen in aller Unschuld, sie lügen in aller Unschuld; wie vermöchten sie, gegen mich--gerecht zu sein! ... Die Dummheit der Guten nämlich ist unergründlich. -- Friedrich Nietzsche, Also Sprach Zarathustra (7.19)

Now this is embarrasing. There's a typo in the pattern

I wondered when I couldn't solve it. Even more embarrasing is the fact it took me days to find it.


The correct one:
Complete the pattern (fill in the ?'s with O's and X's):

O X O X
O X X X
X O X X
? ? ? ?


For bonus marks, explain what the pattern is.

[/B][/QUOTE]

I don't know if that counts as a hint or not...

As atonement for this, I'll offer a few more puzzles.

1. I draw a triangle with two base angles of 90°. I continue the straight lines a finite distance and join them at the apex to form the third angle, creating the triangle. How is this possible?

Bonus: What angle or range of angles can the third angle be?

2. A cruel lady puts in her will that when she dies, all her assets are to be liquidated and the money placed with her inside the coffin. The coffin must then be cremated. Being a wealthy lady, all her relatives show up and await what they believe will be their inheritences. When they learn of the order, they are furious. They bring the will before a judge and demand that they recieve the inheritence, citing that the woman was not in her right mind when the will was written. Investigation shows that she was of sound mind, but the relatives still plead with the judge to get the money. The judge comes back with the verdict and rules that the wishes of the desceased must be paramount. However, he was also sympathetic to the heirs of the estate, and passed a ruling that would satisfy both parties. What did he do?

------------------
Gage Stryker,
No IRC 'till August 25th
2nd Runner Up, Prove Captaintripps wrong contest.
This post is subject to all the protections and benifits of the posting code

[This message has been edited by Gage_Stryker (edited 07-31-2002).]

w00t! Many thanks for the nice prize, too!

As for the other puzzles, I can only think of:
WHAT, DO YOU THINK
I'LL SHAVE YOU FOR NOTHING
AND GIVE YOU A DRINK?

but I have no idea why someone would get such a sign made up for their shop.

Gage's puzzles:
1. The triangle is drawn on the surface of a sphere. My geometry's not good enough to work out the exact angles though.

2. The woman's assets are liquidated not into cash but into gold. That way, after the cremation the gold will have melted into a salvageable lump, albeit with crazy old lady ash and bone fragments imbedded.

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Hi. I'm Dingo. Can I have your baby?

Once the assets are liquidated, each heir is given their share with instructions to write a cheque for that exact amount. The cheques are collected from each heir, and placed in the coffin.

(A wealthy man had $3 million that he didn't want to give his heirs when he died, so he gave his priest, doctor, and lawyer each $1 million, and told them to put it in an envelope and into his coffin at his wake. Each of them dutifully places an envelope at the appointed time. After the funeral, the three meet, and the priest confesses, "The poor in my community desperately needed food, so I used $100,000 of my share to fund the shelter; I only put $900,000 in the envelope." The doctor then confesses, "The county clinic was about to close its doors for lack of funds, so I donated $500,000; my envelope was half-empty."

"I'm shocked at both of you!" declared the lawyer. "I'll have you know that my envelope contained a personal cheque for the full $1 million.")

The only thing that I can think of for spamguy's puzzle would be:
What do you think
I'll shave for a drink
And give you nothing.



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???? = X X O X

The pattern appears to be a representation of prime numbers in binary (where X=1, and O=0).
O X O X = 5
O X X X = 7
X O X X = 11
So the next number should either be 13 (the next prime) or 17 (5+2=7, 7+4=11, 11+6=17). But 17 in binary would be X O O O X, too many digits. Thus, it must be 13.

Correct. The sign was made because he liked to do pranks like that. (Note how he was amused.)

Third prize coming shortly!

There is one word, and one word only, that can be put inside each of the ten blank rectangles to give ten different meanings to the sentence. The word must be added only once at a time. For example, if you put the word in the first rectangle, the meaning of the word changes. Move the word to the second rectangle. Again it means something different. What's the word?

--- TOM --- HELPED -- MARY'S --- DAUGHTER --- CLEAN --- MARY'S --- PARROT'S --- CAGE --- YESTERDAY --- .

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Sonderlich Die, welche sich "die Guten" heissen, fand ich als die giftigsten Fliegen: sie stechen in aller Unschuld, sie lügen in aller Unschuld; wie vermöchten sie, gegen mich--gerecht zu sein! ... Die Dummheit der Guten nämlich ist unergründlich. -- Friedrich Nietzsche, Also Sprach Zarathustra (7.19)

[quote]Originally posted by spamguy:
Correct. The sign was made because he liked to do pranks like that. (Note how he was amused.)

Third prize coming shortly!    


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"One day you'll find your whole life has changed - act quick, be brave, your heart will show you the way"

[This message has been edited by Thunder (edited 07-31-2002).]

[quote]Originally posted by Thunder:

[emphasis added by me]

Clever wording there, spamguy.  I think I just solved this one.    

Next one:

On December 11th, 1868, Lewis Carroll wrote a letter to Dolly Argles, one of his child-friends:

My Dear Dolly,
I'm going to send your Papa a little present this Christmas, which I daresay you may like to look at. It consists of some thin slices of dried vegetables that somebody has found a way of preparing so that they don't fall to pieces easily. They are marked in a sort of pattern with some chemical stuff or other, and fastened between sheets of pasteboard to preserve them. I believe the sort of thing isn't a new invention, but the markings of these are quite new. I inserted them myself...
No more at present from
Your Loving Friend,
C.L. Dodgson

What gift is Carroll speaking of?

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Sonderlich Die, welche sich "die Guten" heissen, fand ich als die giftigsten Fliegen: sie stechen in aller Unschuld, sie lügen in aller Unschuld; wie vermöchten sie, gegen mich--gerecht zu sein! ... Die Dummheit der Guten nämlich ist unergründlich. -- Friedrich Nietzsche, Also Sprach Zarathustra (7.19)