# Shapes and letters. What is the missing box?

Finally, someone has figured it out. Good job.

• Observation: so far there's only one A in the entire grid. Four C's, five B's, five D's. – Rand al'Thor Apr 2 '19 at 15:32
• I see the Illuminati on the 3rd square in the first row. The triangle with the circle eye in it! Maybe its a clue! – Xilpex Apr 2 '19 at 23:25
• Observation: the 15 in the grid do not have any duplicates, however, picking one of the four answers will create a duplicate – MetaZen Apr 4 '19 at 18:10
• @RudyMatunic You may want to drop a hint before your bounty expires. It seems the community hasn't been able to make progress on this despite pretty decent visibility. – Rubio Apr 10 '19 at 22:05
• Thanks user477343! – Rudy Matunic Apr 17 '19 at 2:46

1

Reasoning:

I replaced letters with numbers (A=1, B=2, C=3 and D=4) as well edges in shapes with numbers (circle = 0, line = 1, triangle = 3 and square = 4). The sum of letters and the sum of the edges matches in each row. For example the first row: B+D+B+D=2+4+2+4=12 Square+Line+Triangle+Square=4+1+3+4=12 EDIT: It's also true for columns.

• Holy crap, this makes sense! Please elaborate and add additional context to this answer; i.e. show examples! Because this answer might just be it! Also, welcome to the Puzzling Stack Exchange (PSE)! Since you are a new contributor, and in fact new to the Stack Exchange, I strongly advise that you visit the Help Center and/or take the tour if you have not already. Otherwise, happy puzzling, my friend! I hope for more answers to come from you in the future, but most of all, hope you enjoy! :D – Mr Pie Apr 14 '19 at 15:39
• Yes, I believe this answer is correct. Well done. – jsm Apr 14 '19 at 16:30
• This looks like the right answer. Good job – Artemmm Apr 16 '19 at 2:26

In each row, number of distinct shapes (each figure has one shape) + number of distinct letters = 6. Only option 3 will fulfill this pattern on row 3.

• I think you've miscounted, or didn't express yourself fully. Using your method to count I don't get the same for each row. – Amorydai Apr 5 '19 at 15:10
• Rephrased. Clearer? – Danne Apr 5 '19 at 15:19

Is it:

3

because:

A has 1 circle, B has 2 and D has 4, so C must have 3.

Ok, this is my second attempt! The answer is:

option 3!

explanation:

Consider giving each letter and shape a value like this: A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, Rectangle=Circle=2 and Triangle=Line=anything!

Then :

if we add the values in each row, we get these numbers: First row=18+Line+Triangle=18+2*Line/Triangle.- Second row=18+2*Lines=18+2*Line/Triangle.- Fourth row=18+2*Lines=18+2*Line/Triangle.

Therefore:

considering the third row has the same value, it should also be like 18+2*Line/Triangle. So far, it is 14+1*Triangle, so the only option that can make it 18+2*Line/Triangle, is option 3.

• But why organise the values in the way you have done for the rectangle and circle, and the triangle and line? This answer looks like a bit of coincidence, and I would thus be surprised if it was the real answer, albeit it is pretty cool nonetheless ;) – Mr Pie Apr 13 '19 at 13:52
• What do you mean by "coincidence"?! This problem is already weird and I'm not saying that I got those values through logical steps! I just guessed that rows should have equal values (Actually I have had like a billion guesses since I saw this problem!) and I tried to find values that fit! – Hooman Neshat Apr 13 '19 at 14:50
• I am saying it might be a coincidence because you let rectangle=circle=2 (why?) and triangle=line=anything (again, why?). Look, perhaps to say it is a "coincidence" is a bit harsh and disrespects your efforts, so I won't say that from now; but what I will say is that your decision to let the shapes equal those certain values seems arbitrary, no? – Mr Pie Apr 14 '19 at 10:15
• Yes it is! As I said, I just tried to find values that could fit my whole "equal value in each row" concept! And even though recent answers by other people are more beautiful and (in my opinion) correct, I believe I deserve some reputation because of starting the whole equal row stuff! Also, even my answer is ugly, it is still logically correct! I believe this problem has multiple answers, some beautiful some ugly(also look at my first attempt. That one is also correct but ugly!). Do you agree? – Hooman Neshat Apr 14 '19 at 19:47
• Thanks..... LOL – Hooman Neshat Apr 15 '19 at 7:13

3 (a.k.a: C or option number 3)

My reasoning:

I believe that the crosses and circle, and all that are just trying to fool you. So if you take those out, and put the normal numbers assigned to each letter (D is to 1, B is to 2, etc.), you will see a pattern going horizontally:

First row: 2, 1, 2, 1
Second row: 1, 2, 3, 4
Third row: 2, 2, ?(3), 3
Fourth row: 3, 3, 1, 1

Here you can see and obvious pattern. Then for the question mark, the pattern comes in duos: Two 2s, and Three 3s. That means the missing number is 3, and since the C is 3, the missing square is the C one.

• The shapes have something to do with the puzzle – Rudy Matunic Apr 3 '19 at 1:24

number 1.

Because

When we look diagonally, option 1 is the most logical one.

• How is it most logical? Is it because there are two B's and so there must be two D's, irrespective of the circles lines and squares? – Mr Pie Apr 14 '19 at 11:34
• Not just that. There is a pattern in letters diagonally from left to right, and a pattern in shapes diagonally from right to left. Also, looking diagonally from top right, just one symbol is crossed. – Antonija Apr 15 '19 at 13:04
• So, my answer was the first correct one. Regardless the explanation. – Antonija May 14 '19 at 9:57
• Hmm... you do have a point, there... $(+1)$ – Mr Pie May 14 '19 at 12:37

This might be a heck of a stretch..

If you count each unique symbol as a note on sheet music and use the slashes to determine sharp/flat, and then you use the letters to determine length of the note (quarter, half, whole, etc.) it creates _____ some unrecognizable music as far as I can tell. However, the only one that would fit with 4/4 music is :

selection 4, (A).

• Although this was posted as an answer, it does not appear to attempt answering the question; it should possibly be a comment or even deleted altogether, thus I have in consequence flagged this as not an answer. Hope you understand. – Mr Pie Apr 13 '19 at 13:55
• ... but it does attempt to answer the question. I agree it's a "heck of a stretch" but it's an answer justified with a reasoning. – Rubio Apr 13 '19 at 14:32
• @Rubio ok. Thanks for your opinion. Sorry, mkinson! – Mr Pie Apr 13 '19 at 17:22

Is it

option 2

let

for the shapes

Then for the shapes

you have rectangles ( R) on both diagonals, forming symmetry

and for the letters

You can see symmetric pattern formed by the shapes, as well as the letters in each column have 2 B's , 1 C, 1 D except the right most column
[]

3

Explanation:

5 Ds
5 Cs 5 Bs

• please explain your approach to this answer. thanks and happy puzzling ;) – Omega Krypton Apr 14 '19 at 13:30
• You can add spoiler tags by putting >! in front of each line, and add 2 spaces behind each line to leave a new line. Thank you and have fun! – Rapiddagger Apr 14 '19 at 13:32
• But what about the A's? since there is 1 A, then it means the number of letters don't matter. – Sensoray Apr 16 '19 at 19:56

1.

explanation:

If you look diagonally from right to the left you have always one shape or letter in common and never same sign one after another so the correct answer is 1.

• Given @Svenpošta's answer, this might be correct, but with a different reasoning. Whaddayaknow! :P – Mr Pie Apr 14 '19 at 17:40

option 2.

Because

There are 8 pairs in this picture. Each square gets paired with another one, if they have only ONE difference (either shape or letter).

For example, if we number each square from 1 to 16, top left to bottom right, we can see that these numbers are paired: (1,12), (2,14), (3,9), (5,8), (6,10), (7,13), (15,16). Then the only pair left is (4,11) and the only option that can be paired with square 4, is option 2.

• Why not (1,16)? Or, crucially, why not (4,10) or (4,13)? – Rubio Apr 10 '19 at 22:10
• There are other pairs as well and I just wrote those as examples. But you should be careful to choose pairs in such way that all squares can get paired provided the choices given. In any case the only option that can do so is option 2. You can check. – Hooman Neshat Apr 11 '19 at 5:49

I believe that forms that are added to the letters are not relevant to sample detection.

The letters can be replaced by numbers in two ways (A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, D = 4)
2 4 2 4
4 2 3 1
2 2 1 3
3 3 4 4
or (A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1)
3 1 3 1
1 3 2 4
3 3 4 2
2 2 1 1
irrespective of how the letters are replaced by numbers, the sum of the two rows from the top and bottom are equal, such as the same are sums of the two columns on the right and on the left.