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I was walking down a street, when I see a door, with a security guard.

A man approaches him, and the guard flips a middle on him.

"Well that escalated quickly." you think.

The man, unfazed, replied "4."

The guard allowed him to pass.

When another man approaches, the guard did not stick one, but two middle fingers.

The second man now replies, "132."

At this time, you are completely bewildered.

You decide to approach the guard. He looks at you, and he throws both pinkies up, and sticks them together.

What do you say?

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  • 6
    $\begingroup$ I keep reading the title as "A nude security guard" ... $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Dec 30, 2016 at 13:55
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ Along the same lines, "flips a middle". Nice euphemism. $\endgroup$
    – Mad Physicist
    Dec 30, 2016 at 16:03
  • $\begingroup$ Alternatively, you could flip someone of with the middle finger and the thumb, or the UK way, with the index and the rim, for ulterior puzzles $\endgroup$
    – GettnDer
    Jan 4, 2017 at 21:54

2 Answers 2

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You say

$48$,

because

the guard's fingers represent binary digits. Let the right thumb represent $2^0 = 1$, the right index finger represent $2^1 = 2$, and so on (see diagram). When a finger is extended, it represents a $1$ in that position, and an unextended finger represents a $0$.

enter image description here

Therefore, since the right middle finger represents $2^2=4$, the first man answers $0000000100_2=4_{10}$. The left middle finger represents $2^7=128$, thus two middle fingers represent $0010000100_2 = 132_{10}$, the second man's answer. You see the left and right pinkies extended, thus you answer $48$, since $0000110000_2=48_{10}$.

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    $\begingroup$ Enjoy your 2k privileges :-)! $\endgroup$
    – IAmInPLS
    Dec 28, 2016 at 19:13
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    $\begingroup$ Seems fitting if you could get to 2048 reputation for this answer. $\endgroup$
    – YowE3K
    Dec 28, 2016 at 19:17
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    $\begingroup$ @YowE3K Currently 2049. Doopliss, go and downvote an answer ;-) $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Dec 28, 2016 at 19:28
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    $\begingroup$ @randal'thor I'll go downvote one of yours ;) $\endgroup$
    – DooplissForce
    Dec 28, 2016 at 19:30
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    $\begingroup$ @randal'thor I was hoping you would go with the 4, 128 threat, but you didn't. :P (Those of you that still don't get it: look at the picture in the answer.) $\endgroup$
    – Anonymous Penguin
    Dec 30, 2016 at 3:48
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My answer

48

My reasoning is that the guard must be using a code and I need to crack it as follows.

The guard's questions are all powers of 2 indicated by fingers. The first question was $2^2+0^1+0^0$. Correct answer was given, $4+0+0=4$. The 2nd question was $2^7+2^2$. Correct answer was given, $128+4=132$. So my question was $2^5+2^4$. Gives, $32+16=48$.

QED

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    $\begingroup$ So this is what the accepted answer says? $\endgroup$
    – Beastly Gerbil
    Dec 30, 2016 at 12:27

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