HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: kanad@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Kanad Chakraborty)
Subject: Re: pi mnemonics
Organization: University of Michigan EECS Dept., Ann Arbor
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 20:05:16 GMT

In article <lbu8qjINNfon@news.bbn.com> ncramer@labs-n.bbn.com (Nichael Cramer) writes:
>s2874066@techst02.technion.ac.il (Eyal Peleg) writes:
>> [...]
>
>Well that was fun.  Now let's try the converse: i.e. use PI _in_ a
>mnemonic:
>
>E.g "Ten Million Apple Pies"  
>      ==> 10 million X PI seconds in a year (or close enough for back of
>          the envelope).
>
>

May I have a large container of coffee ?

Kanad Chakraborty
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: de@cray.com (Duane Eitzen)
Subject: Re: Packing problem
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 7 Oct 92 12:38:16 CDT

In article <1992Oct6.220449.22024@ils.nwu.edu> blum@news.ils.nwu.edu (Daniel Blum) writes:
>>If you take the top row of circles and shift it half a unit to the right,
>>it can pack a little closer to the bottom row. This actually loses a bit
>>of "efficiency" but its a fixed amount on an infinite problem. 
>
>>What this buys you is some headroom. I think that by breaking the lines of
>>circles into segments, and tilting the segments, you may be able to pack
>>things tighter than they were originally. I'll leave the math to someone else.
>
>>Duane. 
>
>"Headroom" doesn't buy you anything so far as I can see.  Remember,
>we're talking about the ratio of covered area to the area OF THE STRIP
>that is being used - that empty headroom counts against you, and you
>can't fit a circle in there.

Read my proposal again. I agree that just creating headroom doesn't buy anything
on its own (as I pointed out). I went on to explain how to use the headroom:
picture the circles as two lines, break the lines into segments and tilt the
segments into the headroom: thus allowing a tighter packing. It is not yet
clear to me what the optimal packing is, but this is an improvement over the
square packing.

Duane.
From: grue@cs.uq.oz.au (Pauli Dale)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Word ending in 5 Consonants
Date: 12 Oct 92 01:52:01 GMT
Reply-To: grue@cs.uq.oz.au

asimov@wk223.nas.nasa.gov (Daniel A. Asimov) writes:

>Can you think of a (not too uncommon) seven-letter word, 
>Scrabble-eligible, with the consonant-vowel pattern CVCCCCC
>OTHER THAN the word "lengths" ?

I've managed to find 58 words with that pattern.  If you take out the ones
that are using the letter 'y' this gets reduced to 6.


>No fair using a computer search of a word-list!!!!

Life isn't fair...

Spoiler follows:


bashlyk benzyls bergylt borscht bortsch bostryx butyryl caddyss
cockshy cornfly corymbs curstly dactyls decrypt dicycly diglyph
diptych dirndls fifthly firstly formyls forthby gallfly harshly
highths kitschy konfyts ladyfly lengths lengthy lewdsby lichtly
lightly martyrs martyry methyls mightly mightst monthly nightly
ninthly nitryls pentyls rightly sandfly selsyns sightly sixthly
tapstry tenthly tetryls tightly valkyrs warmths welshry wightly
worldly zephyrs

The six without y's in them are:

borscht bortsch dirndls highths lengths mightst warmths





        						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: tjgerman@53iss6.Waterloo.NCR.COM (Trevor German)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: TRAPPED BUBBLE
Date: 13 Oct 92 17:46:54 GMT
Organization: Imaging Systems Division, NCR Corp, Waterloo, Ont., CANADA


	This problem has been repeated by me in various circles and
	I have yet to hear a satisfactory answer. I wonder if anyone
	else has any new input.

	------------------------------------------------------------

		Take a cylinder of _incompressible_ fluid. Attach a
	balloon to the lid of the cylinder and seal the cylinder
	with the lid such that there is no air trapped within.

		Now flip the cylinder upside down.

		The question is, what happens to the baloon. Does it
	get bigger or smaller. What happens to the pressure in the 
	baloon, does it change. What are the thermal effects if any.
	
		As a corolorary what would happen if the situation
	was reversed and the baloon was stuck to the bottom before
	the fluid was added, the tube sealed, and inverted.

	------------------------------------------------------------
--
       >|  "Only average people            | Trevor J German BSc    |<
       >|        never make mistakes."     | NCR, Waterloo, Ontario |<
       >| tjgerman@53iss6.Waterloo.NCR.COM | Canada.                |< 
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: jwd2@owlnet.rice.edu (Joseph William DeVincentis)
Subject: Re: Height of a building
Organization: Rice University
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 18:10:09 GMT

In article <1992Oct7.192415.217922@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu>, dsbb@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (D. SPENCER BEECHER) writes:
|> How would you accurately measure the height of a ten or twelve
|> story building?
|> 
|> Tools at your disposal include a cigarette lighter, a plastic
     ... 
|> a goldfish in a six inch (diameter) round goldfish bowl.

Put one of the beer cans on the ground, 10 to 20 meters from the building.
Dump out the goldfish & water from the bowl, and take it to the roof.  Set
the bowl on the edge of the roof. Rip up 11 of the sheets of paper and put
them in the bowl, along with two of the pencils, the string, and anything
else flammable, and set them on fire with the cigarette lighter.  Go down
to the ground and stand so that the edge of your shadow just reaches the
beer can.  Mark the spot where you are standing.  Measure the distance from
the beer can to your mark (S) with the plastic ruler, and then measure the
distance from the beer can to the building (L).  Measure your own height (H)
as well, and the height of the building is L*H/S - calculate this with the
remaining pencil and paper.  Don't forget to put out the fire when you're done.

-- 
----w-w--------------Joseph  De Vincentis--jwd2@owlnet.rice.edu----------------
   ( ^ )   Disclaimer: My opinions do not represent those of Owlnet.
   (O O)   Owlnet: George R. Brown School of Engineering Educational Network. 
    v-v    (Unauthorized use is prohibited.)  (Being uwop-ap!sdn is allowed.)
From: acheng@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Albert Cheng)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Story Puzzle (spoiler)
Date: 15 Oct 92 18:47:24 GMT
Article-I.D.: ncsa.1992Oct15.184724.3368
Organization: Nat'l Ctr for Supercomp App (NCSA) @ University of Illinois
Originator: acheng@shalom.ncsa.uiuc.edu

In article <1992Oct9.111838.1@ntuvax> sb102760@ntuvax writes:
>In article <int470u.718541096@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au>, int470u@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au (Wes Jones) writes:
>> This is a puzzle my maths teacher asked back in high school:
>> 
>> A mathematician and a magician were walking down the road together.
>> The logician turned to the mathematician, and said, "The sum of the
>> ages of my three children, which can be considered integers, is 13,
>> and the product is the number on that bus over there.  What are the
>> ages?"
>> 
>> The mathematician, after some thought, replied that he did not have
>> enough information to solve the problem.  The logician then said that
>> his oldest child was learning to play the piano.  The mathematician
>> then told the logician the ages.
>> 
>> What are the ages ?
>
>	Would I need to know the number of the bus, or at least the
>	kind of number buses have in wherever the location of the
>	story is ?

Nop.  There are limited possible combinations of ages of the children
(e.g., no kid can be older than 11, assuming all kids are at least 1).
Only two combinations give the same products.  The piano lesson hint
eliminates one.  Answer is:









































Ages: 9, 2, 2
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: viktor@mks.com (Viktor Haag)
Subject: Re: Packing problem
Organization: Mortice Kern Systems Inc., Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 20:16:23 GMT


It seems to me that the more efficient means for packing is:a
(spoiler below ?)

	______________________________
	|o o o o o o o o o o o ------
	| o o o o o o o o o o -----
	|o o o o o o o o o o o ----
	------------------------------

Note that the tape is still only two units wide.  Since the objects are
spheres, you can nestle one in between two pair in slightly less
space than three columns.

There is probably a math eqn which describes the point at which this
sort of packing becomes more efficient than the obvious, but with a
strip of infinite length, it is certain to be more efficient.

Or am I wrong?
-- 
Viktor Haag					viktor@mks.com
Mortice Kern Systems				(519) 884-2251
35 King North, Waterloo, Ontario		ext. 41
"we are not thugs. we are vitamin supplements to justice ..." | a selector
From: imc@comlab.ox.ac.uk (Ian Collier)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Height of a building
Date: 13 Oct 92 16:15:11 GMT
Organization: Oxford University Computing Laboratory, UK
X-Local-Date: Tuesday, 13th October 1992 at 5:14pm BST
Originator: imc@msc3.comlab

In article <1b2vb9INN1pq@roche.csl.sri.com>, ronnie@cisco.com (Ronnie B. Kon) wrote:
>|> In article <1992Oct7.192415.217922@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu> dsbb@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (D. SPENCER BEECHER) writes:
>|> >How would you accurately measure the height of a ten or twelve
>|> >story building?

>|> Then again, you could simply go into the building, measure the
>|> height of each step between the floor and the ceiling, and add
>|> them all up.

[Notice that the above answer relies on a person being able to make accurate
measurements in metric with a 12 inch imperial ruler].

>Boy, am I the only one to see the obvious answer?  You drop the
>fishbowl off the building and watch to see when it hits.  Then you
>count until you hear the impact.  From there, it's simple arithmetic.

Is this a joke?  I can't see any smileys anywhere...

Perhaps you were the only person to have missed the word "accurately" in the
question (I doubt it though...).

The question required the answer to within 1 meter.  Supposing that the
building is 30m high, the time for the fishbowl to drop would be about 2.45
seconds.  You would have to time that to within 0.04 seconds if you wanted
the answer to be between 29 and 31.  Now that would be difficult enough, but
no - you suggested timing how long it takes you to hear the crash.

The time taken for the sound of the fishbowl to reach you would be about
0.091 seconds.  You think you can time that accurately by counting?

Ian Collier
Ian.Collier@prg.ox.ac.uk | imc@ecs.ox.ac.uk
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: blum@news.ils.nwu.edu (Daniel Blum)
Subject: Re: Packing problem
Organization: The Institute for the Learning Sciences
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 21:23:44 GMT

	______________________________
>	|o o o o o o o o o o o ------
>	| o o o o o o o o o o -----
>	|o o o o o o o o o o o ----
>	------------------------------
>
>Note that the tape is still only two units wide.  Since the objects are
>spheres, you can nestle one in between two pair in slightly less
>space than three columns.
>
>There is probably a math eqn which describes the point at which this
>sort of packing becomes more efficient than the obvious, but with a
>strip of infinite length, it is certain to be more efficient.

>Or am I wrong?
>-- 
>Viktor Haag					viktor@mks.com
>Mortice Kern Systems				(519) 884-2251
>35 King North, Waterloo, Ontario		ext. 41
>"we are not thugs. we are vitamin supplements to justice ..." | a selector

This solution has already been proposed - it is less efficient than
the original packing.  The other proposed solution looks good, but I
haven't worked out the math yet (I'll post the math when I get time to
do it).

--
_____________________________________________________________________
Dan Blum           Institute for the Learning Sciences   Room 327
blum@ils.nwu.edu   1890 Maple Ave., Evanston, IL 60201   708-467-2306

"By the power vested in me by my own over-inflated ego, I now 
 declare this bridge officially open."
_____________________________________________________________________

Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: msp@dcs.warwick.ac.uk (Mike Paterson)
Subject: Re: Packing problem
Organization: Department of Computer Science, Warwick University, England
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 10:40:26 GMT

A closely related problem is to find the smallest integer n so that 
2n+1 discs of diameter 1 can be packed in a 2 x n rectangle.

Can you improve on n=236?

-- 
 Internet,EARN/BITNET,UUCP: msp@dcs.warwick.ac.uk | Mike Paterson 
 JANET: msp@uk.ac.warwick.dcs                     | Dept. of Computer Science
 PHONE: +44 203 523194                            | University of Warwick     
 FAX:   +44 203 525714                            | Coventry, CV4 7AL, ENGLAND
From: tjgerman@53iss6.Waterloo.NCR.COM (Trevor German)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: TRAPPED BUBBLE
Date: 13 Oct 92 17:53:00 GMT
Organization: Imaging Systems Division, NCR Corp, Waterloo, Ont., CANADA


	------------------------------------------------------------
	OH BY THE WAY :- Before I get smart ass remarks, the balloon
	is on the inside of the lid or stuck inside the bottom.
	------------------------------------------------------------
--
       >|  "Only average people            | Trevor J German BSc    |<
       >|        never make mistakes."     | NCR, Waterloo, Ontario |<
       >| tjgerman@53iss6.Waterloo.NCR.COM | Canada.                |< 
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: mueller@schaefer.math.wisc.edu (Carl Douglas Mueller)
Subject: Re: Bubble in jar in space (was TRAPPED BUBBLE (answer))
Reply-To: mueller@schaefer.UUCP (Carl Douglas Mueller)
Organization: Univ. of Wisconsin Dept. of Mathematics
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 00:57:23 GMT

In article <1992Oct14.161730.144899@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu> dsbb@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (D. SPENCER BEECHER) writes:
>
>My question:
>
>In a weightless environment a jar of water with an air bubble inside
>is allowed to come to relative equilibrium (Standard Pressure and
>Temperature, accelerations = 0, eddies negligible).  What is the
>appearance and position of the bubble?

Well, I'd say it depends on the shape of the jar.  I'd think that the bubble 
would position itself so that the surface area of that portion of the bubble 
boundary made of water is minimized (surface tension on the water).  In any
case, I'd guess that the bubble would end up at the edge of the jar (in a 
corner if there is one).

               Of course I could be way off on this one.

>  -Spence         [O.O]   )x.x(   )O.O(
>                    O       O      -*-

 Carl Mueller (mueller@math.wisc.edu)
From: rh@smds.com (Richard Harter)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: teez brainbuster
Keywords: peg puzzle
Date: 12 Oct 92 05:00:08 GMT
Reply-To: rh@ishmael.UUCP (Richard Harter)
Organization: Software Maintenance & Development Systems, Inc.

In article <11OCT199202085992@wccf.mit.edu> huh@wccf.mit.edu (GENE SIMON HUH) writes:
>Dear puzzlers,

>     I have a puzzle at my house called "Teez Brainbuster".  It consists of 
>nine holes in a block of plastic, all lined up.  The initial setup of the 
>puzzle consists of four blue pegs in holes #1 thru #4 and four red pegs in 
>holes #6 thru #9, like this:

>         B B B B O R R R R

>where B = blue peg
>      R = red peg
> and  O = empty hole

>The object is to switch the positions of the blue and red pegs, i.e.,

>        R R R R O B B B B 

>The allowable moves are: 
>  a) move one blue peg into an adjacent empty hole
>  b) move one red peg into an adjacent empty hole
>  c) a peg may "jump" over one (and only one) peg of either color, provided 
>that the hole that the peg "jumps" into is empty 
>  d) blue pegs can only be moved to the right; red pegs can only be moved to 
>the left

>     The solution is NOT to turn the plastic block around 180 degrees. :-)

I cheated and wrote a quick program to solve the puzzle.  There are
two solutions, which are symmetrical with respect to read and blue.
The solutions are:

A: 4 6 7 5 3 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1 2 4 6 8 7 5 3 4 6 5
B: 6 4 3 5 7 8 6 4 2 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 3 5 7 6 4 5

In the above solutions the peg positions are 1 through 9 with the empty
hole initially in hole 5.  Each number in a solution series is the number
of the peg that that moves into the empty hole.  For example, in line A
the first four moves are:
	Blue peg in hole 4 moves right to hole 5
	Red peg in hole 6 jumps left to hole 4
	Red peg in hole 7 moves left to hole 6
	Blue peg in hole 5 jumps right to hole 7
	....

Nice puzzle.
-- 
Richard Harter: SMDS Inc.  Net address: rh@smds.com Phone: 508-369-7398 
US Mail: SMDS Inc., PO Box 555, Concord MA 01742.    Fax: 508-369-8272
In the fields of Hell where the grass grows high
Are the graves of dreams allowed to die.
Organization: University of Maine System
Date: Thursday, 8 Oct 1992 12:16:42 EDT
From: The Judge <IO20444@MAINE.MAINE.EDU>
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: meta-puzzles
 <1992Oct5.185415.28025@wisipc.weizmann.ac.il>
 <1992Oct6.212945.6646@discus.technion.ac.il>

Actually,just because you know whether there are more true

statements than false statements, or vice versa, you can't
exclude the possibility that all 3 are true.  Because 3 > 0,
definitely.  That's the only way I could figure out an
answer.

---***(((---Daphne Brinkerhoff---)))***---..## I TURNED MY LIFE AROUND,
---***(((---_University of Me.---)))***---..## AND NOW I'M BACK WHERE I
If these weren't my own opinions, why would.## STARTED!!! --ANONYMOUS
I be posting them?..........................## ---***(((&&&)))***---
From: warwick@cs.uq.oz.au (Warwick Allison)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Spaces in "C"
Date: 9 Oct 92 01:36:19 GMT
Reply-To: warwick@cs.uq.oz.au

This should probably be in a "C" language group too...


	1. Is it possible to translate ANY "C" program into an
		equivalent one containing no whitespace?

	2. What method will minimise the amount of overhead (or
		maximise the underhead, if reducing spaces saves
		characters)?

eg.
	main()
	{
		int i;
		for (i=1; i<10; i++)
			if (i<9)
				printf("hello world!\n");
			else
				printf("goodbye cruel world!\n");
	}

becomes:

	main(){int(i);for(i=1;i<=10;i++)if(i<10)printf("hello\040world!\n");
	else{printf("goodbye\040cruel\040world!\n");}}



--
Warwick
--
  _-_|\      warwick@cs.uq.oz.au            /Disclaimer:
 /     * <-- Computer Science Department,  /  
 \_.-._/     University of Queensland,    /   C references are NULL && void*
      v      Brisbane, Australia.        /  
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: tolman%asylum.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Kenneth Tolman)
Subject: Tell me more?
Date: 9 Oct 92 13:56:25 MDT
Organization: University of Utah, CompSci Dept

Two good friends were walking in the woods on a hike, one was a mathematician,
the other a logician.  The mathematician said, "The sum of the ages of
my children is 12 years."

The logician replied, "Don't tell me any more, there ages are: ... and ..."

What were the ages and how did he know?
From: clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Word ending in 5 Consonants (SPOILER)
Date: 8 Oct 92 05:31:23 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

In article <1992Oct8.021445.23776@nas.nasa.gov>, Daniel A. Asimov writes:

> Can you think of a word fitting this description?

"lengths" is one such.
-- 
Chris Long, 265 Old York Rd., Bridgewater, NJ  08807-2618
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords
From: ilana@kiowa.scd.ucar.edu (Ilana Stern)
Subject: CWC #21
Organization: NCAR/UCAR
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 16:20:20 GMT

Welcome to CWC21!

This is the next installment in the clue writing competition started by
Ian Gent. Later on in this posting, you will find two words to write
clues for. They have been encrypted (rot13) for extra protection.
The first word is chosen to be relatively easy to clue; the second is 
slightly (i.e. considerably) harder. Competitors are invited to submit one 
(1) cryptic clue for each word, together with explanations of their
clues to the following address:

		ilana@ncar.ucar.edu
by
		Thursday, 22 Oct 1992 17:59 GMT (e.g. 23:59 MDT)

Only the first clues submitted by each competitor will be counted. 
Do not post your clues, as some people may prefer to solve the 
winning entries.  After the deadline has passed, judging will 
commence; one winner will be chosen for each word, and the better 
of the two winners will be invited to judge the next competition.
I will assume you want to judge the next competition unless you say
otherwise when submitting your clue (or when I contact you).

[Note:  I know it has been suggested that we change the method of
choosing the next judge to going to a rotating system.  I disagree,
although if another clue writing competition is started, it would be
fine to have it go with a rotating system.  I would suggest that cluers
who have recently won this contest voluntarily disqualify themselves
from judging the next one, although this is up to each individual.
I will judge the clues independently of submitters' names.]

The submitted clues will (I hope) be posted as follows:

		Friday, 23 Oct: the winners
		Monday, 26 Oct: the rest

The words for clueing follow (rot13) after a page feed:

	CRQRFGEVNA

	NMHER

You may assume the first is a down clue and the second is an across clue.

I like clues which are simple and straightforward, yet not obvious.
I dislike excessively convoluted clues and those where the answer 
"pops out" at the reader before solving.

-- 
/\     It's not denial.  I'm just very selective about the reality I accept.
  \_][ <--NCAR Ilana Stern dod#009 r.b. cliff swallow ilana@ncar.ucar.edu    
      \______________________________________________________________________
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords
From: asimov@wk223.nas.nasa.gov (Daniel A. Asimov)
Subject: Re: ACC10 -- winning clues
Keywords: limits, puzzles, judging
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 92 17:24:50 GMT

I agree with the suggestion that the clue contest winner should
not be eligible for a certain length of time, in order to give
everyone mroe of a chance to win.

Six months seems to me to be perhaps an awfully long time to have
to be ineligible to enter, as a "reward" for winning. I propose that
the time of ineligibility be six weeks for the winner and two weeks
for the runner-up.  

I also agree that good clue writing is a fairly refined art, and it
helps to read what the masters have written on the subject.  Two books
worth looking at are The Art of the Crossword by D.S. MacNutt, (sp. ?)
who is Ximenes, the notorious English constructor, and ABCs of Crosswords,
by Alec Robins (sp. ?), a colleague of Ximenes.

--Daz
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords