HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: tjdonald@neumann.uwaterloo.ca ()
Subject: meta-puzzles
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 14:46:41 GMT

Here are a couple of puzzles based on the sort of meta-logic problems
Raymond Smullyan has written about in a few of his books. Are there any 
other sources for meta-problems? Smullyan's books are the only places I've
ever come across any...


1. On the island of knights and knaves, knights always tell the truth and
   knaves always lie; and any person on the island is either a knight or a
   a knave. It seems that a native of the island named Bob was suffering from
   a particularly rare form of amnesia. It's a fact that Bob owned a total
   of ten pets, all cats and dogs. It is also a fact he had more cats than
   dogs. Luckily for Bob, his confusion was cleared up when his friend his
   friend Marie came by and said "Either you have nine cats and one dog, or
   you have an even number of both pets." Since Bob knew Marie's type (ie.
   whether she was a knight or a knave), he figured out how many pets he
   had right away. So the question is: How many cats does Bob own?


2. There are two doors, 1 and 2, and only one leads to the grand prize (a
   dump truck full of twinkies). You possess two keys, gold and silver, and
   only one opens the door that leads to the twinkies. Here are three
   statements:

     i. The silver key opens the door that leads to the twinkies.
    ii. The gold key opens door 2.
   iii. Door 1 leads to the twinkies.

   Unfortunately, you don't know which of these statements are true and 
   which are false. 

   I told Dr. Rocket everything I've just told you. Unable to solve the
   problem, Dr. Rocket asked me if there more true statements than false
   statements among i-iii. After I responded (with the correct answer, of
   course!), the good doctor was still unable to solve the problem. As
   another hint, I told Dr. Rocket the truth value of one of the statements
   (although I forget which one) - and almost before I finished speaking
   the doctor blurted out the correct solution. Can you determine: 1) Which
   door leads to the twinkies, and 2) Which key opens that door?


Note: Problem 2 does not involve knights and knaves.

Toby
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles,sci.math
From: hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Yuzuru Hiraga)
Subject: Re: Brown/Blue eyes (SPOILER!) -- that is, FINAL SPOILER!
Followup-To: rec.puzzles
Organization: Stanford University CSLI
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 02:05:33 GMT


OOPS!!! MY MISTAKE, I'M SORRY!!!

In article <29SEP199216515066@zeus.tamu.edu> dwr2560@zeus.tamu.edu (RING, DAVID WAYNE) writes:
>hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Yuzuru Hiraga) writes...
>>* Along that line, note that the number 301 is critical.  Had the foreigner
>>  said any larger number (eg. 302, 400), nothing would have happened.
>>  In the 301 case, while the blue-eyes can recognize the statement to be
>>  false, the brown-eyes won't and falsely believe it to be true.
>>  On the other hand, for a larger number, everyone (both blue and brown)
>>  would know it to be false, and also know that everyone else knew that.
>
>If he said 302, a brown-eye does NOT know that other brown-eyes knew that.

Yes, you're right: The above should be:

>* Along that line, note that the number 301 is critical.  Had the foreigner
>  said any larger number (eg. 302, 400), nothing would have happened.
>  In the 301 case, while the blue-eyes can recognize the statement to be
>  false, the brown-eyes won't and falsely believe it to be true.
>  On the other hand, for a larger number, everyone (both blue and brown)
>  would know it to be false, AND EVENTUALLY KNOW THAT EVERYONE ELSE
>  KNEW IT TO BE FALSE (BY THE SAME REASONING AS IN THE ORIGINAL PROBLEM).

>>  Those of you who made the 400 case, sorry, you fell in the trap.

It was I that fell in the trap....

# Speak of "spitting towards heaven", Chris!!

-Yuzuru Hiraga
From: grue@cs.uq.oz.au (Pauli Dale)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Word puzzle (vowels and consonants) [SPOILER]
Date: 7 Oct 92 02:12:05 GMT
Reply-To: grue@cs.uq.oz.au

lrm28@cas.org writes:

>Let's try this again:

I guess I missed the first try :-)


>What is the highest concentration of vowels to consonants in words of
>4 letters or more.  Ex. aloha has 60 % vowels.  Strengths has 11 %.

>Several words have 80%, and a few have higher.  What are they?

Spoiler follows

Here are the four letter words in my dictionary with greater than 80%
vowels:

word	length	%vowel
euoi	4	100
euouae	6	100
euouaes	7	85.7143
ouabaio	7	85.7143
zooeae	6	83.3333


These are exactly on the 80% mark:

aalii abaue adieu aecia aerie aidoi ainee aioli aquae areae audio
aulae auloi aurae aurei avoue cooee eerie iaido looie louie miaou
oidia oorie oozoa ouija ourie queue uraei zoeae zooea


Anybody care to work on the other extreme?  i.e. The words which have
the fewest vowels for their lengths.  We'll have to count 'y' & sometimes 'w'
as vowels for this exercise.




        						Pauli

Paul Dale                       | grue@cs.uq.oz.au
Department of Computer Science  | +61 7 365 2445
University of Queensland        |
Australia, 4072                 | Did you know that there are 41 two letter
                                |     words containing the letter 'a'?

--
From: goodin@sunset.sedd.trw.com
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Attribute puzzle
Date: 6 Oct 92 08:41:07 PST


   Attribute puzzle.
   I hope this isn't transparent. 



   With    :   A Clown,    A Cat,  A Star,    The Sun, A Rock.
   Without :   A Comedian, A Manx, A Planet,  Cirrus,  Limestone. 



/****************************************************************************/
   Michael A. Goodin:
   "When the going gets tough, You've cooked it too long!" -- Me
From: clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Attribute Puzzles
Date: 27 Sep 92 13:40:03 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

In article <1992Sep27.065122.1758@techbook.com>, Dan Tilque writes:
> wvanweer@wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu (Wayne VanWeerthuizen) writes:

>> Set#1
>> Item w/ attribute: battery, key, yeast, diskette, bookmark
>> Items without    : rubix's cube, pill bottle, stapler, calculator, envelope

> You stumped me on the first list, but the second I think I got.

For the first list, I'd say they all initiate some action.  Battery
makes something go, key starts a car, yeast makes bread rise, computer
(some at least) boots off a diskette, and you start reading where
a bookmark is.
-- 
Chris Long, 265 Old York Rd., Bridgewater, NJ  08807-2618
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: chris@questrel.com (Chris Cole)
Subject: Re: Attribute Puzzles (SPOILER)
Organization: Questrel, Inc.
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 17:43:17 GMT

In article <1992Sep27.065122.1758@techbook.com> dant@techbook.com (Dan Tilque) writes:
>wvanweer@wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu (Wayne VanWeerthuizen) writes:
>>
>>Set#1
>> Item w/ attribute: battery, key, yeast, diskette, bookmark
>> Items without    : rubix's cube, pill bottle, stapler, calculator, envelope
>>
>Congratulations.  You asked a puzzle that isn't in the FAQ.  That's
>pretty rare these days.
>

Yes, congratulations.  Not only are these puzzles not on the FAQL, but they
are pregnant with possibilities.  I have an idea for the first one:

**** SPOILER ALERT *****

How about, things that work by being put inside of other things.

By the way, isn't "rubix's" spelled "Rubik's"?  I don't really care, but
my posting software won't post a follow-up with more quoted lines than
unquoted lines.
From: clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Attribute Puzzles
Date: 30 Sep 92 12:43:51 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

In article <1992Sep30.020031.19152@eng.umd.edu>, Matthew Russotto writes:

>>Submitted by: Robert M. Jarvis

>>Set#3:  with:  Koosh, Small Intestine, Yorkshire Terrier, Christmas Tree
>>        w/out: Toothbrush, Oak Chair, Soccer Ball, Icicle

> All are covered with something akin to fur-- the koosh has those
> rubber spines, the tree has needles, the intestine has villi (sp?),
> the terrier has fur.  

My answer is that they are all villiform, also, except that Christmas
tree w/ and toothbrush w/o is pushing it a little (but just a little).
-- 
Chris Long, 265 Old York Rd., Bridgewater, NJ  08807-2618
From: mpe@shamash.cdc.com
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: More logic puzzles please, here's one to try...
Date: 5 Oct 92 16:26:41 GMT


Here's a classic logic problem that I got, oh, probably 20 years
ago.  I still pull it out every so often for a new group of people.

1. There are five house, each of a different color and
   inhabited by men of different nationalities, with
   different pets, drinks, and cigarettes.

2. The Englishman lives in the red house.

3. The Spaniard owns the dog.

4. Coffee is drunk in the green house.

5. The Ukrainian drinks tea.

6. The green house is immediately to the right (your
   right) of the ivory house.

7. The Old Gold smoker owns snails.

8. Kools are smoked in the yellow house.

9. Milk is drunk in the middle house.

10. The Norwegian lives in the first house on the left.

11. The man who smokes Chesterfields lives in the house
    next to the man with the fox.

12. Kools are smoked in the house next to the house
    where the horse is kept.

13. The Lucky Strike smoker drinks orange juice.

14. The Japanese smokes Parliaments.

15. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.

Now, who drinks water?  And who owns the zebra?
From: ncramer@bbn.com (Nichael Cramer)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Diameter of earth?
Date: 5 Oct 1992 12:57:10 GMT
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Interzone Office
Reply-To: ncramer@labs-n.bbn.com (Nichael Cramer)
NNTP-Posting-Host: bbn.com

amorgan@csd-d-3.Stanford.EDU (Crunchy Frog) writes:
>One thing I have always wondered about is how the inventor of this
>technique (Erasthophenes?) was able to tell when it was noon at each
>place.  Now it is trivial since we have accurate timepieces, but they
>didn't back then.  Did he wander over there with an hourglass or something?

The version I've always heard is that one of his spots happened to be
located smack on the Tropic of Cancer.  So that at exactly one time (i.e.
noon) on exactly one day of the year (i.e. the Summer Solstice) the sun
shown all the way to the bottom of the local well.

This gave him a zero-point.  For the other point, farther north, all he had
to do was determine the length of the shortest shadow cast by a vertical
stick.

NICHAEL  
nichael@bbn.com  --                Bush/Gorbachev: One Down, One to Go
From: ajtd@honey.st-and.ac.uk (Tony Davie)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: packing puzzle
Date: 29 Sep 92 09:32:38 GMT
Organization: St.Andrews University

I remember once Tom O'Biern, the late great British puzzler, showed me a
puzzle he had invented. It consisted of a little cuboid cabinet with a lid
that could be removed. Inside it was a packed collection of little cuboids
of various sizes and orientations. These he turned out onto the table and
invited me to repack the cabinet. After a few minutes struggling, this I
proudly managed to do; whereupon Tom produced an extra unit cube and said,
"Now fit that one in as well". I didn't manage this but he showed me how to
do it. The secret lay in the very small amount of slack in the first
arrangement being redistributed in a subtle way by reorientating and shifting
the cuboids. The whole thing had been beautifully carved from, I think,
mahogany.

I believe that this puzzle was marketted but I don't know where. Does anyone
have any further information about this puzzle. What dimensions of cuboids
work? From memory, the size of the cabinet was approximately 3x4x4 relative
to the unit cube but I'm fairly sure that's not exact. Any info would be
appreciated.

Tony Davie               Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences
Tel: +44 334 76161 x8136 St.Andrews University
Fax: +44 334 77068       North Haugh
ad@dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk   St.Andrews
                         Scotland
                         KY16 9SS

Heard recently: Why do computer scientists confuse Halloween and Christmas?

Because oct 31 = dec 25.
From: frank@guiness.cetia.fr (Frank O'Neil)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: A probability problem
Date: 29 Sep 92 17:23:32 GMT
Reply-To: frank@guiness.cetia.fr (Frank O'Neil)
Organization: CETIA

I read this in a book (along with an answer) and don't know about the
answer they gave. I won't quote their answer, as I would like to see
if you agree with them or not. (I pray this is not a FAQ and I will
not get flamed for it, but here goes) :

Assuming the following :

1) Julius Caesar expelled about 2.2 * 10^22 molecules of air in crying
   "Tu quoique filli" 2000 years ago.

2) The vast majority [read "all"] of those molecules are still around
   (i.e. have not combined with acid rain to make quicklime or somesuch).

3) 2000 years is long enough that they are evenly distributed in the 
   atmosphere (which contains approx 10^44 molecules)

Q : What is the probability you just breathed in one of the molecules
    Julius Caesar expelled ??


--
.sig just stopped breathing
From: joe@csource.oz.au (Joe Slater)
Sender: acsnet@csource.oz.au
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: One Vowel...  Two Syllables
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 20:10:05 +1000

Thursday September 24 1992, Robert Michael Jarvis writes to All:

RMJ> Name a common two-syllable English word which has only one vowel.

RMJ> (N.B.  'y' counts as a vowel when so used.)

RMJ> I only know of one answer to this, although there certainly could be
RMJ> others.  I haven't done any kind of a thorough search.

Rhythm, prism, chasm? I suppose it depends on your pronunciation.

jds


 * Origin: What horrors wait for me in this, the Phantom's Opera? (3:632/351)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: dos105@rsphy2.anu.edu.au (Darren O'Shaughnessy)
Subject: Most anagrams (withdrawal of question)
Followup-To: rec.puzzles
Organization: Australian National University
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 92 02:10:44 GMT

In article <dos105-260992113935@150.203.49.43>, dos105@rsphy2.anu.edu.au
(Pat Rourke) wrote:
> 
>    I've looked through the FAQ list, and this one isn't on it.

   Actually, it is:
english/records/spelling/operations.on.words/transposition.p

> So, which English words have the most anagrams (which are also English words)? 

   A group of 12 sure beats my best.

Signed,            |   "It is not Life itself which is precious, but
  Pat Rourke       |    Quality of Life. However, Quality of Life is
                   |      not an Objective thing; it is up to the
(you may not have  |        individual to decide what te values."
   heard of me)    |
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: karr@cs.cornell.edu (David Karr)
Subject: Re: Diameter of earth?
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept, Ithaca NY 14853
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 03:16:17 GMT

In article <1992Oct4.185442.14447@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU> amorgan@csd-d-3.Stanford.EDU (Crunchy Frog) writes:
>Yes, that is fine for the person at the stake.  The point behind your
>method is that two people at different places must measure the
>angle of the sun *at the same time*.  You have the stake.  You are in
>Slobovia.  I am in Afbonistan.  We both make measurements of the suns
>angle when it is noon in Slobovia.  How do *I* know when it is noon in
>Slobovia?

Someone suggested that the same person could make the observations
on consecutive days near a solstice with reasonable accuracy.
In such a case, it obviously doesn't matter if the observations
are made at the same time (they can be a day apart) and so it isn't
even necessary for the two observers to be on exactly the same line of
longitude.  They'll make their observations a few minutes apart since
each goes according to local noon, but the difference will be wiped
out by other errors of measurement.

-- David Karr (karr@cs.cornell.edu)



Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: onar@hsr.no (Onar Aam)
Subject: Chess-problem
Organization: Rogaland University Centre
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 12:14:59 GMT

Given that you have a chessboard and one black king, how many white queens is the
least that is required to checkmate the king without moving the queens?


presumptions:
there is no white king on the board
the black king can be placed at any vacant spot.


Onar.
From: guckes@math.fu-berlin.de (Sven Guckes)
Subject: Re: 20 question story
Originator: guckes@medusa
Organization: Free University of Berlin, Germany
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 22:33:34 GMT

>>A man comes home with his car. His wife leaves the house, inspects the
>>car, returns and shoots her husband. What has happened?

He's ruined her car.
From: chris@questrel.com (Chris Cole)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: STORY PUZZLES
Date: 6 Oct 92 05:44:12 GMT
Organization: Questrel, Inc.

In article <1992Oct5.145842.1@crcvms.unl.edu> phoffman@crcvms.unl.edu writes:
>Long ago, after my father had challenged me to figure out most of them, I
>was given two books containing "story puzzles" (for lack of a better term).
>They were called "How Come?" and How Come, Again?".
>
>I LOVE puzzles like this and would appreciate any tips about where I could
>locate ones to add to my collection. If there is interest, I will post
>bibliographic citations for the two above-mentioned books.

This question is on the rec.puzzles Frequently Asked Questions List (FAQL).
To request a copy of the index to the FAQL, send a letter to
faql-request@questrel.com
containing the line:
send index

The index will be mailed via return email to the address in your
request's "From:" line.  If you are unsure of this address, and cannot
edit this line, then include in your message BEFORE the first "send" line
the line:

return_address <your_return_email_address>

To get the "home come" puzzle collection, use the request:
send situation.puzzles

The FAQL has been posted to news.answers.  News.answers is archived in
the periodic posting archive on pit-manager.mit.edu [18.172.1.27].
Postings are located in the anonymous ftp directory
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Other news.answers/FAQ archives (which carry some or all of the FAQs
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	archive.cs.ruu.nl [131.211.80.5] in the anonymous ftp
		directory /pub/NEWS.ANSWERS (also accessible via mail
		server requests to mail-server@cs.ruu.nl)
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		directory /usenet
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		/pub/usenet/news.answers
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		directory /pub/faq (also accessible via mail server
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Note that the periodic posting archives on pit-manager.mit.edu are
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on port 210).
From: ethc_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Thane Brahama I)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: No vowels, One syllable
Date: 1 Oct 92 16:23:36 GMT
Organization: University of Rochester - Rochester, New York

In <1992Oct1.145111.16942@col.hp.com> cab@col.hp.com (Chris Best) writes:

>OK, I know of a TWO-syllable word with no vowels.
>Also in the dictionary.  Guesses?

How about rhythm?

Ethan Corona
ethc_ltd.cc.rochester.edu
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: isaak@aurora.com (Mark Isaak)
Subject: Re: One Vowel...  Two Syllables
Summary: mbori
Reply-To: isaak@aurora.com (Mark Isaak)
Organization: The Aurora Group
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 92 20:38:14 GMT

And then there's "mbori," which has two vowels and three syllables.
-- 
Mark Isaak           "Every generation thinks it has the answers, and every
isaak@aurora.com      generation is humbled by nature." - Philip Lubin
From: robertw@informix.com (Robert Weinberg)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Diameter of earth?
Date: 6 Oct 92 20:09:27 GMT
Organization: Informix Software, Inc.

In article <1992Oct3.163947.17166@hellgate.utah.edu>  
tolman%asylum.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Kenneth Tolman) writes:
> 
>   How can you measure the diameter of the earth, using everyday tools
> that a typical person would have access to?  This means MEASURE, not look
> up the answer someone else determined.  I want to measure the diameter of
> the earth, and if some other people did to we could compare answers!

If you ever take airplane trips (especially near the ocean) you've got it made.  
Make a little device with a weighted string and a protractor, and at the moment the  
pilot says "We are now cruising at an altitude of 37,000 feet" or whatever, take an  
angle measurement on the horizon (preferably an ocean horizon). I'm not sure the  
trig is trivial (been a while!), but it's doable.
--
+================================+================================+
|         Rob Weinberg           |  Workstation publications tech |
|   Email : robertw@informix.com |        Graphic designer        |
|   Voice : 415-926-6754         |     <imagine your ad here>     |
+================================+================================+
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Yuzuru Hiraga)
Subject: Re: 20 question stories
Organization: Stanford University CSLI
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 23:41:39 GMT

In article <1992Oct1.140757.3896@lmpsbbs.comm.mot.com> johnson@sleipnir.mnesouth.corp.mot.com writes:
>This keeps coming up.  The original poster said *near* the South Pole.  If
>you start 10+5/pi miles from the pole, and walk south the ten miles, walking
>east ten miles is a 360 degree circle.

Actually, a bit more than 360 degrees.
If the 5/pi distance is along the spherical surface, the radius of the
circle will be a bit shorter than that.

# Just a mix-up, bunch of smilies to follow.....

-YH
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Subject: Re: Diameter of earth?
Originator: jmkaraka@c00070-100lez.eos.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 21:54:11 GMT


|>Find a level piece of ground.  Drive a stake into it vertically.  When the
|>shadow of the stake is shortest, it's noon, and the shadow is pointing due
|>north.
  ^^^^^

	Let's not hemispherecentric now.  :)

	-john-
From: jerryd@hpgrla.gr.hp.com (Jerry Donovan)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: more on .999... = 10.0
Date: 1 Oct 92 17:16:06 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Greeley, CO

><approach to questions like .9999... = 1.0.  The modern approach to real
><numbers is NOT to begin with digital *representations*, but to specify
><what *properties* you want the real numbers to have.  To someone who
><insists that .9999... != 1.0 and gives some reason for this, the best

(repairing the obvious error), I'd like to submit that .9999... != 1.0

1. .9999... has no digit to the left of the decimal while 1.0 does.
2.  Any first grader can tell you that a '9' is different from a '0'.
3.  The center of the '9' key on my keyboard is about 19mm left of the 
    center of the '0' key.  (obviously different)
4.  In the real number space, zero is before 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, (and a bunch
    of unmentioned reals) while 9 is after them.
5.  Merchants know there is a world of difference between $.99 and $1.00
    and extrapolation of adding more nines obviously will still be very
    different.  (foreign investors in this silly discussion please 
    substitute local currency symbol)
6.  This is rec.puzzles, and the only thing puzzling about this is why it
    continues so long.


:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)