HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: J.Theodore.Schuerzinger@dartmouth.edu (J. Theodore Schuerzinger)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: How many letters in the answer?
Date: 12 Nov 92 04:40:32 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
X-Posted-From: InterNews1.0a5@newshost.dartmouth.edu

In article <1drnquINN8pr@alice.cs.purdue.edu>
berninge@cs.purdue.edu (James Berninger) writes:

> kanad@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Kanad Chakraborty) writes:
> jpm10@cd.amdahl.com (Jim Millar) writes:
> >>dmuntz@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Daniel A Muntz) writes:
> >>>thomas@sees.bangor.ac.uk (Thomas Varsamidis) writes:
> >>>>This is somewhat different, but the idea is the same:
> >>>>
> >>>>Q: How many letters are there in the answer?
> >>>>A: Four
> >>>A: 0
> >>A: Eleven plus two
> >A: Seventeen plus zero
> A1: I
> A2: II
> A3: III
> A4: Uh, seven?
1. Cinco [in Spanish]
2. Vier [in German]
3. Tri [in Russian]
4. Du [in Esperanto]
5. Five plus eight
6. Two times ten-and-one-half
7. Twenty minus five
or, in Pig Latin:
8. Evensay.

--Ted Schuerzinger
email: .zed@Dartmouth.EDU
"I should have realized it would be bad vodka when all the label said
was 'Russian Vodka'."
From: ryoung@pollux.svale.hp.com (Roderick Young)
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 00:33:11 GMT
Subject: Re: SOLVE EQUATIONS
Organization: Hewlett Packard CPCD, Sunnyvale CA
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles

Let's alter this to solve the general case, y = .....

1.                        1
      Y =------------------------------------------------------------TO INFINITY
               1
          X + _______________________________________________________TO INFINITY
                    1
               X + --------------------------------------------------TO INIFINIT
                        1
                    X + -------------------------------------------------TO INFI
                        AND SO ON.......
                                        .
                                         . REPEAT INFINITE # OF TIMES
	 
   PLEASE ASSUME X > 0.

Take reciprocal of both sides,
1/y  = x + (big thing on right)
     = x + y

Multiply through by y

1    = xy + yy

or

y^2 +xy - 1 = 0.  For any given x, we can solve the equation and get 2 roots.
(interesting... an alegraic expression that evaluates to two different
 things.  doesn't seem intuitive!)

For the special case of y=x, solve y^2 + y^2 - 1 = 0, and get +-sqrt(1/2).
From: dsbb@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (D. SPENCER BEECHER)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: the question is the answer ?!
Date: 9 Nov 92 15:05:59 GMT
Organization: Lehigh University

kthiruma@engws3.ic.sunysb.edu writes:
>Hello :
>
>In India there is a mag. called the ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY where
>a guy called Mukul Sharma runs a popular column called MindSport.
>One question he posed was what he called Douglas Hofstader's problem :
>
>a question when repeated becomes its own answer.

The classic:

The question is, what is the question?
-- 
                   _ _     _ _     _ _
  -Spence         [O.O]   )x.x(   )O.O(
                    O       O      -*-
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: dougg@kbsw1.uucp (Doug Gerecht 806 1031)
Subject: Re: the question is the answer ?!
Date: 12 Nov 92 08:42:43
Distribution: usa
	<1992Nov11.190755.17075@zip.eecs.umich.edu>
	<1drnquINN8pr@alice.cs.purdue.edu>
Organization: Kentek Information Systems

>>>>> On 11 Nov 1992 14:44:30 -0500, berninge@cs.purdue.edu (James Berninger) said:

> NNTP-Posting-Host: alice.cs.purdue.edu
> kanad@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Kanad Chakraborty) writes:
> jpm10@cd.amdahl.com (Jim Millar) writes:

>>>dmuntz@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Daniel A Muntz) writes:
>>>>thomas@sees.bangor.ac.uk (Thomas Varsamidis) writes:
>
>>>>>This is somewhat different, but the idea is the same:
>>>>>
>>>>>Q: How many letters are there in the answer?
>>>>>A: Four
>>>>A: 0
>>>A: Eleven plus two
>>A: Seventeen plus zero
> A1: I
> A2: II
> A3: III
> A4: Uh, seven?
A: This one has eighteen
-- 

		dougg@kentek.com	Doug Gerecht
Organization: Freshman, MCS general, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 14:01:33 -0500 
From: Steven Pei-Han Chai <sc5x+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: the question is the answer ?!
	<1992Nov11.190755.17075@zip.eecs.umich.edu>
	<1drnquINN8pr@alice.cs.purdue.edu>
	<DOUGG.92Nov12084243@kbsw3.kbsw1.uucp>
Distribution: usa

Excerpts from netnews.rec.puzzles: 12-Nov-92 Re: the question is the
ans.. Doug Gerecht 806@kbsw1.u (630)

> >>>>> On 11 Nov 1992 14:44:30 -0500, berninge@cs.purdue.edu (James
> Berninger) said:

> > NNTP-Posting-Host: alice.cs.purdue.edu
> > kanad@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Kanad Chakraborty) writes:
> > jpm10@cd.amdahl.com (Jim Millar) writes:

> >>>dmuntz@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Daniel A Muntz) writes:
> >>>>thomas@sees.bangor.ac.uk (Thomas Varsamidis) writes:
> >
> >>>>>This is somewhat different, but the idea is the same:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Q: How many letters are there in the answer?
> >>>>>A: Four
> >>>>A: 0
> >>>A: Eleven plus two
> >>A: Seventeen plus zero
> > A1: I
> > A2: II
> > A3: III
> > A4: Uh, seven?
> A: This one has eighteen
	
A:  About twenty-two, I believe.


---Happy  (happy+@cmu.edu)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: the question is the answer ?!
From: MATMNB@LURE.LATROBE.EDU.AU (BRAZIL,Marcus N)
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 04:04:47 GMT
Organization: La Trobe University
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.24

> In article <1992Nov5.213159.10826@sbcs.sunysb.edu>, kthiruma@engws3.ic.sunysb.edu () writes:
> >Can the Reader's think of some more .

What is a question that can be answered by a question?

Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: cdl@chiton.ucsd.edu (Carl Lowenstein)
Subject: Re: Where to get a catalog of puzzles
Organization: Marine Physical Lab, UC San Diego
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 02:41:22 GMT

In article <765281d8210938t3@anton.infoserv.com> "Anton Dovydaitis" <anton@anton.infoserv.com> writes:
>Anyone who is interested in a catalog of over a hundred puzzles
>can obtain one from Ishi Press International by emailing me, or
>writing:
>
>	Ishi Press International
>	76 Bonaventura Drive
>	San Jose, CA  95134
>
>Make sure you ask for a PUZZLE catalog, as the other half of our
>business is strategy games like Go, Shogi, Chinese Chess and Mah Jong.

Are you sure of your e-mail address?
anton@anton.infoserv.com does not work for me.
The derived address
uunet!infoserv!anton!anton also does not work.


        carl lowenstein         marine physical lab     u.c. san diego
        {decvax|ucbvax} !ucsd!mpl!cdl                 cdl@mpl.ucsd.edu
                                                  clowenstein@ucsd.edu

--
From: ralf@ark.abg.sub.org (Ralf Stephan)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Amino acids (was: Re: Nucleotids)
Date: 04 Nov 92 10:56
Organization: Not Very Ltd.

macster@IASTATE.EDU (Michael C Mccarty) writes:
> > 
> > phe leu ile met val ser pro thr ala tyr
> > his gln asn lys asp glu cys trp arg gly
> > 
> 
> serval?  nah...

In German, this is a lynx-like animal, I think.  What's the English word?

--ralf
--
************************************************************************
"Do not move back and forth on your chair.  Whoever does that
 gives the impression of constantly breaking or trying to break wind."
                                                   (Erasmus v. Rotterdam)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Yuzuru Hiraga)
Subject: Re: Batter Up
Organization: Stanford University CSLI
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 10:21:54 GMT

In article <1992Nov10.210651.10207@swbatl.sbc.com> mk452a@oktext.UUCP (Mark Kamphaus) writes:
>
>Two Batters - A & B - were comparing their seasons and
>settling bets.  A had a higher batting average than B
>during the first  half of the season and receieved
>$5 from B.  A also had a higher batting average during the
>second half and received another $5.  The bet for best
>overall batting average was for $20.  After they settled,
>A had a net gain/loss of one of the amounts below.  Which
>one and why.
>
>a) -$10
>b) +$10
>c) -$30
>d) +$25
>e) A could not end up with any of the above.

If this is asking for a unique answer, the problem is void
because either (a) or (b) can happen.

# of course there is also the common sense possibility that A gains $30;
# but this is not in the alternatives.

(b) can happen when both batters end up with the same average,
so the $20 bet is a draw.

I won't spoil the problem by giving away how (a) or (b) can be realized :-)

-Yuzuru Hiraga
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: baljeual@uther.calvin.edu (Alan Baljeu)
Subject: Re: Sum of Numbers
Organization: Calvin College
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 22:10:02 GMT

nas_ps@jsc.nasa.gov (Pradip R. Shah) writes:

>Given numbers from 1 to 16, arrange them on a square (4 by 4) such that when
>summing in horizontally, vertically, and diagonally yields the same number.
>               
>        __________________________
>       |  a  |  b   |   c  |  d   |
>       |     |      |      |      |
>        ---------------------------
>       |   e |  f   |   g  |  h   |        a+b+c+d =e+f+g+h  so on
>       |     |      |      |      |
>        ---------------------------          a+e+i+m = b+f+j+n = a+b+c+d
>       | i   |   j  |   k  |   l  |
>       |     |      |      |      |           a+f+k+p =d+g+j+m etc.
>       |---------------------------                
>       |  m  |   n  |   o  |   p  |     
>       |     |      |      |      |
>        --------------------------

>Can somone give a mathematical solution viz. solution from simultaneous equantions ?
>Not by trial and error. But, let us have trial and error solution too.

>Pradip Shah 
This is a 4x4 magic square. There are *many* solutions, and there are
algorithms for placing numbers that give the results you want. I don't know 
the method for squares of even sides however. Umm, I've also never seen
any methods using linear algebra either.

Once I constructed a 4x4 that had 34 as the sum in ~34 different symmetrical
ways. (used #s 1-16) Has anyone had better, more interesting squares results?
From: ags@seaman.cc.purdue.edu (Dave Seaman)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Balls in urn (SPOILER)
Date: 10 Nov 92 14:22:09 GMT
Organization: Purdue University

In article <1992Nov9.193917.2948@lmpsbbs.comm.mot.com>  
johnson@sleipnir.mnesouth.corp.mot.com ("Johnson") writes:
> 
> I finally realized it in the shower this morning.  The "balls in the  
urn"
> puzzle is the rec.puzzles version of the "Green Golf Ball Joke," right?

  [...]
 
> The clue was a
> poster who indicated that the thread was recurring, and commented how
> tenaciously people held to their opinions on the subject--which I now
> recognise as a mechanism to prolong the argument or to cast doubt into
> the minds of people who know the answer, but not the joke.

I suppose this would be the wrong time to bring up the Monty Hall puzzle,  
then.

--
Dave Seaman
ags@seaman.cc.purdue.edu
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Logic Puzzle
Date: Thu, 05 Nov 1992 22:52:03 +1000

G'day. 
 
As every puzzle I've read here so far seems to be of the 
mathematical type, I thought I'd through in a logic puzzle. 
(Apologies if it has already been posted - I'm new here) 
 
Which of the following 5 sentences are true?
 
a) It is not the case that 2 consecutive sentences are both false. 
b) There are fewer false than true sentences. 
c) It is not the case that 3 consecutive sentences are all false.
d) It is not the case that 2 consecutive sentences are both true. 
e) There are exactly 3 false sentences. 
 
Have fun,
Tim
 * Origin: I am serious ... and don't call me Shirley. (3:635/526)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: sillke@math25.mathematik.uni-bielefeld.de (Torsten Sillke)
Subject: the last tetracube tiling problem
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 15:18:40 GMT
Organization: Math MadHouse Bielefeld, Germany

The last tetracube tiling problem:

 ______
|\     \               Is it possible to tile a 3*2n*2m box only
| \_____\              with tetracubes shown left?
| |     |____
|\|     |    \         All other (hyper-) box tiling problems with
| *_____|_____\        only alike tetracubes are solved. See:
| |\     \    |         A. L. Clarke, Packing Boxes with Congruent Polycubes,
 \| \_____\   |         J. of Recreational Mathematics 10 (1977/78) 177-182
  * |     |___|
   \|     |
    *_____|

                 According to my computations n and m had to be greater then 8.
My Conjectures:
   - the 3*2n*infinity box (one side open) is not tileable.
   - the 3*infinity*infinity box (3*quadrant) is tileable.

Torsten Sillke
From: berninge@cs.purdue.edu (James Berninger)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: the question is the answer ?!
Date: 11 Nov 1992 14:44:30 -0500
Organization: Department of Computer Science, Purdue University
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: alice.cs.purdue.edu

kanad@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Kanad Chakraborty) writes:
jpm10@cd.amdahl.com (Jim Millar) writes:
>>dmuntz@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Daniel A Muntz) writes:
>>>thomas@sees.bangor.ac.uk (Thomas Varsamidis) writes:
>>>>This is somewhat different, but the idea is the same:
>>>>
>>>>Q: How many letters are there in the answer?
>>>>A: Four
>>>A: 0
>>A: Eleven plus two
>A: Seventeen plus zero
A1: I
A2: II
A3: III
A4: Uh, seven?

Jim Berninger                   ______ "This is no 'Whoops!'  This is
berninge@cs.purdue.edu          \    /  an 'Aaaaaaaauuuuuggggghhhh!'"
B0.2 f(~) w- c- g k? s- e r- p   \  /   - Harvey ("Arnold") Fierstein
Green Lantern Fan, Extraordinaire \/      "Torch Song Trilogy"
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: jxm@engin.umich.edu (John Murray)
Subject: Re: Does anybody know what a TRYPTYCH is?
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 06:50:18 EST
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor

>In <3196@nlsun1.oracle.nl> asymes@nl.oracle.com (Andy Symes) writes:
>
>>The other day I was reading a Roman Catholic directory, and one of the
>>small ads had for sale 'tryptychs', among other things. Can anybody
>>enlighten me on the meaning of this word? Presumably it is a piece of
>>Church hardware, and I would like to add it to my list of unusual
>>words (the word, that is, not the item :).

I have come across the word (sometimes spelt 'triptych or 'triptique') 
referring to some sort of travel documentation or permits for temporary
import (of a car during vacation, for example). Presumably, the original
certificate cards or document wallets were double-folded similar to the  
religious pictures mentioned in other postings. 

John Murray
Univ. of Michigan
From: srw@horus.ps.uci.edu (Steven White)
Subject: Re: Formulae for pi
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Reply-To: srw@horus.ps.uci.edu (Steven White)
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 10 Nov 92 02:13:39 GMT

In article <1992Nov6.163504.17171@husc15.harvard.edu>, blom@husc15.harvard.edu writes:
|> Probably the fastest algorithm to find pi, but a really hairy one, and not
|> necessary unless you need zillions of digits, is based on the
|> Arithmetic-Geometric Mean.  I happen to have the book "PI and the AGM"
|> by Borwein and Borwein beside me, so you're in luck.  By the way, this book is
|> probably the best single reference for this type of thing.  Anyway, here's the
|> AGM-related algorithm:
|>  
|>   x_n+1 := ((x_n)^(1/2) + (x_n)^(-1/2)) / 2              x_0 := 2^(1/2)
|>                                                         
|>   y_n+1 := (y_n(x_n)^(1/2) + (x_n)^(-1/2)) / (y_n + 1)   y_0 := 2^(1/4)
|> 
|>   pi_n := pi_n-1 (x_n + 1) / (y_n + 1)                  pi_0 := 2 + 2^(1/2)
|> 

Are you sure you copied this right? I couldn't get it to work. Why isn't 
the last line written as 
pi_n+1 := pi_n (x_n+1 + 1) / (y_n+1 + 1)
which is more logical, and equivalent.
					Steve White

Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: isaak@aurora.com (Mark Isaak)
Subject: Re: the question is the answer ?!
Reply-To: isaak@aurora.com (Mark Isaak)
Organization: The Aurora Group
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 17:17:05 GMT

Reproduce any sentence containing polysyllabic praseology exclusively.
-- 
Mark Isaak           "Every generation thinks it has the answers, and every
isaak@aurora.com      generation is humbled by nature." - Philip Lubin
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: ags@seaman.cc.purdue.edu (Dave Seaman)
Subject: Re: Balls in urn (SPOILER)
Organization: Purdue University
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 21:20:18 GMT

In article <Nov.10.14.24.02.1992.4763@remus.rutgers.edu>  
clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long) writes:
> You know, I consider the Monty Hall puzzle to be the *best* puzzle
> ever invented, and I believe the majority of rec.puzzles veterans
> would agree.

I will grant you that the Monty Hall puzzle is an *outstanding*  
demonstration of the fact that you don't need infinite sets to create a  
rousing paradox.

--
Dave Seaman
ags@seaman.cc.purdue.edu
From: Joe.Slater@f351.n632.z3.fidonet.org (Joe Slater)
Sender: acsnet@csource.oz.au
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: A maze
Date: Fri, 06 Nov 1992 09:14:02

Tuesday November 03 1992, Lisa Ehren writes to All:

LE> <deleted the solution>
LE> Why didn't you put *SPOILERS* in the header?  I wanted to do this on
LE> my own, thank you!

That's cool. There are plenty of other solutions.

jds


 * Origin: What horrors wait for me in this, the Phantom's Opera? (3:632/351)
From: ronnie@cisco.com (Ronnie B. Kon)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Undulating Squares and Cubes -Follow up
Date: 9 Nov 92 18:44:01 GMT
Organization: cisco Systems, Incorporated
NNTP-Posting-Host: lager.cisco.com

Well, never one to use my brain when BFI would suffice, I have concluded
that the only undulating squares are:

11 ^ 2  = 121
22 ^ 2  = 484
26 ^ 2  = 676
264 ^ 2 = 69696

The only undulating cube is

7 ^ 3   = 343


How did I do this?  I ran a program which tested all integers less than 35,585,662 
(squared = 1,266,339,339,978,24, cubed = 45,063,523,729,768,878,337,528), and
found no others.  Obviously if there were more that undulate, they would have
shown up by then.  How's that for mathematical rigor?

				Ronnie

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ronnie B. Kon           |   "You couldn't deny that, even if you tried with
ronnie@cisco.com        |   both hands."
(415) 688-4592          |                    -- The Red Queen
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: tolman%asylum.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Kenneth Tolman)
Subject: Re: Great turtle race *Spoiler*ish
Date: 13 Nov 92 09:34:07 MST
Organization: University of Utah, CompSci Dept

>>It was the day for the great turtle races, and Alfred, Bob, Carl, Dave,
>>Ed and Frank shuffled up to the starting line.  There would be two
>>races, and all of them were very excited (as excited as turtles can be!)
>>They would average each turtles place to find their overall rank..
>>
>>In the first race:
>>   Alfred came in before Bob or Carl did
>>   Dave came in two places before Frank
>>   Three turtles ran times in between Carl and Ed
>>
>>In the second race:
>>   Alfred came in before Bob or Carl did, and ran better this race than before
>>   Dave came in two places before Frank
>>   Three turtles ran times in between Carl and Ed
>>
>>Quite peculiar!  Yet no turtle placed the same in both races.  Happily,
>>after they computed their overall rank for the day every turtle got
>>a medal.. gold, silver or bronze for 1,2 or 3rd.
>>
>>  What were the placings for each turtle in both races?  Who got the gold?
>
>Well, perhaps I am wrong, but it seems to me that this is impossible.  Here
>is my logic:  (please point out the flaw)
>
>(I shall write simply the first letter of each turtle's name)
>A came in before B and C in both races.  Thus, he came in at least fourth
>both times.  Since he did better the second time, and can only win one medal
>(come in 1-3), he must have com ein fourth the first time, meaning that B and
>C were 5th and 6th, although not necessarily in that order.  (an argument
>can be made to show that that order is correct, but it is irrelevant here.)
>Therefore, D,E and F took medals in the first race, and must finish in the
>bottom half of the second race.  (again, it can be shown that their order was
>alphabetical, but that is irrelevant).
>In the second race, D must finish 2 spots before F, indicating that D is 4th
>and F is 6th.  Thus, E is 5th.
>In addition, there are supposed to be three turtles between C and E, indicating
>that C must be 1st.  (then the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th turtles are between).
>However, A is supposed to do better than C, which is impossible if C is
>1st.

Notice that the medals were given out after BOTH races were TABULATED...
The medals were for their overall rank for the day, or in other words
after the two races had been combined by adding the places and dividing
by two..

Each turtle recieved a medal, which means that every turtle got  1,2, or 3
place, or in other words there must have been some ties for places, because
there are six turtles all together.
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: gays and condoms
From: jhsegal@wiscon.weizmann.ac.il (Livian)
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 19:47:21 GMT
Organization: Weizmann Institute of Science, Computation Center

In article <hoens.721384948@gmd.de> hoens@gmd.de (Guenter Hoens) writes:
>In <1992Nov7.085154.4225@wisipc.weizmann.ac.il> jhsegal@wiscon.weizmann.ac.il (Livian) writes:
>
>>In article <SUOPANKI.92Nov5001903@zombie.oulu.fi> heikki.suopanki@phoenix.oulu.fi writes:
>>>
>>>
>>>There are 6 gay men and they want to have safe sex.
>>>How many condoms they need if everybody wants to have anal sex with
>>>everybody, i.e. everybody wants to insert penis in all anuses (sp?)
>>>(except their own :). Of course all of them have to be the receiving end
>>>as many times.
>>>
>>>-Heikki
>>6 is pretty hard to think about,but for 7 gays,28 condoms will be enough if they
>>are smart enough!
>
>i think, for 7 gays 14 condoms is the maximum. one for active use and one for
>passive use by each person.
>

 Don't you think we should transferr this debate to alt.homosexual or
 talk .politics.homosexuality or alt.sex.homosexual? This gay's problem.I
 think I will never need to soleve such a problem. ;)


 ...JOKE!! ...*Just* a joke!!
 
 Don't flame me please!
                                   ___
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    |      |    \   /    |    _ \       \   | JHSEGALL @ Weizmann.weizmann.ac.il
    |___   |       /     |    _  \    |  \  | UNIX:
        |  |      /      |   /    \   |     |  JHSEGAL  @ Wiscon.weizmann.ac.il
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: rolf@geoserv (Rolf Wilson)
Subject: Re: Billion-year survivability
Reply-To: rolf@geoserv.isgs.uiuc.edu
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 22:32:45 GMT
Keywords: pi, Louie


>ryoung@pollux.svale.hp.com (Roderick Young) writes:
>>If I wanted to send information to a society that will inhabit the earth
>>one billion years in the future, how would I do it?  If I engraved the
>>message on a bunch of diamonds, then buried the diamonds in a secure place,
>>would that do it?  There must be a better way.

  I would steal an idea from Robert Heinlein and
write it on the moon in BIG BLACK letters. At least 3 times. As long as
it was readable with no more than a small telescope, it would be noticed
and remembered by anything resembling a human civilization. Add some
smaller "Rosetta Stones" on the moon near the big message in case
civilization fell a few hundred times.

  None of this would stop someone from carefully erasing your work. But
I think that you would have that problem with almost any method. Making
a message that lasts that long should be doable. Making sure that someone
NOTICES it a billion years from now is the big problem. The big sign
might be just the "look here" for a more detailed message - I will assume
that you want to say more than "Kilroy was here".
-- 
Rolf Wilson     Illinois State Geological Survey    rolf@geoserv.isgs.uiuc.edu
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