In a far other universe, my younger sister was trapped in a cave. Surprisingly for humans, in this universe, all caves are electronic. This electronic cave had nothing but 5 buttons, two little screens, one red and one blue, a numeric keypad, and the most brought to light, this little message:
Message
Press the wrong button and that'll be your last action, press the right button and leave this cave.
Screens
The red little screen output the number 11
. The blue output 19-8-7-10
.
Buttons
The five buttons had 5 different colors. My sister had always been an expert for colors (as well as having a PhD in colors (what a strange universe...)) and she could perfectly remember these:
- Buff
- Gold
- Corn
- Opal
- Puce
What my sister did
My favourite
To escape, my sister first pressed her favourite number into the numeric keypad: 2
.
Immediately, the blue screen started blinking. And 5 seconds after, it output the letter y
. Simultaneously, the red little screen changed and output 10
. At that moment, she understood she had to write down on a little piece of paper she had: 11
and 19-8-7-10
.
That's not here for nothing
She then tried 19
, 8
, 7
, 10
but those four numbers didn't change the blue output and more stressful than anything, after that the red screen output 6
...
I was born the...
She tried 17
march 03
and thankfully the blue showed:
17: v
3: u
The red showed 4
...
Our cat was born the...
She tapped 25
november 11
...
25: s
11: p
Red..... 2
...
Father was born the...
She finally tried 29
november 77
29: q
77: m
How did she survive?
Alright, that's been four days that this puzzle is still unbreakable :p. Here is the first Hint I can give you:
Hint 1.a
You probably found it, this puzzle is to find a certain $f$, which takes in input a number and returns one of the $26$ letters of the alphabet. This hint is to give some facts on $f$ and its link to this puzzle.
1. You also probably know that but the aim of this puzzle is to find $f(19)$, $f(8)$, $f(7)$ and $f(10)$.
2. $f$ is defined on any positive natural number, it is not defined on zero, it is not defined on negative numbers. It could be possible to define it by being treacherous but I haven't done it and that's not necessary for the puzzle. Plus there is no minus symbol in the numeric keypad 😊!
Hint 1.b
As it's defined on positive numbers, here is a list of its values:
$f(1) = p$
$f(2) = y$
$f(3) = u$
$f(4) = v$
$f(5) = k$
$f(6) = d$
$f(7) = ?$
$f(8) = ?$
$f(9) = w$
$f(10) = ?$
$f(11) = p$
$f(42) = e$
Please specify in your answer whether you solved the puzzle with or without hint 2.a and hint 2.b
Hint 2.a 7 July 19
After being stuck for hours within this cave, my sister noticed that the ground was discreetly etched by the 26 letters of the alphabet. There was a mathematical symbol next to the 26 letters.
Hint 2.b 14 July 19
The mathematical symbol is $\%$.
Hint 3.a 17 July 19
Actually modulo operation is used once or twice, or isn't used, to encrypt each number. Another important operator used within the encryption is $+$, it's systematically used once. The latter could also have been etched to the ground!
Hint 3.b 17 July 19
Hint 2.a is as much important as Hint 2.b. The fact that the alphabet is etched is important.