Timeline for What does this mathematical operator do?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 16, 2024 at 21:10 | history | bounty awarded | ThomasL | ||
| Oct 15, 2024 at 4:22 | comment | added | Benjamin Wang | @ThomasL indeed, you can give +5, in the form of a bounty :) | |
| Oct 13, 2024 at 18:10 | comment | added | ThomasL | @heap underrun Well done, very impressive solution! What was the key to find this? I would give you +5, if I can. Anyway, one little thing which bothers me. When calculating 0#0 you start with 000=0. How do you deal with this in regards to prime and prime factors? | |
| Oct 13, 2024 at 12:41 | comment | added | heap underrun | @PattuX Understandable. Thank you for the puzzle, I've enjoyed it! And the whole concept (to figure out an operator) is entertaining. | |
| Oct 13, 2024 at 12:41 | comment | added | ConnieMnemonic | It's finally over. I can sleep at night again. | |
| Oct 13, 2024 at 0:59 | comment | added | PattuX | You're right, that's inconsistent then... I have a script on my home PC which I used for most examples, but when not at home I also just sometimes did some examples by hand. With sometimes months in between I suppose I got this detail wrong, sorry about that. 123#4 is indeed just a typo, I guess I messed up the input there. | |
| Oct 12, 2024 at 22:27 | comment | added | heap underrun | @PattuX Oh, I didn't consider looking at it that way, thanks for the clarification! Makes sense ROT13(va n frafr gung gur snpgbe jr ryvzvangr unf gb unir gur "ynetrfg rssrpg" ba gur birenyy erfhyg). However, then 0#5 would be 3 ($D = 1$), but you list 0#5=5 in your examples. Why is that? Also, 123#4 would then still be 2 ($D = 9$), but you list 123#4 = 4 instead; is that a typo? | |
| Oct 12, 2024 at 21:10 | comment | added | PattuX | This is effectively spot on! Also your interpretation of Hint#17 is correct. A small difference is that I looked for the smallest $Y_D$ instead of the largest $X_D$, which is why 0#0 leads to different results ($D=2$ vs $D=7$). I'm glad someone finally solved it. In retrospect I would probably have given he "cryptic" hints (17+18) sooner, since they seem more fun to work on than pure mathematical hints. I hope people aren't too disappointed with that the answer ^^ | |
| Oct 12, 2024 at 20:35 | vote | accept | PattuX | ||
| Oct 12, 2024 at 8:27 | comment | added | Benjamin Wang | Still, your answer is coherent enough and matches several hints especially hint 18. Let's wait for insight from the OP. | |
| Oct 12, 2024 at 8:14 | comment | added | heap underrun | @BenjaminWang Oh, good catch! You are right. I cannot explain this. Having two typos, especially that one, seems already improbable. :( Now I remember, I had also spotted 0#0=2 at some point and thought that maybe ROT13(vg unf fbzrguvat gb qb jvgu cevzr snpgbe rkcbaragf, zrnavat jura gur fnzr cevzr snpgbe bpphef zber guna bapr, yvxr svir fdhnerq vf 25, fb znlor guvf pbhagf nf n fvatyr snpgbe terngre gung frira. Ohg va gung pnfr, 2#0 jbhyq nyfb or 2, orpnhfr bs svir phorq. Bu, jryy…) Anyway, you've done good job testing, thanks! | |
| Oct 12, 2024 at 5:35 | comment | added | Benjamin Wang | I can find one more example (perhaps also a typo by the creator): The puzzle states 0#0=2, but your answer is 10 (because of 7). For my script to check the answers, see pastebin.com/ck9aLNcd | |
| Oct 12, 2024 at 1:14 | comment | added | heap underrun | @BenjaminWang Not sure, but perhaps ROT13(orvat haernqnoyr orpnhfr bs n fzhqtr) refers to the fact that ROT13(bar qvtvg vf bofpherq ol gur # flzoby, naq nf fhpu gur chmmyr vf abg (rnfvyl) fbyinoyr hayrff lbh gel bhg nyy cbffvoyr qvtvgf gb erfgber vg svefg. Fvzvyneyl, vs lbh fcvyy n pbssrr ba fbzr grkg, fzhqtvat bar jbeq, lbh arrq gb thrff (oehgr-sbepr) gung jbeq gb haqrefgnaq gur jubyr fragrapr). (Just my 0.02€.) | |
| Oct 12, 2024 at 0:00 | comment | added | Benjamin Wang | This sounds like an amazing conclusion to a year's puzzle hunt and the dozens of comments. Also the author's choice of the symbol fits quite well with your solution. By the way what do you make of the cryptic Hint #17? | |
| Oct 12, 2024 at 0:00 | history | edited | heap underrun | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Put the answer to 3#19 into a spoiler separate from the explanation of that result. |
| S Oct 11, 2024 at 23:54 | review | First answers | |||
| Oct 12, 2024 at 3:48 | |||||
| S Oct 11, 2024 at 23:54 | history | answered | heap underrun | CC BY-SA 4.0 |