By gsorsnoi | September 17, 2010 - 1:20 pm - Posted in Eindelijk uitgeworteld, English, Web´s Best

The Puzzle:
One day you find yourself receiving another  FW:-type of e-mail being titled “Puzzle”.
Since you’re already bored of dealing with the puzzles your boss is paying you to solve each day you decide to give it a shot.

Next thing you’re reading is:
“Only skilled people can open this file. Once you succeed to open this file, you will find names of the people who have managed to open this … Now it is your turn!”

Darn. This must be something! Sounds like there is an actual Hall of Fame cropped up inside that file. I must have at least finished my PHD to get myself listed there as well. So if that puzzle is so difficult, will I find just any names in there? And who do they think I am to be able to open this file at all?
Well,  it was my wife who sent me this, so I dropped that whole fear about my PHD.  😉

Okay, so to spice things up, the creator of this puzzle thought he’d be creative by giving us a small background story:
“A man wanted to get into his work building, but he had forgotten his code. However, he did remember five clues.”

Get on with it already!
“These are what those clues were:

  • The fifth number plus the third number equals fourteen.
  • The fourth number is one more than the second number.
  • The first number is one less than twice the second number.
  • The second number plus the third number equals ten.  
  • The sum of all five numbers is 30.”

If I’d ever think of some code to get into a building, I’d sooner forget these lousy clues rather then to forget the whole FUCKING CODE!
Anyways, I happen to be the most patient person you’d ever met. So let us answer this question:
“What were the five numbers and in what order? The answer unlocks the attachment above! :-)”

Of course there could only be one combination hidden inside that password line. But let me tell you this: up until now I found at least THREE ways of getting to the solution among my contacts. In the end I decided to reward ourselves by ‘Gold’, ‘Silver’ and ‘Bronze’.

My wife Jenny got the Golden solution:
Replacing all numbers by letters per position, you could come to A B C D and E.
Definitely the code ‘ABCDE’ will not be accepted. So with the given clues we’re going to figure out which letter represents each number.

From the given clues we have the following relations :
1) C+ E = 14
2) D = B + 1
3) A = 2B -1
4) B+ C = 10
(1) – (4) gives us : E – B = 4

With the help of what we now know about B, we’re able to figure out more about the other letters:
A = 2B – 1
C = 10 – B
D = B + 1
E = B + 4

Still we need to get ourselves to  A+B+C+D+E = 30.
Let’s rewrite this to: (2B-1) +B + (10-B) +(B +1) + (B + 4) = 30.
And condense the rest to:
4B + 14 = 30
B = 4

Jenny just cracked the code!!!
A = 7 / B = 4 / C = 6 / D = 5 / E = 8

Meanwhile I tried my LUCK and the Silver solution:
I’ll just afford myself making two assumptions:
1. Could the 5 numbers be unique numbers?
2. Could it be that those numbers follow up like it is with 12345?

After knowing the result I happened to, indeed, be so lucky and started with the last clue: The sum must be 30.
Definitely 1+2+3+4+5 won’t bring me there. So let me start with 5+6+7+8+9.
Nope, that makes a total of 35. I need to make it less five.
Ah, 4+5+6+7+8 makes 30 alright!

With that problem solved all I need to worry about is the order. Just like in Mastermind.

Now, only 6+8 will result to 14 (first clue). So it’s XX6X8 for now. X representing the numbers I haven’t figured out yet.
From here on it’s all very simple. The third number happens to be in the fourth clue as well, so I can only give the second position to number 4 (4+6 = 10). Third clue is peanuts now. (4+4 )-1 = 7.
Leaving 5 to be on the fourth place.

Just to make sure let us read the second clue once again:
“The fourth number is one more than the second number.”
Ah well, I figured that out. Didn’t need that clue anyways!  But it was my LUCK which gave me a good headstart!

Then Jenny’s colleague Anthony found yet a third way to solve this Puzzle. Leaving him with the Bronze solution:

HE USED GOOGLE!

( Now if one day you happen to receive this same e-mail, can you find it within your heart to add the text:
‘solved with the help of Tycoon Newspaper’!!!!
I might even reward you with a Platinum solution. Har har…  )

This entry was posted on Friday, September 17th, 2010 at 13:20 and is filed under Eindelijk uitgeworteld, English, Web´s Best. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

18 Comments

  1. September 17, 2010 @ 13:40


    Er is ook nog een platina oplossing voor dit raadsel: Gewoon negeren en iets nuttigs gaan doen 😀
    I know the platinum solution: Ignore this riddle and do something useful instead 😀

    Posted by BoB de Winter
  2. September 17, 2010 @ 13:42


    Om Jolien hoeven we denk ik weer niet te rekenen, hahaha

    Posted by BoB de Winter
  3. September 17, 2010 @ 13:56


    Getverderrie woordenboek vergeten

    @Bob is Jolien zo groot dat je OM haar kunt rekenen

    Posted by De Waterlander
  4. September 17, 2010 @ 13:58


    sjongejonge, je gaat hier toch niet echt diep over zitten nadenken toch…….

    gewoon beginnen met 6 + 8 is 14 op positie 3 en 5
    dan positie 2 + 6 is 10. dus 4 op positie 2
    de eerste positie is 8 – 1, dus 7
    de vierde positie is 4 + 1, dus 5

    ja hoor, 6 + 8 + 4 + 7 + 5 = 30

    klaar binnen 3 minuten (en een beetje geluk dat 6 en 8 dus meteen goed stonden)

    🙂

    Posted by PiCo
  5. September 17, 2010 @ 14:00


    @PiCo:
    Het geluk is met de dommen. Mezelf incluis.

    Posted by Gsorsnoi
  6. September 17, 2010 @ 14:00


    PiCo, dat is dus hetzelfde als de zilveren oplossing van snorrewiets! Gewoon mazzel hebben…

    Posted by BoB de Winter
  7. September 17, 2010 @ 14:04


    klopt, ik had de oplossing van Gsnorski ook niet gelezen, wel dat er anderen waren dit het helemaal gaan omzetten naar letters en cijfers……

    De een neemt het mazzel, misschien heeft iemand me die eerste 2 cijfers wel voorgespeld……..

    Posted by PiCo
  8. September 17, 2010 @ 14:05


    @De Waterlander: welnee, ik gebruik gewoon haar eigen taal! Zie bij Two x Two = Three. Het woordenboek Jolieniaans-Nederlands is trouwens nog niet uitgegeven, dus dat kan je helemaal niet vergeten hebben 😉

    Posted by BoB de Winter
  9. September 17, 2010 @ 14:09


    @PiCo:

    Jij zegt dat iemand jou die eerste 2 cijfers misschien wel heeft voorgespeld …

    … dan begrijp ik ook de bewuste schreivout in deze zin: “De een NEEMT het mazzel”

    DE mazzel!

    Posted by Gsorsnoi
  10. September 17, 2010 @ 14:17


    @Gsorsnoi: ja hoor, gauw je eigen schreivoutje verbeteren hè. Machtsmisbruik noemen we dat…

    Posted by BoB de Winter
  11. September 17, 2010 @ 14:21


    helaas moet ik je zelfs daar ongelijk in geven Gsnorski….

    ik schrijf namelijk niets, maar ik tik de letters in. Het is dus een tikfoutje geweest, net zoals als jij bij de BoBfather van een stem een stam had gemaakt……

    Maar goed, als we nu toch iedereen op onbedoelde tikfoutjes gaan zitten corrigeren, zullen de post wel snel een stuk minder gaan worden………

    Posted by PiCo
  12. September 17, 2010 @ 14:24


    Wees gerust PiCo!

    Ik ga echt niet op alle slakken zout leggen.
    Maar ‘post’ is volgens mij in de zin die jij schreef al meervoud bedoeld.

    Posted by Gsorsnoi
  13. September 17, 2010 @ 14:26


    @Gsrorsnoi: al meervoud OF alS meervoud? Het gaad maar door en door….

    Posted by BoB de Winter
  14. September 17, 2010 @ 14:26


    Voilá! En zo komen we vanzelf weer uit op jouw eerste comment bij deze post!

    Posted by Gsorsnoi
  15. September 17, 2010 @ 14:51


    Gsnorski, toch wel grappig dat je valt over kleine tikfoutjes, maar een bewuste fout gewoon over het hoofd ziet……

    Volgens mij is er nog nooit iets voorgespeld namelijk…..

    Posted by PiCo
  16. September 17, 2010 @ 14:54


    @PiCo: de juffrouw in groep 3 heeft heel vaak (aan andere kinderen natuurlijk, niet aan mij…) moeilijke woorden voorgespeld!

    Posted by BoB de Winter
  17. September 17, 2010 @ 14:57


    maar dat is een andere manier van iets voorspellen dan die ik hier bedoelte en die in dat andere artikel bedoeld werdt

    Posted by PiCo
  18. September 18, 2010 @ 18:17


    Ik was altijd goed in afspieken!

    Posted by Jolien van Biesheuvel

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