Bonus meta-puzzle: the puzzle as stated is actually unsolvable. Both Sandy and Peter have to know something that the puzzle implies but does not actually stipulate that they know. What is it?
The number of steps it would take to solve the puzzle.
“I don't know the numbers”: a math puzzle
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Re: “I don't know the numbers”: a math puzzle
#12Bonus meta-puzzle: the puzzle as stated is actually unsolvable. Both Sandy and Peter have to know something that the puzzle implies but does not actually stipulate that they know. What is it?
That both are perfect logicians with an understanding of the system sans the information about the two numbers themselves?
Re: “I don't know the numbers”: a math puzzle
#13That was a fun puzzle. I have another one that is math puzzle: > You are given two eggs, and access to a 100-storey tower. Both eggs are identical. The aim is to find out the highest floor from which an egg will not break when dropped out of a window from that floor. If an egg is dropped and does not break, it is undamaged and can be dropped again. However, once an egg is broken, that’s it for that egg. > If an egg b…
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Re: “I don't know the numbers”: a math puzzle
#14I like puzzles like this, where it's not just "what does each person know?" but also "when did they know it?" Another similar puzzle, with more logic and fewer numbers, is this one which was nicely written up on xkcd: https://xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html
> this one which was nicely written up on xkcd
But there's not a writeup there. That's just a statement of the problem.
This is not the hardest logic puzzle in the world, though stating the answer can be tricky. If it takes one day for a solitary blue-eyed person to realize he's the one with blue eyes and leave, then it takes 100 days for a group of 100 blue-eyed people to realize they have blue eyes and leave.
The blue eyes puzzle relies on everyone receiving input from the same synchronized digital clock ("Every night at midnight, a ferry stops at the island"), which is unusual for a logic puzzle. The puzzle here is similarly discretized, but it's more a pure question of sequence - each line of dialog happens after the previous line, and that's all that matters.
Re: “I don't know the numbers”: a math puzzle
#15I like puzzles like this, where it's not just "what does each person know?" but also "when did they know it?" Another similar puzzle, with more logic and fewer numbers, is this one which was nicely written up on xkcd: https://xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html
> this one which was nicely written up on xkcd But there's not a writeup there. That's just a statement of the problem. This is not the hardest logic puzzle in the world, though stating the answer can be tricky. If it takes one day for a solitary blue-eyed person to realize he's the one with blue eyes and leave, then it takes 100 days for a group of 100 blue-eyed people to realize they have blue eyes and leave. The b…
Re: “I don't know the numbers”: a math puzzle
#16Bonus meta-puzzle: the puzzle as stated is actually unsolvable. Both Sandy and Peter have to know something that the puzzle implies but does not actually stipulate that they know. What is it?
The number of steps it would take to solve the puzzle.
No, they discover that as they talk. It's not something they need to know; it's something you need to know.
Re: “I don't know the numbers”: a math puzzle
#17That was a fun puzzle. I have another one that is math puzzle: > You are given two eggs, and access to a 100-storey tower. Both eggs are identical. The aim is to find out the highest floor from which an egg will not break when dropped out of a window from that floor. If an egg is dropped and does not break, it is undamaged and can be dropped again. However, once an egg is broken, that’s it for that egg. > If an egg b…
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Lol. Someone needs some fresh air.
Re: “I don't know the numbers”: a math puzzle
#18I like puzzles like this, where it's not just "what does each person know?" but also "when did they know it?" Another similar puzzle, with more logic and fewer numbers, is this one which was nicely written up on xkcd: https://xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html
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Re: “I don't know the numbers”: a math puzzle
#19Bonus meta-puzzle: the puzzle as stated is actually unsolvable. Both Sandy and Peter have to know something that the puzzle implies but does not actually stipulate that they know. What is it?
That the order of the numbers is unimportant? Otherwise every non-duplicate solution has a correlate solution, inverted. E.g. (3,2) implies (2,3) is also a solution.
I don’t think that’s necessary. The problem only says there are two numbers, not that the numbers have any order.
Re: “I don't know the numbers”: a math puzzle
#20I like puzzles like this, where it's not just "what does each person know?" but also "when did they know it?" Another similar puzzle, with more logic and fewer numbers, is this one which was nicely written up on xkcd: https://xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html
That was a good puzzle. I won't put the answer here for spoilers, but there is a neat solution.
If you get stuck, try imagine a different number of blue/brown eyes on the island and what that might change