# Going against, yet with respect to, the cross?

What number do you get deriving with going against the cross, yet with respect to the cross,
Then removing the with and using some imagination with the product?

Hint 1:

In this puzzle the crosses aren't the same.

Hint 2:

Prefixes are nice. You'll have to use them twice, at least thrice.

Hint 3:

When you cross the cross, be sure to beg mercy for it.

Final Hint:

The answer takes only one finger.

6

Reasoning:

Going against the cross refers to sin, and with deriving with respect to the cross (x) gives us the derivative of sin(x) as cos(x). Now, removing the with, as one of the prefixes meaning "with" is "co", we get s(x). This is in the form of the product sx, but taking the product with some imagination (a.k.a. i, or the square root of -1) gives us six or 6.

Hint 1:

We obviously used cross in the religious sense and cross in the symbol sense.

Hint 2:

We used the prefix in sin(x) or sin, and cos(x) or co-. (I'm a little skeptical about the first one)

Hint 3:

I found this site: http://www.namboothiri.com/articles/counting.htm, but this is the hint that makes me most doubt my answer.

• Good job! there are some minor errors in how you interpreted the hints but the overall reasoning is correct. – tox123 Apr 8 '18 at 2:34

I would say the answer is:

C

Because deriving an integration you lose the "cross", and when integrating you gain a "cross" with some imaginary constant.

• not quite what I was thinking of, but it's a good answer given the available information, I'll add a hint. – tox123 Apr 3 '18 at 20:08

It’s:

either sin(x) or -sin(x), I can’t tell whether the negative is inside or outside the parentheses (assuming I interpreted that right, which I probably didn’t).

I looked up

“with” prefixes and figured cos was close enough to com- or col-. And once you derive that, “sin” obviously fits the wordplay, so it’s something with that.

• So close, you've almost got it. You've got a couple things wrong but by far you're the closest yet. – tox123 Apr 4 '18 at 21:52

Is it

$i = \sqrt{-1}$

I think it has to do with...

The derivative of $$(i * x) \frac{d}{dx}$$

By against the cross, it means

deriving across the multiplication(the cross being $*$)

By with the cross, it means

deriving in terms of $x$ ($x$ is the cross here)

• again, not quite, you've got one cross right though! – tox123 Apr 4 '18 at 1:50

Is it:

A determinant?

Two possible interpretations:

The "pitchfork" method of evaluating a 2 by 2 or 3 by 3 determinant, via products of elements in "wrapped diagonals", then you subtract the sum for one direction minus the sum for the other direction.

Or:

The determinant can be interpreted in terms of an exterior product, which is a universal "antisymmetric" product - maybe "antisymmetric" is what is meant by "against the cross"?

• Hmmm, the cross really seems to be throwing people off. But your answer is probably the 2nd closest thus far. But I enjoy the interpretation. – tox123 Apr 4 '18 at 2:36