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(Author Note) A while ago I made some puzzles for a now defunct puzzle hunt project, here's one of them. The answer to this (and most other puzzles of said hunt) is a single word. The puzzle itself is fully contained within the image above. Author notes don't matter.
The symbols are
We can convert to
the atomic number of each element
to transform the statements into
1. 6 (carbon) + 3⦶ = 50 (tin)
2. 82 (lead) + 🜔 = 83 (bismuth)
3. 50 (tin) + ⦶ = 82 (lead)
4. 51 (antimony) + ⦶ - 4🜔 = 79 (gold)
5. 47 (silver) - ⦶ = 29 (copper)
6. 77 (iridium) + 2🜔 = 79 (gold)
7. 79 (gold) - ⦶ = 47 (silver)
We can think of each of these statements as performing alchemy as follows:
Starting with one element, apply some transformations to obtain a different element.
Based on statements 2 and 6, we can infer that
Applying a multiple of 🜔 changes the element's atomic number by that multiple.
Turning our attention to statements 3, 4, and 7, it appears that
Applying a multiple of ⦶ changes the element's atomic number by that multiple of 32.
Finally, from statements 1 and 5, we learn that
Applying ⦶ still results in a large change, but with a smaller magnitude than 32.
These rules could be visualized if
we placed the elements in unequal rows based on atomic number and viewed 🜔 and ⦶ as horizontal and vertical movement, respectively.
Of course, there is a well known way to do this:
The periodic table.
This gives us the proper way to interpret the 7 statements:
1. Carbon (6 C) shifted down by 3 yields tin (50 Sn).
2. Lead (82 Pb) shifted right by 1 yields bismuth (83 Bi).
3. Tin (50 Sn) shifted down by 1 yields lead (82 Pb).
4. Antimony (51 Sb) shifted down by 1 and left by 4 yields gold (79 Au).
5. Silver (47 Ag) shifted up by 1 yields copper (29 Cu).
6. Iridium (77 Ir) shifted right by 2 yields gold (79 Au).
7. Gold (79 Au) shifted up by 1 yields silver (47 Ag).
Turning our attention to the unanswered statements at the end of the puzzle, we can convert and transform them as follows:
1. Bismuth (83 Bi) shifted right by 1 yields polonium (84 Po).
2. Silver (47 Ag) shifted left by 5 and down by 1 yields tungsten (74 W).
3. Samarium (62 Sm) shifted right by 6 yields erbium (68 Er).
Finally, we can
combine the resulting chemical symbols (Po, W, Er)
to obtain the answer:
POWER.
