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1 vote

Irregularly Deposited Compound Interest

Consider an interval, over which a newly-deposited balance of $b$ accrues an interest amount $i$. Why? Let's crunch some numbers! And now, a simple program: invest(balance, interest rate, time) ...
AxiomaticSystem's user avatar
1 vote

Irregularly Deposited Compound Interest

Observation: Let's for the moment assume we know the optimal number of transfers and need only optimise the timing. Freezing all but one transfer (#k, say) we find that its best timing $t_k$ only ...
Albert.Lang's user avatar
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3 votes

Nimber mnemonic combinatorial puzzle

There are 384 solutions. Here's one: I used integer linear programming as follows. Let $$P=\{a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o\}$$ be the set of positions, where position $o$ must take ...
RobPratt's user avatar
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3 votes

Irregularly Deposited Compound Interest

Not sure if I'm right here, but this is my best solution. First of all, in my solution: So, with that, I came up with the following formula: Since I wasn't able to think of a way to expand that ...
Stevish's user avatar
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2 votes
Accepted

Minimum function optimization puzzle #4: Using negative numbers?

It can be done in
Albert.Lang's user avatar
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0 votes

Rearrange words to make a sentence

no triangle has more than two angles which are not less than seventy degrees
Sanjiv Doraiswamy's user avatar
-4 votes

Mishustin's circle problem

A fairly simple solution is to place the compass on the point, and draw a circular arc (of arbitrary diameter) which intersects the diameter (possibly extended, or "produced", to use the ...
John R Ramsden's user avatar
24 votes
Accepted

Mishustin's circle problem

Here's my go (click to embiggen) Steps: Connect A to P and pick an arbitrary point Q between them, near-ish to P. Then, draw lines as shown, constructing the points in alphabetical order, which ...
Bass's user avatar
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2 votes

Mishustin's circle problem

Note: This is not a valid answer, given the poster's clarification on what the straightedge is capable of. I'm leaving it up because I think it's interesting. I found a way to solve this, based on ...
isaacg's user avatar
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14 votes
Accepted

Relatively prime numbers

tehtmi's user avatar
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24 votes

Mishustin's circle problem

daw's user avatar
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8 votes

Rearrange words to make a sentence

Yet another solution: In other words:
Misha Lavrov's user avatar
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0 votes

Mishustin's circle problem

msh210's user avatar
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15 votes

Rearrange words to make a sentence

Another take: This is true since
EphraimRuttenberg's user avatar
4 votes
Accepted

Nimber Mnemonics

Multiplication of nimbers between $1$ and $15$ (or between $0$ and $2^{2^n}-1$ for any $n$) has a primitive root: a number whose powers generate all the nimbers we want. (In fact, I believe that $2^{2^...
Misha Lavrov's user avatar
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3 votes

Pursuit-evasion game

First of all, how can the criminal even get caught? Can the cops arrange this scenario? How long does this take?
AxiomaticSystem's user avatar
19 votes
Accepted

Rearrange words to make a sentence

A confusing string of negatives. To put it another way,
codewarrior0's user avatar
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2 votes

Create a permutation with longest increasing subsequence length 3

Another solution, which you might perhaps regard as not so simple: 10, 20, 30, 9, 19, 29, ..., 1, 11, 21. An increasing sequence $a, b, c$ needs $a<11$, $10<b<21$ and $c>20$.
Rosie F's user avatar
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5 votes
Accepted

Longest subsequences and shortest longest ones

A best possible sequence is which has a longest increasing subsequence of length 3 and a longest decreasing of length... Another example is which has These are best possible because
Daniel S's user avatar
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3 votes
Accepted

Create a permutation with longest increasing subsequence length 3

The following seems to be a simple solution:
Jaap Scherphuis's user avatar
4 votes

Equality-breaking function

As mentioned in juathalf's answer, the definition of the "function" $f$ is that But what is the most inclusive possible domain of $f$? A first attempt at answering that is to simply say ...
Tanner Swett's user avatar
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0 votes

'SILVER' -> ‘LESIRU' and 'GOLDEN' -> 'LEGOND', so 'NATURE' -> what?

Looking at the options B and C can be easily ruled out. Either A or D is correct. S I L V E R -----> L E S I R V (123456 ---> 351264) Similarly NATURE -----> TRNAEU So done! Its option (D).
Harikrishnan M's user avatar
3 votes
Accepted

Find the wrong number in the given series

I think the "wrong" number in the sequence is Reasoning
hexomino's user avatar
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1 vote

'SILVER' -> ‘LESIRU' and 'GOLDEN' -> 'LEGOND', so 'NATURE' -> what?

Breaking up the encryption into steps I get:
Caston's user avatar
  • 111
12 votes

'SILVER' -> ‘LESIRU' and 'GOLDEN' -> 'LEGOND', so 'NATURE' -> what?

There is a typo in the letters 'LESIRU', it should be 'LESIRV' The trick is to give each letter a number, and then cross reference it to the original: ...
Andrew Cline's user avatar
2 votes
Accepted

Progressive matrix: Matrices

Someone's user avatar
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1 vote

'SILVER' -> ‘LESIRU' and 'GOLDEN' -> 'LEGOND', so 'NATURE' -> what?

SILVER -> LESIRU GOLDEN -> LEGOND Now do the same for NATURE and use the second sequence of numbers to rearrange the resulting word:
Chaotic's user avatar
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-1 votes

'SILVER' -> ‘LESIRU' and 'GOLDEN' -> 'LEGOND', so 'NATURE' -> what?

GOLDEN -> LEGOND
razodactyl's user avatar
7 votes
Accepted

Kind of a Number Pattern

I think the answer is For a couple of reasons... And
tom's user avatar
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34 votes
Accepted

'SILVER' -> ‘LESIRU' and 'GOLDEN' -> 'LEGOND', so 'NATURE' -> what?

It looks like there's a typo in the question: If so, here is how I solved it: Then the answer is:
Stevish's user avatar
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16 votes
Accepted

Minimum number of turns

Oo, I've got this one; these come up a lot while organising board game tournaments. a) what is the minimum number of turns needed to determine the heaviest box? b) what is the min number of turns ...
Bass's user avatar
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-1 votes

What is the probability that your life will have lasted for 100 years once you die?

I feel that 10% is the easier answer to justify, but I admit it depends entirely on what assumptions one makes. Bayesians will rightly point out that it depends on how you do the "sampling", ...
Martin Kealey's user avatar
7 votes
Accepted

In a certain code 'NATIONAL' is written as 'JUBOKZMN'. How is 'ELECTION' written in that code?

Starting with 'NATIONAL' In the same manner, 'ELECTION' becomes
Daniel Mathias's user avatar
4 votes
Accepted

The Monty Hall loot box

Let w and p ("win" and "pool") the two limiting proportions. Because of the pity timer we have If three goats are drawn we are guaranteed to lose. Otherwise our chances are 2:1 in ...
Albert.Lang's user avatar
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6 votes

Equality-breaking function

$f(x)$ is a function that: Verification: There is probably some more precision in the definition that I'm missing (to explain the last property), but I'm quite confident the general idea is in the ...
justhalf's user avatar
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1 vote

Cooperative guessing game: no incorrect guesses

This generalize for any $N$ not necessarily of the form$2^k-1$. Let $N$ be an integer such that $2^{k-1} \leq N \leq 2^k-1$, where $k=\lfloor log_2 N \rfloor+1$. By this strategy one can guarantee ...
heartwork's user avatar
  • 111
2 votes

Minimum function optimization puzzle #3: 3 functions

A short program in R confirms @DanielMathias answer. You can try the code here. The code in text: (not showing correctly because of characters '<' and '>') ...
Evargalo's user avatar
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4 votes
Accepted

Minimum function optimization puzzle #3: 3 functions

The minimum number of steps is With the sequence My approach: work backwards from the goal. The final step must be Apply the inverse of h(x) repeatedly and look for values that are near a square. ...
Daniel Mathias's user avatar
3 votes

Counting puzzle #1: Function combinations

Computerless solution There are in the set S. Let's first of all consider Well, actually Anyway, we aren't done yet, because We now have Now we need to augment our list by We're still not quite ...
Gareth McCaughan's user avatar
1 vote
Accepted

Counting puzzle #1: Function combinations

Programmed solution: These numbers are listed below, along with the function that produces them. C code to identify and count the numbers: ...
Daniel Mathias's user avatar
1 vote

Counting puzzle #1: Function combinations

Computer Assisted Solution: Answer: Algorithm:
Chris Cudmore's user avatar
1 vote
Accepted

Minimum function optimization puzzle #2

We can reuse the strategy from the previous question.
AxiomaticSystem's user avatar
1 vote

Minimum function optimization puzzle #2

This is going to take more words than I would like.
DL33's user avatar
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0 votes

What is the probability that your life will have lasted for 100 years once you die?

90% of people live for 3 years, and 10% live for 100 years. So, at any given moment, if a 3yr old 'dies' they will be replaced with a new 'to be 3yr old' because the stat of 90% must be constant. ...
Guesser's user avatar
4 votes
Accepted

Is my solution to a mathematics puzzle I created the most efficient solution there is to it?

Let's see what an optimal path would look like. For starters,
AxiomaticSystem's user avatar
3 votes

What is the probability that your life will have lasted for 100 years once you die?

Assumptions: New assumption based on comment below Answer: On a side-note:
Bearmarshal's user avatar
1 vote

What is the probability that your life will have lasted for 100 years once you die?

I will attempt a conversion to the sleeping beauty paradox. Current post -> sleeping beauty: ...
George Menoutis's user avatar
23 votes

What is the probability that your life will have lasted for 100 years once you die?

The frequentist answer to this question is This is because
AlmostSure's user avatar
19 votes

What is the probability that your life will have lasted for 100 years once you die?

That assumption is
Sneftel's user avatar
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8 votes

What is the probability that your life will have lasted for 100 years once you die?

But So...
Florian F's user avatar
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