Backstory
My brother is a researcher of macroscopic things, like at the scale of universes. He infamously had a theory that mirrors are actually portals to another universe, but when you try to get in, your reflection also tries to get in to your world, thus blocking you. No one believed this (including me), but when he turned up missing, I started to speculate... The only clue he left was the note below.
The Note
There are two parts to the note. There are some clues at the top, and a series of symbols at the bottom.
The clues are:
1 + 1
√16 + 10 - 2
12 / 2(3) + 1
(navigator.oscpu.length % 2) + 7
"1" + "0"
3(5)
ℕ[0] + 20
And the symbols are:
nyaorohet heln:zptp)(
How to Answer
I need to know if my brother is actually in the mirror world! Please solve and explain each clue on the note, and draw a conclusion about where he is. Basically, the question is:
Is my brother in the mirror world?
Edit
Well, this is embarrassing. I left out ONE character that crucially changes the puzzle. I recently edited it back in. For those of you who have solved the individual clues, those answers should not change. However, transcribing those answers to the final answer has changed.
All I did was added the character t
as the 9th character in the symbols list. If you have answered, please go back and change your final answer to use the new character set.
Hints
1
I wish I could accept more than one answer!
2
Ambiguity is the answer. (Don't take this literally; just needed the alliteration...)
3 (quite spoiling, use only if very stuck)
Find the answers to the questions, then note the corresponding symbol from the string. It may not make sense at first, even if you think you have found the answers... Make sure you find all of them.
4 (hint on clue 1)
This is a clue that many people not in the field wouldn't know. Go ask a logician... Even better yet, an electrical logician?!?
5 (Defeats a large part of the puzzle)
Each of the clues, except 5 and 6, have 2 answers, making two possible final answers (hence the parallel). You have to get all answers for all clues, then pick out which answer for each of the clues goes to which of the two final answers.