Recently, I found another great website called Geekdad which seems like it was created specifically for me (the reality of course, is that I am nothing special and there are loads of people like me).
Its basically a blog which is targeted at parents who are into geeky pursuits (like RPGs!). There are a lot of posts about family friendly stuff that you can do as well as tips and hints for parents. I'm particularly looking forward to sharing my love of RPGs with Gerry and Gerry 2.0.
They also have a puzzle every Monday which can sometimes be quite challenging. The latest one (which I have copied below) can be found here. I've already worked out a solution, which I hope is right, but will have to wait until Thursday before I know for sure. Have a go and see if you can work it out.
Your brilliance has created another remarkable device. Your investors are going to love this one but there's a problem. Your oldest daughter comes upon you looking worried. "What's wrong, Dad?" she asks.
"Well, I've got this remarkable invention but it's subject from time to time to three faults: the plasma pressurizes; the sprockets stick; and the torque rings fall off."
"That's terrible!"
"Yes, but in trying to solve this trouble, I've made several observations:
When the seal is removed, button B is pressed, and the lever marked "Forward" is pulled back, the engine overheats and the phase inducer shakes. The pressing of button B, the release of the safety catch, and a firm tap on the cooling tiles are accompanied by a shaking phase inducer and the ocular interface turning blue. If the seal is removed, cooling tiles tapped, and the Forward lever pulled back, the engine overheats and the ocular interface turns blue. When the safety catch is released, cooling tiles tapped, and the Forward lever pulled back, the ocular interface turns blue. When the engine overheats and ocular interface turns blue, the plasma pressurizes. If the phase inducer shakes and the ocular interface turns blue, the sprockets stick and the torque rings fall off. [sigh]"
Your daughter thinks for a moment. "Well, Dad, working under the assumption that the various events each have single causes, not two or more in conjunction, I think I know exactly how to cure your device."
What does your daughter come up with, i.e., what would you do to be certain of curing your device of its three faults?
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4 comments:
I've got:
1. Seal removed -> Engine overheating -> Plasma pressurizes
2. Button B pressed -> Phase inducer shaking -> Sprockets stick AND Torque rings fall off
Therefore solve the problem by addressing seal removal, button B pressing to fix all three symptoms.
Ocular turning blue appears to be a red herring.
You?
hmm - this looks like it might come down to interpretation of the question. My interpretation (I'll explain it below) is that the ocular interface is critical and musn't turn blue.
My interpretation of the statement "If the phase inducer shakes and the ocular interface turns blue, the sprockets stick and the torque rings fall off" is that both the phase inducer and ocular interface have to be "active" (for lack of a better word) before the fit hits the shan.
The second interpretation I had to this was that I could have either the phase inducer shake or the ocular interface turn blue without the machine breaking down.
As such, my approach was to find three things to turn on that wouldn't break the machine. So I chose to release the safety catch as that doesn't seem to do anything. I also depressed button B as that make the phase inducer shake - but no big deal as long as the ocular interface doesn't turn blue.
Similarly, I chose to either release the seal or pull the lever marked Forward. One of these would have led to the engine overheating - but again, this isn't a problem if the ocular interface doesn't turn blue.
btw - you seem pretty certain that the seal leads to the engine overheating. How did you get this (I couldn't narrow it down further than the seal or the lever marked forward)?
PS the solution should be up on geekdad soon as it gets posted on Thurs (US time)
My analysis is predicated on the statement made by the daughter: "working under the assumption that the various events each have single causes, not two or more in conjunction...". This statement is key for all the analysis.
If you take this at face value, then sprocket sticking and torque rings fall off both have single causes (fact of both being same cause is worked out later), and not both phase inducer shaking AND the ocular interface turning blue.
There are 3 bad situations to avoid - plasma pressurizes, sprockets stick, torque rings fall off.
If you look at the description, all three happen when ocular interface turns blue - this is leading to your assumption that this cause is critical and therefore cannot be allowed to happen. However, here's where the daughters statement has an impact. If you look at bad event 1 - plasma pressurizes - then you note that this happens if engine overheats or ocular interface turns blue. Lets now work through a logic exercise - if the (single) cause is ocular interface turns blue, then you would also expect to see plasma pressurize in the other situations the dad describes i.e. when he has ocular blue and shaking phase inducer leading to sprockets stick and torque rings fall off, you should also see plasma pressurize. Since you don't, then plasma pressurize must be due to engine overheats.
Similarly, if ocular turning blue causes either sprockets stick or torque rings fall off, then you would expect to see one or other symptom when the dad has engine overheats and ocular blue leading only to plasma pressurizes.
Therefore ocular interface actually doesn't do anything, therefore its phase inducer shaking that leads to both sprockets stick and torque rings fall off.
Got it?
As to seal removed leading to engine overheats - you can eliminate forward lever being the cause as theres one combo where it occurs but engine does not overheat ("When the safety catch is released, cooling tiles tapped, and the Forward lever pulled back, the ocular interface turns blue.")
hmm - good point. I missed the line "working under the assumption that the various events each have single causes, not two or more in conjunction...".
btw - your solution was right.
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