hand puzzles

MattcAnderson · 2021-03-04, 15:42

I'm tottally into eazy puzzles. Check out this one. It involves a twisting motion.

Regards

Matthew

Batalov · 2021-03-04, 19:24

Hanayama Quartet is pretty good.

MattcAnderson · 2021-03-15, 03:18

I like disassembly and reassembly puzzles.

two puzzles

rogue · 2021-03-15, 19:51

This is about half of my collection. At one time I considered taking a bunch to work and requiring anyone who had a question of me to solve a puzzle first because I am one of the "go to" people whenever someone has a question. I quickly realized that I would either scare people away or that people would end up wasting their time trying to solve these puzzles as opposed to doing what they are paid to do.

masser · 2021-04-03, 01:10

I found a solution to Aristotle's number puzzle:

Not exactly spoiler-free description here

My solution came about by sheer dumb luck. I noticed there are 4 types of pieces: a central interior piece, 6 non-central interior pieces, 6 exterior corners and 6 non-corner exterior pieces. While trying to place a bound on the possible values of one of the types, I tried an iteration that kept allowing me to place more pieces until the problem was solved!

This puzzle is a real treat! Several times I was tempted to write a program to brute-force (or maybe a little more elegantly) search for a solution, but I'm glad I persisted in solving it by hand.

LaurV · 2021-04-03, 06:37

I remember that was quite easy. Write in a table in Excel (by hand) all possibilities to make 38 with 3 numbers, like 1, 18, 19; 2, 17, 19; 3, 16, 19; 3, 17, 18; 4, 15, 19; 4, 16, 18; 5, 14, 19; 5, 15, 18; 5, 16, 17; etc, which is very easy, they are only 28, and there is obviously only one way to chain them to have the common corners around being part of two sums (they are 30, but you have to consider that 1 and 2 can't be part of any triple, because they appear only once, so they can't be corners, and in the same time then must appear on the sums of 5 - why? - so this tells you that 1 and 2 are inside, 19 and 18 are outside, 19 can't be a corner, therefore 18 must be one). At the time I did that, I think it took me less than it took to some other guy to write a search program that would need few seconds or a minute to solve it. I remember also that my struggle was related to the fact that I (wrongly) reached the conclusion that 10 has to be in the middle, I don't know why, probably based on magic squares

SmartMersenne · 2021-04-03, 07:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaurV

I remember that was quite easy. Write in a table in Excel (by hand) all possibilities to make 38 with 3 numbers, like 1, 18, 19; 2, 17, 19; 3, 16, 19; 3, 17, 18; 4, 15, 19; 4, 16, 18; 5, 14, 19; 5, 15, 18; 5, 16, 17; etc, which is very easy, they are only 28, and there is obviously only one way to chain them to have the common corners around being part of two sums (they are 30, but you have to consider that 1 and 2 can't be part of any triple, because they appear only once, so they can't be corners, and in the same time then must appear on the sums of 5 - why? - so this tells you that 1 and 2 are inside, 19 and 18 are outside, 19 can't be a corner, therefore 18 must be one). At the time I did that, I think it took me less than it took to some other guy to write a search program that would need few seconds or a minute to solve it. I remember also that my struggle was related to the fact that I (wrongly) reached the conclusion that 10 has to be in the middle, I don't know why, probably based on magic squares

A picture would go a long way to clarify your algorithm.

MattcAnderson · 2021-06-24, 00:21

Hi again all,

I am glad my wife bought me some fun metal hand puzzles.

The solution to these two is just to twist the two pieces.

Regards,
Matt

MattcAnderson · 2021-08-07, 17:19

Hi again,

Here is another of my fun puzzles. This one is only a little more difficult than the one with two nails. The solution involves a two step process.

Enjoy the pictures.

Matt

MattcAnderson · 2022-01-27, 07:23

Hi everyone,

I got a new metal puzzle in the mail today. I solved it in less than 5 minutes. It was fun. Some of the puzzles that I buy are too difficult for me, so I just save them for later. This one is called Trapped Satellite. It was not too tough for me to figure out how to free it from its cage. But lots of fun.

I bought the puzzle from BitsandPieces.com

Also, I like to watch Mr. Puzzle, on YouTube and I get to see him solve puzzles.

Good fun.

Matt

rogue · 2022-01-27, 13:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by rogue

This is about half of my collection. At one time I considered taking a bunch to work and requiring anyone who had a question of me to solve a puzzle first because I am one of the "go to" people whenever someone has a question. I quickly realized that I would either scare people away or that people would end up wasting their time trying to solve these puzzles as opposed to doing what they are paid to do.

I am going to sell my collection of puzzles. I don't putz with them anymore and my kids don't want them. If anyone here is interested in buying part or all of my collection, send me a PM.

Loves https://www.bitsandpieces.com. That is where many of my puzzles game from.

2021-03-04, 15:42	#1
MattcAnderson "Matthew Anderson" Dec 2010 Oregon, USA 2×19×29 Posts	hand puzzles I'm tottally into eazy puzzles. Check out this one. It involves a twisting motion. Regards Matthew Attached Thumbnails

2021-03-04, 19:24	#2
Batalov "Serge" Mar 2008 Phi(4,2^7658614+1)/2 2667₁₆ Posts	Hanayama Quartet is pretty good. Attached Thumbnails

2021-03-15, 03:18	#3
MattcAnderson "Matthew Anderson" Dec 2010 Oregon, USA 2·19·29 Posts	my puzzles I like disassembly and reassembly puzzles. two puzzles

2021-03-15, 19:51	#4
rogue "Mark" Apr 2003 Between here and the 1100111001010₂ Posts	This is about half of my collection. At one time I considered taking a bunch to work and requiring anyone who had a question of me to solve a puzzle first because I am one of the "go to" people whenever someone has a question. I quickly realized that I would either scare people away or that people would end up wasting their time trying to solve these puzzles as opposed to doing what they are paid to do. Attached Thumbnails

2021-04-03, 01:10	#5
masser Jul 2003 Behind BB 31×61 Posts	Aristotle's Number Puzzle I found a solution to Aristotle's number puzzle: Not exactly spoiler-free description here My solution came about by sheer dumb luck. I noticed there are 4 types of pieces: a central interior piece, 6 non-central interior pieces, 6 exterior corners and 6 non-corner exterior pieces. While trying to place a bound on the possible values of one of the types, I tried an iteration that kept allowing me to place more pieces until the problem was solved! This puzzle is a real treat! Several times I was tempted to write a program to brute-force (or maybe a little more elegantly) search for a solution, but I'm glad I persisted in solving it by hand. Last fiddled with by masser on 2021-04-03 at 06:53

2021-04-03, 06:37	#6
LaurV Romulan Interpreter "name field" Jun 2011 Thailand 3⁵×41 Posts	I remember that was quite easy. Write in a table in Excel (by hand) all possibilities to make 38 with 3 numbers, like 1, 18, 19; 2, 17, 19; 3, 16, 19; 3, 17, 18; 4, 15, 19; 4, 16, 18; 5, 14, 19; 5, 15, 18; 5, 16, 17; etc, which is very easy, they are only 28, and there is obviously only one way to chain them to have the common corners around being part of two sums (they are 30, but you have to consider that 1 and 2 can't be part of any triple, because they appear only once, so they can't be corners, and in the same time then must appear on the sums of 5 - why? - so this tells you that 1 and 2 are inside, 19 and 18 are outside, 19 can't be a corner, therefore 18 must be one). At the time I did that, I think it took me less than it took to some other guy to write a search program that would need few seconds or a minute to solve it. I remember also that my struggle was related to the fact that I (wrongly) reached the conclusion that 10 has to be in the middle, I don't know why, probably based on magic squares Last fiddled with by LaurV on 2021-04-03 at 06:50

2021-06-24, 00:21	#8
MattcAnderson "Matthew Anderson" Dec 2010 Oregon, USA 10001001110₂ Posts	Hi again all, I am glad my wife bought me some fun metal hand puzzles. The solution to these two is just to twist the two pieces. Regards, Matt Attached Thumbnails

2021-08-07, 17:19	#9
MattcAnderson "Matthew Anderson" Dec 2010 Oregon, USA 1102₁₀ Posts	Hi again, Here is another of my fun puzzles. This one is only a little more difficult than the one with two nails. The solution involves a two step process. Enjoy the pictures. Matt Attached Thumbnails

2022-01-27, 07:23	#10
MattcAnderson "Matthew Anderson" Dec 2010 Oregon, USA 2×19×29 Posts	more puzzles Hi everyone, I got a new metal puzzle in the mail today. I solved it in less than 5 minutes. It was fun. Some of the puzzles that I buy are too difficult for me, so I just save them for later. This one is called Trapped Satellite. It was not too tough for me to figure out how to free it from its cage. But lots of fun. I bought the puzzle from BitsandPieces.com Also, I like to watch Mr. Puzzle, on YouTube and I get to see him solve puzzles. Good fun. Matt Attached Thumbnails

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