Physicist puzzle...
 

[img]http://www.teamprimerib.com/gif/stupidpuzzle2.gif[/img]


Some previous discussions...

[url=http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?q=Y&a=tpc&s=50009562&f=6330927813&m=6740938424]Part one...[/url]

[url=http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=6330927813&m=1790913115]Part two...[/url]

[url=http://www.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=8b0e3a44.0204102102.24bcb2e9%40posting.google.com&rnum=4&prev=/groups%3Fsafe%3Dimages%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26as_uauthors%3Dmichael%2520vang%26lr%3D%26num%3D100%26as_scoring%3Dd%26hl%3Den]USENET[/url]

94 :D
7(2460/184)


perspective 2
minimum=28
maximum=161
average=94.5


Note J, Q, X do not appear

Unless my squinty vision has failed me, none of the names has a Y except FEYNMAN. So the Y can be assigned any numerical value, and thus (by the Uncertainty Principle) FEYNMAN's value is indeterminate.

I had a look at the test that this problem is part of. It's extremely hard, and largely tests whether someone can see very complicated patterns. Obviously, there is some pattern to the values assigned to the letters that would let you discern what value Y is supposed to have. But it will certainly not be an easy one.

As an aside, those tests on that site are not too bad. My scores all came out in a fairly tight cluster so they obviously match well against each other. They were also quite close to the score of the one real IQ test I've taken (~25 years ago).

I think it would be more interesting to look at the test design to see what quality each question was attempting to assess.

Can't this problem have many solutions? :mad:
It would seem suspicious that there are so many combos to check that it is unpractical.
Though I have not analyzed this puzzle fully.

ps. the number 92 comes up on either side, with a total of 184.

[quote="TTn"]Can't this problem have many solutions? :mad:
It would seem suspicious that there are so many combos to check that it is unpractical.
Though I have not analyzed this puzzle fully.

ps. the number 92 comes up on either side, with a total of 184.[/quote]

Yes, it does have many solutions, because it is taken out of its context, which is part of an intelligence test. The value of each of the used letters is not difficult to determine, it is the value of Y which is the real test here, and there is supposed to be a pattern which a "genius" could recognize in order to determine the correct value.

So what is the answer then?
Are we trying to solve it, or what?

Y seems not to be important, unless you can substatiate why.

More to the point, show me how easy the other letters are...

[quote="TTn"]So what is the answer then?
Are we trying to solve it, or what?

Y seems not to be important, unless you can substatiate why.

More to the point, show me how easy the other letters are...[/quote]

Heh, I didn't say "easy", I said, "not difficult". It's basically solving a set of simultaneous equations, which can be done tediously by hand through Gaussian elimination. Or very quickly with mathematical software. Here is the solution from chinacat over on Ars:

a=6
b=11
c=20
d=24
e=7
f=16
g=12
h=5
i=9
j=0 (unknown)
k=13
l=21
m=2
n=22
o=8
p=14
q=0 (unknown)
r=23
s=15
t=3
u=10
v=4
w=17
x=0 (unknown)
y=0 (unknown)
z=18

The trick is to figure out the pattern that will show what Y should be. According to the people at highiqsociety.org (where this problem is part of one of the tests), 13 people out of 30,000 entered the correct value, but only one of those 13 got the pattern correctly (the others guessed).

The other fly in the ointment here is that this is not the original puzzle. The original was inconsistent. There was no set of letter mappings to numbers that would fit all of the names. And yet supposedly there was a right answer, and one person figured out the pattern even though it was impossible to figure out what values the letters were supposed to have.

Seems your right on, but a little off, since an IQ test would not allow you to bring software with you, so solving the letters this way is a waste of time in comparison. This makes for a trick lead, that I would immediately cast out.

PS, IQ should not be dependent on book knowledge such as Gausian distribution

[quote="trif"]
The trick is to figure out the pattern that will show what Y should be. According to the people at highiqsociety.org (where this problem is part of one of the tests), 13 people out of 30,000 entered the correct value, but only one of those 13 got the pattern correctly (the others guessed).

The other fly in the ointment here is that this is not the original puzzle. The original was inconsistent. There was no set of letter mappings to numbers that would fit all of the names. And yet supposedly there was a right answer, and one person figured out the pattern even though it was impossible to figure out what values the letters were supposed to have.[/quote]
This was obviously a plot by seti'ers :evil: to distract GIMPS'ters 8) from looking for more primes :(

The question that is offered here, is from an IQ test for exceptionally high gifted people. They are supposed to recognize the pattern.

My IQ lies in the range of 140-160 (depending on the test's accuracy). Yet, I could not solve much of the questions in that particular IQ test. This IQ test is meant for people with an IQ of 180 or above.