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I can be formed in many ways, and four parts are always involved. Sometimes the formation can happen with all four parts at once, but sometimes some parts come later than the others. The highest scenario (let's call this scenario I1) happens with all four parts at once, is 22 intrinsically, and can be affected by four factors[1] resulting in a possible range between 22 and 96 (at the start it is 44). Every other scenario has zero involved in some way. All of the scenarios have non-zero intrinsic and possible range values, and can be affected by the same four factors.

More than one of me can be formed in many ways, and seven parts are always involved. Sometimes the formation can happen with all seven parts at once, but sometimes some parts come later than the others. The highest scenario (let's call this scenario M1) happens with all seven parts at once, is 24 intrinsically (34 if not for a limitation), and can be affected by five factors[2] resulting in a possible range between 74 and 152 (at the start it is 98, 100, or 118). All of the scenarios have zero involved in some way and have non-zero intrinsic and possible range values. All of the scenarios in which the formation happens with all seven parts at once can be affected by the same five factors. The scenarios in which some parts come later than the others can only be affected by four out of the five factors (those factors being A, B, C, and D).

Notes:

[1] Let's call the four factors A, B, C, and D. Scenario I1 will be affected by none, one, or two of the factors, never three or four of them. It may also be affected by more than one occurrence of the same factor.

[2] Let's call the five factors A, B, C, D, and E (where A, B, C, and D are the same as in [1]). Scenario M1 will be affected by one, two, or three of the factors, never four or five of them. It may also be affected by more than one occurrence of the same factor.

What am I?

Hints:

1. When scenario I1 is 22, it is not affected by any of the factors. When it is 96, it is affected by factors A and D. When it is 44 at the start, it is affected by factor C.

2. When scenario M1 is 74, it is affected by factor E. When it is 152, it is affected by factors A, D, and E. When it is 98 at the start, it is affected by factors C and E. When it is 100 or 118 at the start, it is affected by factors A, C, and E.

3. For all of the scenarios (for both me and more than one of me), the value never changes after the formation occurs. This means that the formation may occur at the start or after that.

4. When a scenario has "zero involved in some way", zero will be involved once or twice, and it's not related to how many times the digit 0 appears in the value.

5. I can be formed up to three times per [REDACTED], but more than one of me can only be formed once per [REDACTED].

6. When the formation of more than one of me happens with all seven parts at once, it is always affected by factor E.

7. Any formation that occurs at the start is always affected by factor C.

8. This puzzle is related to one of the following categories: entertainment, biology, geography, math/geometry, English/grammar. The subject of this puzzle has been mentioned on more than one occasion on this site.

9. No more than one formation occurs at the start, but it is possible for multiple formations to occur simultaneously after that.

10. When a formation occurs, it doesn't have to be of me or more than one of me - it can be of something else.

11. "More than one of me" can actually be considered a single thing.

12. Location/position determines which factors affect a given scenario.

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  • 3
    $\begingroup$ So far, none of the guesses as to what this puzzle is about are correct. $\endgroup$ May 26, 2015 at 5:54
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ Maybe a hint? It would be usefull and it hasn't been solved for almost a week $\endgroup$
    – Wouter
    May 26, 2015 at 13:22
  • 12
    $\begingroup$ reading this puzzle feels similar to reading law $\endgroup$
    – JLee
    Jun 22, 2015 at 16:36
  • 9
    $\begingroup$ All the hints are, well, horrible, and prove to be more frustrating than the riddle itself, which is a great task. We need a category, please, pretty please, with a cherry on top. See my previous comment on June 13th regarding this. :) $\endgroup$
    – JLee
    Jul 27, 2015 at 16:35
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ The problem is that the original puzzle is already confusing enough and then you add a whole bunch of "hints" that are just as confusing. They serve more to confirm guesses rather than point towards the direction people should be taking. Even the most recent hint is not too useful since it primarily just eliminates a list of topics that the answer does not relate to without addressing which of the (infinitely) remaining topics it could actually relate to. I'm actually surprised this hasn't been closed to be perfectly honest. $\endgroup$
    – Echo
    Aug 3, 2015 at 22:12

3 Answers 3

22
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I am a

QUIZ

The four parts are

letters (scrabble tiles)

Sometimes the formation can happen with all four parts at once, but sometimes some parts come later than the others.

This is referring to putting down all four scrabble tiles, or forming the word from existing scrabble tiles already on the board.

22 intrinsically

QUIZ's base scrabble score is 22

four factors

Double word score, triple word score, double letter score, triple letter score

possible range between 22 and 96 (at the start it is 44)

Q=10 U=1 I=1 Z=10, total of 22. With triple word score and double letter score, I double Q or Z, resulting in a score of 32, and triple it to 96. If QUIZ is the first word played, it must cover the starting tile which is a double word score, for 44 points.

Every other scenario has zero involved in some way.

The blank tile worth zero points, which will be important later.

All of the scenarios have non-zero intrinsic and possible range values, and can be affected by the same four factors.

This should be obvious by now.

More than one of me can be formed in many ways, and seven parts are always involved.

QUIZZES, seven letters

Sometimes the formation can happen with all seven parts at once, but sometimes some parts come later than the others.

Same thing as above.

The highest scenario (let's call this scenario M1) happens with all seven parts at once, is 24 intrinsically (34 if not for a limitation)

QUIZZES has a base score of 34, but there is only 1 Z tile, so a blank tile (worth zero points) must be substituted in place of a Z.

five factors

The fifth factor, E, is the 50-point bonus for using all 7 tiles in your hand.

possible range between 74 and 152 (at the start it is 98, 100, or 118)

Minimum score of 74 is achieved by using only the 50 point bonus. The maximum score of 152 uses a double letter score on Z and a triple word score for 102 points, plus 50 points bonus. If QUIZZES is the first word played, it must cover the starting tile for double word score, and may cover an additional double letter score as well.

All of the scenarios in which the formation happens with all seven parts at once can be affected by the same five factors. The scenarios in which some parts come later than the others can only be affected by four out of the five factors (those factors being A, B, C, and D).

Fairly obvious given that factor E only works if you played seven tiles at once.

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    $\begingroup$ Holy crap thank you so much. I can rest a little bit easier tonight. $\endgroup$
    – Bailey M
    Aug 12, 2015 at 2:35
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    $\begingroup$ Great job, I'm glad I found you - I knew you could figure it out! :-) You are officially the King of Puzzling! $\endgroup$ Aug 12, 2015 at 5:16
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    $\begingroup$ It should be noted that even though this answer was posted almost 3 months after I posted the puzzle, McMagister had been inactive and hadn't seen the puzzle until I contacted him on another forum on August 12. It took him only one hour to solve this puzzle! $\endgroup$ May 11, 2016 at 22:44
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I think the answer is

Recorded Music

My reasoning:

The initial sampling rate for CDs was 44kHz. Human hearing can pick up up to 20kHz, so the real necessary sampling rate (intrinsic) is 40kHz by the Nyquist theorem. DVDs and Blurays use a sample rate of 96kHz, but that's not the highest it can go.

As in for the second part, which is much more ambiguous

The loudness of breathing is roughly 20-30 dB. Talking is about 60 dB. Most music begins around the range of 60-70 dB in the low range. 150 dB is the rough peak of Rock music. 160 dB will physically rip your eardrums appart. So it depends on what song was recorded.

Sources:

http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_pressure#Examples_of_sound_pressure

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  • $\begingroup$ +1 for a nice try. But the answer I'm looking for precisely fits the numbers in the question. $\endgroup$ May 21, 2015 at 15:26
  • $\begingroup$ bummer, I'll keep the gears turning $\endgroup$
    – GettnDer
    May 22, 2015 at 13:55
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    $\begingroup$ Note the wording on the question changed a bit $\endgroup$ May 22, 2015 at 14:07
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Not a complete answer, but maybe others can build on it.

You are

a GENOME.

In one scenario, I am 44 at the beginning (but less than that intrinsically) and have a maximum of 96. Every other scenario for me has zero involved.

This is the number of genes in some particular kind of genome (human?)

More than one of me always has zero involved. In one scenario, it is 24 intrinsically (34 if not for a limitation), and when everything is taken into consideration, the possible range is between 74 and 152.

Genetic engineering/modification?

No scenario has a beginning, intrinsic, minimum or maximum of zero. When zero is involved, it is involved in some other way.

A genome with zero genes wouldn't be much of a genome!

And the hint:

More than one of me can only occur unnaturally - "more than one of me" = "meme", and a meme is supposed to be an artificial social version of a gene.

Aggie Kidd, help me out here!

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  • $\begingroup$ The answer isn't related to genomes, but +1 since I like how you came up with "meme" (although that's not what the hint is referring to). $\endgroup$ May 25, 2015 at 18:28
  • $\begingroup$ @pacoverflow Damn, "I can be formed in many ways, and four are always involved" made me feel sure that this was about DNA/chromosomes, and was halfway through writing an answer before I read your comment here on rand al'thor's. $\endgroup$ May 28, 2015 at 12:56

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