-2
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Reverse

****   *   ****   *  *
*      *   *      *  *
****   *   ****   ****
*      *      *   *  *
****   *   ****   *  *

to

*  *   ****   *   ****
*  *   *      *   *
****   ****   *   ****
*  *      *   *   *
*  *   ****   *   ****

by moving minimal amount of dots (being e.g. stars * here in ascii art representation).

For reference I add old hint again (which I probably should not have deleted ... sorry for that):

reverse Coptic number 3 (šomt) has similar minimal solution

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0

4 Answers 4

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9
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The puzzle asks to reverse EISH to HSIE by moving the minimal amount of dots, with some lateral thinking.

It is possible to reverse EISH to HSIE by moving one dot, which must be minimal.

Begin with EISH which is

represented in Morse code as dots: . .. ... ....

Then move

dot number 9 to the position after dot number 1:
.... ... .. .

We now have

HSIE, represented in Morse code.

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  • 9
    $\begingroup$ ...So we were supposed to ignore the majority of the question, including the clarification notes, focus on a small bit, and interpret it in a way directly contradicted by the parts we ignored? $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented Aug 14 at 15:01
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    $\begingroup$ I think this was a well designed lateral thinking puzzle. If it were just a matter of moving stars around optimally it wouldn't be very puzzling. And without the stars as a distraction it would have been too easy. $\endgroup$
    – Amoz
    Commented Aug 14 at 15:20
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    $\begingroup$ Your edit was probably just a mix-up of names, but it's interesting that Louis doesn't score so badly when it comes to moving dots. $\endgroup$
    – M Oehm
    Commented Aug 14 at 15:33
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    $\begingroup$ @Abion47 - The question doesn't actually mention letters at all. The terms "HSIE" and EISH" don't appear in the question outside of the title. The objects it tells us to reverse are only presented as ASCII art (which happens to look like letters). As for how this answer works: if the translation to Moorse Code is allowed, you can go from * ** *** **** to **** *** ** * by moving the second to the last star to fill the first space, splitting the final **** into ** * while combining the starting * ** into ****. $\endgroup$
    – Tim C
    Commented Aug 14 at 18:27
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    $\begingroup$ @TimC Ah I see, thank you. As for the question, that just makes it even more nebulous as any answer would be valid so long as it satisfies transforming object A to object B using the method of moving dots where object A and object B can be represented by the respective ASCII arts. Presented that way, it could be argued that there's an even more efficient answer where the terms "HSIE and EISH" are represented by 3D perspective art that shows either term based on where the observer is standing. In that answer, the solution is moving 0 dots and instead simply moving the position of the observer. $\endgroup$
    – Abion47
    Commented Aug 14 at 18:36
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3:

rotate enter image description here

move two dots of rightmost to left

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  • $\begingroup$ nice mathematical answer but the question has an enigmatic challenge $\endgroup$
    – FirstName LastName
    Commented Aug 12 at 21:46
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    $\begingroup$ At first view I knew it seems to me it is not so simple :-) $\endgroup$
    – z100
    Commented Aug 12 at 22:01
  • $\begingroup$ By rotating, you first moved all the dots (except possibly one). $\endgroup$
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Aug 12 at 22:32
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    $\begingroup$ @WeatherVane or perhaps moved to other side of the table and moved no dots :-) then total was 2 $\endgroup$
    – FirstName LastName
    Commented Aug 12 at 23:15
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Working completely in-place,

17 points are in different positions between the start and end.

If we don't,

we can move the H (12 points) to the other side, then transform the S and E into each other by moving one point each, for a total of 14.

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  • $\begingroup$ I count 45 points in the original figure, so I'm not sure what your point is. (With the "obvious" overlap I still end up with more than your total.) $\endgroup$
    – Neil
    Commented Aug 13 at 13:01
  • $\begingroup$ nice mathematical answer but the question needs some 'out of the box' vision. $\endgroup$
    – FirstName LastName
    Commented Aug 13 at 22:00
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    $\begingroup$ I've fixed the count, which was a silly oversight. I don't recall the [lateral-thinking] tag being present when writing my answer, although I don't know how to verify that. $\endgroup$
    – AxiomaticSystem
    Commented Aug 14 at 1:37
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    $\begingroup$ The edit history has timestamps for all revisions of the question. The tags were edited nearly nine hours after you answered. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Mathias
    Commented Aug 14 at 1:44
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If you start with 2 spaces between each 4-wide letter, you can move the source 3 spaces to the left. Then you swap according to this pattern:

 ---*  *  ****  *  *+++
 -  +  *  *     *  *
 ---*++*  ****  *--*+++
 -  +  *     *  *  *
 ---*  *  ****  *  *+++

This gives 13 dots moved.

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    $\begingroup$ I didn't understand the hint, and so didn't use the hint. $\endgroup$
    – Heather
    Commented Aug 13 at 22:47
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    $\begingroup$ Welcome to Puzzle Exchange! I left 3 spaces in between letters and one letter (I) is not 4 but 1 space wide. That said, perhaps you look at a constructed variant? $\endgroup$
    – FirstName LastName
    Commented Aug 13 at 22:51
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    $\begingroup$ I was trying to shift to align the letter verticals but I thought you might say something like the gaps were intentional. $\endgroup$
    – Heather
    Commented Aug 13 at 22:58
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    $\begingroup$ not so much are gaps intentional but rather 13 dots is sub optimal, but then, please take into account the puzzle has some particular angle to look at. Again: welcome to PE! $\endgroup$
    – FirstName LastName
    Commented Aug 13 at 23:02
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    $\begingroup$ Check the latest edit to see how to properly spoiler preformatted text blocks. $\endgroup$
    – AxiomaticSystem
    Commented Aug 14 at 1:31

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