Alan - I worked out you can spell REPERTOIRE but then the one your supposed to get is TYPEWRITER, I just suddenly realised you could spell this after reading the question again. Is there a longer word than 10 letters.

More transalations:

(jobs)im(jobs)

head
hold your

you cont ol r

And A riddle - sort of:
What goes up and down and is green and hairy?

LOL, I just had to say this as it's the first thing that popped into my head an I thought it to be rather funny:

a piece of moldy cheese on an elevator

You got it! Reading them aloud probably helps.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::

I'm between jobs.

Hold you head up. (?)

You are out of control.


I have no idea, but km's answer works for me! That reminds me of one of my great-grandmother's favorite riddles: What can go up the chimney down, but can't go down the chimney up?

An umbrella

Zeb....
What goes up and down and is green and hairy.....

It's just gotta be......Eva Gabores eylids

I cant find any longer word than typewriter but thats not to say there isn't in other languages like outer mongolian

1..4..5..6..7..9..11......Whats the next in this sequence?

Regards...Al

This answer does not work in all cases. Let's say G is the best player. G is the only opponent H played. Since the only information we have about H is that H lost to G, and everyone lost to G, we have no way of knowing how H would fare vs. any of A through F.



This presents a similar, though slightly more subtle, conundrum. G and H each play two players, for a total of four (A, B, E and F). What if all of ABEF are better than both of G and H? There are multiple ways ABEF could turn out amongst themselves, but there's nothing left to distinguish between G and H.

One thing of which I'm absolutely certain with this puzzle is that the solution hinges on eliminating redundant information. For example, if A beats B and B beats C there's no information to be gained by having A play C; we already know the outcome. However, it's possible that both B and C will both win or both lose vs. A, so we need some way to distinguish between them. Having them play each other will tell us which is better, but it might not be the most "efficient" way. The solution is more likely to involve B and C having some other opponent in common, with them having common opponents etc. leading indirectly back to A, so that finding the answer for B vs. C sort of "piggybacks" on finding other answers as well.

I'm also pretty sure that no "static" set of pairings will work. In other words, you can't just say at the outset to do these 16 matches and the answer will pop out. It's more like the coin problem, where you do some set of matches, then if you get one kind of result you do X but if you get another result you do Y. I can't prove that (the proof itself would be extremely hairy) but I'm pretty certain nonetheless. The most promising approaches I've found so far involve doing seven matches as though it's a single-elimination tournament yielding a "champion" who can then be left out of the remaining stages, then trying to sort out the seven remaining players in no more than nine more steps. I can definitely guarantee a seventeen-step solution in a couple of different variants, and average just over fifteen, but so far there always seem to be one or two "pathological" cases that prevent a guarantee of sixteen.

I am almost certain there IS a way my solution would work, I just haven't had the time to arrange the order of matches to ensure it - gimme a few days (or more...I've been having a rought last couple of days with pregnancy-induced tummy-aches ) and I'll come up with the actual system in its entirety so that there would easily be a distinction between G & H (or any others for that matter).

Like I said, I worked backward, which is a much easier way to get a solution, BUT it's MUCH harder to ensure that your solution has a viable means of being played out

A little time and I will hopefully have this figured out

Platypus - your right about rating H but it works if you know who won each match.
I'll run it through using a different notation knowing the result of every match and redo it. It worked by labelling them at the end and working out the matches they would have to play to ensure they where in order ABCDEFGH.
I can't post the diagram so I'll post a worked solution when I can.

Kmsouthern - A mouldy cheese is a good one, the one I heard was a gooseberry in an elevator but mouldy cheese still fits.

No one has worked out what this is saying yet
ouch money

Another 'sort of' riddle:
What's big, red and eats rocks.

No pain no gain is the only thing I can think of but I don't know if that works quite right with the money part.

no pain no gain is the right answer. I couldn't think of a better way to encrypt it than money but you got it anyway.

A tolkien reader will know these two but if you have heard them before don't answer.

Box without hinges, key or lid
Yet golden treasure inside in his.
What is it?

And:

This thing all things devouers
Birds, Trees, Beasts, Flowers.
Slays king, Ruins town
And breaks high moutains down
What is it?

That sounds circular to me, as though you're saying that it works if you set up the (asymmetrical) pairings based on foreknowledge of how the players are ranked.

BTW, I think I've found a solution but I haven't verified the last couple of cases yet. I'm thinking of writing a program to do that part, if I ever find any spare time.

Platypus have you worked out the 16 games yet, I ran through mine with a load of alternative ratings and about a quarter don't work. Oh well. How did you do it in seventeen.

Another Puzzle
A lilly pad sits in the centre of a pond, it grows to twice its size each day. After fifty days it will have covered the whole of the pond.
How many days will it take for the lilly to cover half of the pond? - let's see a mathematician work this out.

That is either one huge pond, or one tiny lillypad to begin with.

Lets say the Lilly pad had a 1inch diameter.

Starting from day one:1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024,2048,4096,8192,16384

This is after 15 days, 16384 inches = 1,365.33 feet

Lets keep going: 16384,32768,65536,131072,262144,524288,1048576

Now a total of 21 Days: 1,048,576 inches = 87381.33 Ft. diameter.

keep going: 1048576,2097152,4194304,8388608,16777216,

At 25 days you are at 16777216 inches= 1398101.3 Feet

You know all this really isn't necessary. because soon the lilly pad will be bigger than the earth

But for arguments sake, the lilly pad will cover half of the hypothetical pond on the 49th Day.

Why, because it will be twice its size the next day covering the entire pond

I will assume that the radius of the pad doubles every day when you say that the "size" doubles every day. If the area doubled every day, then the answer would be at 25 days...

Rpad = Ro x 2^n at time n Ro=original radius of the pad...
Apad = pi (Ro)^2 x 2^2n at time n
Apad50= pi (Ro)^2 x 2^(100)

At what time n is Apadn = 1/2 Apad50?

pi (Ro)^2 x 2^(2n) = 1/2 (pi (Ro)^2 x 2^(100))

2^(2n) = (1/2) 2^(100)
2^(2n) = 2^(-1) x 2^(100)
2^(2n) = 2^(99)

Therefore, using a log function:

2n = 99
n=49.5

To check, we can invert the problem and ask how long would it take to decrease the PAD's area by 1/2 if the radius drops by 1/2 per day:

A= pi R^2
Ao= pi Ro^2
Rn=Ro x 2(-n)
An= pi (Ro)^2 x (2^-n)^2
= pi Ro^2 x 2^(-2n)

When is An=1/2Ao?
Since 1/2 is the same as 2^(-1) we need 2^(-2n) to equal 2^(-1)
Thus -2n = -1
or n= 1/2

I was a bit rushed...I hope that's right...

All that maths - It's just not needed.

This is a puzzle set for a mathematician because it is very complicated working from the begginning but you know the answer and only need to work backwards one step.

Sleeper got the right answer of 49 days.
Let us say the lilly pad is one unit big at the end of the fiftieth day and it covers the whole pond which therefore must also be 1 unit big.
In one day the lilly doubles in size, so going backwards, the day before the 50th day it will be half the size so 1/2 = 0.5. So on the 49th day it will cover half the pond.

That's all the maths you need.

Amlord - so n=49.5 and n=1/2, I guess you should get some credit for your algebra and proving the puzzle flaud by saying the answer is 25, 49 and 49.5.
I did all the maths up to 2^34 before I realised you just start at the end and go back one. Mathematicians think backwards.

An egg would seem to be the most evident answer.


My original thought was death, but then I realized that Time would also defeat things, such as mountains, which have no life cycle.

No errors found by Spell Check

Gullom ROCKS!

There is a common English word that is nine letters long. Each time you remove a letter from it, it still remains an English word - from nine letters right down to a single letter. What is the original word, and what are the words that it becomes after removing one letter at a time?

Silly Billy - I think we had this one already: kmsouthern's possible solution

Or:

The base word is Startling - starting - staring - string - sting - sing - sin - in - I

O T T F F S S E

What's the next letter in the series? If you've heard this one already, don't answer - let someone who hasn't seen it work it out!

"N"

Which represent the number Nine

One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight

and

Nine

Edit to add: I have always loved sequence puzzles. May have given me an edge on this one

Well done, Sleeper. Some people never get this one, because you have to really think "outside the box."

W I T N L I T _

What is the next letter in this sequence?

0, 64, 32, 48, _

And what's comes next in this number sequence?




Egg and Time are the right answers - have you read the Hobbit Curmudgeon.

The next letter must be "S" -- for those of you who have not yet figured it out, take a close look at the question.

I WILL figure this one out...I am determined but currently stumped.

Kmsouthern - it actually helps to wave your hands about over a number line (even if this sounds wierd have a go and you should get it)

Alan posted this and I don't think anyone has replied


And I posted this to which no one has replied



(Alans is a bit more serious)

I assume the answer is a big, red, rock eater.

0, 64, 32, 48, 40. (Thanks for the hint)

Both right Victoria - Only a big red rock eater would eat big red rocks.

Has anyone answered your riddle yet, the own about the little man walking to the edge of the lad and he'll be a women instead.

To the question

0, 64, 32, 48, _

And what's comes next in this number sequence?

my answer is 40

0 + 64 =64
64 - 32 = 32
32 + 16 = 48
48 - 8 = 40

I have both Bachelor's and Master's in Math and have an easy time with math-related puzzles.

Well, I've been lurking at AD for awhile now, so I'm going to jump back in with a puzzle (care of Marilyn Vos Savant)...

You are in a pitch dark room. You are handed a deck of (52) cards that has ten cards turned face up shuffled into it. Your job is to sort the deck into two piles, each of which contains the same number of up-turned cards. How can you do it?

... and there is nothing special about the cards.

No answer yet. Let me repeat it, with a clue.

I know a tiny little man
Who marches straight ahead.
When he reaches the end of the land
He'll be a woman instead!


(Clue: He's a soldier.)

Ummmmm, turn on the lights first, maybe?


Okay, the only thing I can think of that would be remotely close to an answer is sperm I don't think I have to explain why

Well, that's a very creative answer, but it's not quite what I had in mind.

(Clue Two: He might be black or white.)

Oh that sounds like a pawn, but not the "he'll be a woman instead" part. Darn it.

I like my first answer better anyway,

This is quite correct. Remember, when the pawn reaches the eight rank, it may be promoted to a queen!

Nope, you don't need to even see the cards.

You tell the person who has handed you the cards to go out, sort them out, then give them back to you . Or use psychic powers and sort them out .
This isn't one of the play on words puzzles like "two halves make a whole so you climb through the hole", is it.

Can you rip the cards in half (if so, you can turn one half of every card over and so every single card is both half up and half down and then you put them with there pair into one of the piles and as long as each pile has 26 cards youv'e done it, Is this right?)

Nope, this isn't a play on words or involve ripping the cards.

The answer is actually very simple, but to arrive at it requires a little bit of thinking.

I thought we had a bunch of clever people here. Yet nobody has figured this out yet.

After many days, I think I have figured this out.

Take ten cards at random out of the deck. Turn ALL of these cards upside down.
This pile of ten cards will now contain as many cards facing up as the 42 cards left in the deck.

PROOF: Call the number of upturned cards that you selected at random X. The number of upturned cards left in the rest of the deck is therefore (10 - X). When you flip over all of the ten cards you selected, the number of upturned cards you now have in that pile will also be (10 - X).


I will now offer an easy riddle that I made up:

We are seven sisters. You know all our names.
Five must work. One must pray. One must play games.

Vic - I would guess the sisters are the days of the week? I say so because it reminded me of that little poem we learn as kids about what day of week we are born on (Monday's child is full of grace, Tuesday's child's fair of face...that one)

Wow, that was fast! Absolutely correct!

Here's another easy one I made up:

We are always seven
But we are always one.
We live in Heaven
With the clouds and sun.
Do you think us pretty
Dancing in the sky?
In country or in city
We love to please your eye.

That's it!

Colors of the rainbow?

Absolutely correct!

Anybody want to add another brainteaser or puzzle?

Heh - I thought the answer to your second one was the Plieades, Victoria.

I have an easy one (and it's sort of appropriate for this time of year):

A man left home running. He ran awhile, then turned left, ran the same distance and turned left again, ran the same distance and turned left again. When he got home there were two masked men. Who were they?

The Catcher and the Umpire.

Bingo! You got it, Sleeper.

Got one for us? I'm not good at coming up with these things. All the one I remember I learned when I was 10 so they are WAY TOO easy.

Everyone... this is sooo cool. Read it straight through and see if you understand it

That's old news, jubes. Catch up, dude

"Strange Biarn", "Very srtngae..."