Return to Unfiction unforum
 a.r.g.b.b 
FAQ FAQ   Search Search 
 
Welcome!
New users, PLEASE read these forum guidelines. New posters, SEARCH before posting and read these rules before posting your killer new campaign. New players may also wish to peruse the ARG Player Tutorial.

All users must abide by the Terms of Service.
Website Restoration Project
This archiving project is a collaboration between Unfiction and Sean Stacey (SpaceBass), Brian Enigma (BrianEnigma), and Laura E. Hall (lehall) with
the Center for Immersive Arts.
Announcements
This is a static snapshot of the
Unfiction forums, as of
July 23, 2017.
This site is intended as an archive to chronicle the history of Alternate Reality Games.
  

The time now is Mon Nov 11, 2024 8:15 pm
All times are UTC - 4 (DST in action)		 View posts in this forum since last visit
View unanswered posts in this forum
Calendar
 Forum index » Diversions » The Master Theorem
Geocaching
Moderators: Cougar Draven
View previous topicView next topic
Page 3 of 5 [68 Posts]   Goto page: Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next
Author Message
MelissaJames
Guest
Fed up wrote:
anon1212 wrote:
Fed up,

Your values for E and C are also incorrect.

But I can only confirm this now that the "correct" value for B was posted here. That one is a terrible, terrible discrepancy, and some possible ambiguities in other places meant it wasn't easy to suss out. (If I was 100% confident in the other values, and if I was 100% confident that M was treating order of operations properly, then I guess the wrong value for B could have been determined by assuming the minute value for longitude must be a whole number)

In any case, terrible. I would have had this one done in 10 or 20 minutes for sure.


What sources are you using?
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
C= 8
A. Meridian Gate
B. Gate of Divine Might
C. West Glorious Gate
D. East Glorious Gate
E. Corner towers (4)
(per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City)

E=10 per aerial picture (http://www.globalmountainsummit.org/statue-of-liberty.html & http://www.nyharborparks.org/visit/stli-faq.html 2nd is better and I'm counting the bottom star shaped level)


You're right for C as far as I can tell (unless something has changed recently in the news within the last few hours), but you're wrong on E.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Count the star again. It is 11.


PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 2:23 am
 Back to top 
Guest
Guest


 		Sorry for the double post

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
E=11 (per http://www.nyharborparks.org/visit/stli-faq.html pointer to Fort Wood)


PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 2:27 am
 Back to top 
paramis
Boot

Joined: 02 May 2011
Posts: 13

 		geocaching
values for B
Regarding the value for B:

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
In Google Earth, if you double click on the coordinates for the Parthenon, you are shown a 3D model of the building. And if you count the columns, you'll see how M arrived at 52 as his answer--the model shows 18 columns along the long side.
.

Not as much of a fan of this puzzle as others but don't feel the deep frustration some others here seem to feel.[/spoiler]

PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 2:28 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
anon1212
Guest


 		Fed Up, your first picture is actually better than your second for seeing the extra star point you've missed. (In your second picture you're assuming symmetry for the part behind the statue itself, but this is an incorrect assumption.)

As for the other, I wasn't counting the corners (or, rather, I wasn't sure whether M was counting the corners or not). Luckily, that value doesn't play a large enough role in the final coordinates for it to matter much.


And Paramis, the problem is precisely that the model in Google Earth appears to be inaccurate.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 2:30 am
 Back to top 
Gorgo
Boot

Joined: 10 Jun 2011
Posts: 35

 		Fed Up, you have C correct.

I found E when I did a Google search on
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
statue of liberty star platform

Excerpts from two of the top 5 hits gave the answer.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 2:34 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Guest
Guest


 		Revised, like to know what in the math is wrong and/or what other errors in the puzzle are preventing this from working.
Fed up wrote:


(B-A+1) deg (D/2)m (E+2+A).(C*3-1)s N
(E+3)deg ((B/4-2)/E+C*3)m (D+A).(B+D+A-1)s E


Spoiler (Rollover to View):

A=3
B=46 (wrongly required to be 52?)
C=8
D=10
E=11


(B-A+1) = 52-3+1 = 50
(D/2) = 10/2 = 5
(E+2+A) = 11+2+3 = 16
(C*3-1) = 8*3-1 = 23
thus 50 degrees 5 ' 16.23 " N

(E+3) = 11+3 =14
((B/4-2)/E+C*3) = ((52/4 - 2)/11+8*3) = ((13-2)/11 + 24) = 1 +24 = 25
(D+A) = 10+3 = 13
(B+D+A-1) = (52+10+3-1) = 64
thus 14 degrees 25' 13.64 N




As there are already multiple errors in various versions of this, anyone not agreeing with the above numbers please cite your source.

Math is based on standard order of operations:
exponentiate
multiply&divide
add&subtract

work each level of operations left to right within each level of parenthesis.


PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 2:48 am
 Back to top 
Guest
Guest
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
if c=4 instead of 8 the above revises to

50d 5m 16.11s N, 14d 13m 13.62s E


PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 2:55 am
 Back to top 
MelissaJames
Guest
Anonymous wrote:
Revised, like to know what in the math is wrong and/or what other errors in the puzzle are preventing this from working.
Fed up wrote:


(B-A+1) deg (D/2)m (E+2+A).(C*3-1)s N
(E+3)deg ((B/4-2)/E+C*3)m (D+A).(B+D+A-1)s E


Spoiler (Rollover to View):

A=3
B=46 (wrongly required to be 52?)
C=8
D=10
E=11


(B-A+1) = 52-3+1 = 50
(D/2) = 10/2 = 5
(E+2+A) = 11+2+3 = 16
(C*3-1) = 8*3-1 = 23
thus 50 degrees 5 ' 16.23 " N

(E+3) = 11+3 =14
((B/4-2)/E+C*3) = ((52/4 - 2)/11+8*3) = ((13-2)/11 + 24) = 1 +24 = 25
(D+A) = 10+3 = 13
(B+D+A-1) = (52+10+3-1) = 64
thus 14 degrees 25' 13.64 N




As there are already multiple errors in various versions of this, anyone not agreeing with the above numbers please cite your source.

Math is based on standard order of operations:
exponentiate
multiply&divide
add&subtract

work each level of operations left to right within each level of parenthesis.


You've made one tiny mistake: the last coordinate should be E, not N.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
The solution is mind bogglingly stupid. It's not a landmark or anything, it's the damn city. M got lazy, didn't fact check, and couldn't be bothered with a proper answer.


PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 2:57 am
 Back to top 
Guest
Guest


 		This is stupid.
The 'theorem' is an error ridden mess.
Somebody who somehow got just post the damn answer with a DETAILED description of how it was arrived at.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 2:59 am
 Back to top 
Fed up
Guest
MelissaJames wrote:
[

You've made one tiny mistake: the last coordinate should be E, not N.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
The solution is mind bogglingly stupid. It's not a landmark or anything, it's the damn city. M got lazy, didn't fact check, and couldn't be bothered with a proper answer.


So the correct answer is
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
50d5m16.23s N, 14d25m13.64s E which translates to
50.051623,14.251364 which gives 252 19 Chrášťany, Czech Republic but neither Chrášťany nor Chrastany work

OR

50.51623,14.251364 which gives 411 45 Polepy, Czech Republic but Polepy does not work.


PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 3:13 am
 Back to top 
SoItBegins
Veteran

Joined: 16 May 2011
Posts: 83
Fed up wrote:
MelissaJames wrote:
[

You've made one tiny mistake: the last coordinate should be E, not N.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
The solution is mind bogglingly stupid. It's not a landmark or anything, it's the damn city. M got lazy, didn't fact check, and couldn't be bothered with a proper answer.


So the correct answer is
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
50d5m16.23s N, 14d25m13.64s E which translates to
50.051623,14.251364 which gives 252 19 Chrášťany, Czech Republic but neither Chrášťany nor Chrastany work

OR

50.51623,14.251364 which gives 411 45 Polepy, Czech Republic but Polepy does not work.


You have the correct coordinates, though you need to keep them in DMS form. I'm not sure why you're getting the wrong city; the correct answer should be somewhat more familiar.

Also, for people saying the puzzle is error-ridden: as far as I can tell there is only one error in the puzzle (the number for B). Everything else seems correct.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 3:16 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
caf
Boot

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 10
Anonymous wrote:
This is stupid.
The 'theorem' is an error ridden mess.
Somebody who somehow got just post the damn answer with a DETAILED description of how it was arrived at.


Whew, just got it. Only two problems, both partly Google's fault.

* Google earth (I guess) gives the wrong # of columns, as people noted, affecting B.
* Google ignored the 'E' I supplied, and seemed to use 'W' instead. This gives the location many people above said they got. Looking up what was ACTUALLY at E fixed it (someone above hinted at that as well).

Definitely a pretty frustrating week...

PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 3:21 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
SoItBegins
Veteran

Joined: 16 May 2011
Posts: 83
caf wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
This is stupid.
The 'theorem' is an error ridden mess.
Somebody who somehow got just post the damn answer with a DETAILED description of how it was arrived at.


Whew, just got it. Only two problems, both partly Google's fault.

* Google earth (I guess) gives the wrong # of columns, as people noted, affecting B.
* Google ignored the 'E' I supplied, and seemed to use 'W' instead. This gives the location many people above said they got. Looking up what was ACTUALLY at E fixed it (someone above hinted at that as well).

Definitely a pretty frustrating week...


Ha! Remember the Interstate sign one? I only got that because someone posted the unscrambled letters here.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 3:24 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Fed Up
Guest


 		The latitude and longitude of the answer is

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
50° 5' 0" N / 14° 28' 0" E per http://www.travelmath.com/city/<name>
working backwards this means that C=9


This week's 'theorem' if flawed in that:
1) It requires installation of a specific piece of suspect software,
2) that one be previously familiar with the operation of this software,
3) that use of the software (or any likely near equivalent) further exacerbates the already unfair bias in scoring given to fast machines and connections (neither of which are actually related to puzzle solving ability)
4) there was a massive fail on the fact checking re the number for B
5) the original puzzle gave an incorrect formula for finding B (2wh vs 2w+2h)
6) there is ambiguity in what is intended to be counted in C
7) at least one source indicated an answer for A that included an extra level (although the site did mention this was quite a pedantic counting)
8 ) even if one acquires the intended (rather than the correct) numbers for a through e, working the math and using the found values leads to a wrong answer (see my above post for the correct city -- one of the two based on how the numbers are to be coded)

All in all "error ridden mess" is polite. This is a maggot infested crock of putrefying organic fertilizer (limiting the language to a PG rating).

This took circa 3.5 hours to 'solve' (I place solve in quotes since it was only by a group effort to uncover the above problems that it occurred) and at least half that was based on point 8 above.

The recurrent excessive pickiness over the exact format of the answer (i.e. Who in the Where with the What being dependent on country specific version of a product) is another unwarranted cause of frustration.

While "Get Your Kicks" was quite frustrating, it provided the reward of an "AHA" moment when you realized
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
you needed to treat the code block as multiple puzzles.


This latest atrocity -- foisted stillborn upon the world -- is good reason to reskin classics (i.e. counterfeit coin in N coins with M uses of a balance) when the supply of GOOD original material fails.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:06 am
 Back to top 
briac
Guest


 		I'm surprised at all the anger against this week theorem. I'm not a really fast solver but I got this one in 5 minutes (having B wrong by 2 like everyone Smile).
I just rounded up the numbers and entered the names of the three big cities in the area with more or less the same latitude or longitude.

I'm more surprised that M used the deg.minutes.seconds format of coordinates rather than the usual geocaching format -- and certainly, M would be more drawn to mystery caches than to virtual caches Smile

PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 5:18 am
 Back to top 
Display posts from previous:   Sort by:   
Page 3 of 5 [68 Posts]   Goto page: Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next
View previous topicView next topic
 Forum index » Diversions » The Master Theorem
Jump to:  


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
You cannot post calendar events in this forum



Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group