# Pumpkin Carving

It's almost Halloween at Farthingbottom School and Professor Charles Flavanna is getting festive.

"Right children, put down your copies of The Origins of Fort Monmouth - it's time to carve some pumpkins! Have a look at my creation and follow suit. You have 30 minutes and no talking."

After a sterling effort by the class, the following pumpkins were produced:

"Hold on a minute", said the Professor, "two of you have not been paying attention."

Question: Which children have made a mistake and what should their pumpkins have looked like?

• Two possibilities: Henry & Richard have concave polygon eyes. Paul & Susan have more teeth than eye/nose holes. Oct 29 '15 at 0:01
• The question is not completely clear: Do the two kids have made the same mistake, or each an individual one? i.e do we search for a deviating pair or for two deviating singles? Oct 29 '15 at 7:35
• @bmyguest All the pumpkins have been carved using the same rule as the professor's except for the two in error. They have been carved independently, though, so the question could have been presented with one pumpkin fewer and only one mistake, or I could have added extra valid and/or invalid ones. Oct 29 '15 at 8:09
• I would say this question is too broad. As shown by Alconja you can already come up with two different rules that could fit. Oct 29 '15 at 8:23
• @IvoBeckers Not if you follow the clues! Oct 29 '15 at 8:27

The two kids are

Richard and Susan

because

reading from left to right, the teeth should spell your first initial using Morse code
Where upper tooth is . and lower tooth is -.

Professor Charles' example is

lower/upper/lower/upper = -.-. which is a Morse C
Richard should have done upper/lower/upper =.-. = R
Susan should have done three upper teeth - ... = S

Edit (according to comment)

The usage of

Morse code is actually part of the lesson, not just a festive break. The children were learning about Fort Monmouth, where morse code radios were developed.

• Can you suggest why the children would have thought that this was related to Morse Code? Oct 29 '15 at 8:38
• The Origins of Fort Monmouth is a more specific link to Morse code. Oct 29 '15 at 9:07
• OK :-) I'm not really that familiar with that part of history
– JNF
Oct 29 '15 at 9:14
• Oh no, I don't want to upvote this because JNF's point total is perfect for Halloween! Oct 29 '15 at 22:29
• @Victor You can up vote now, momentum lost ;-)
– JNF
Oct 30 '15 at 5:31