I’m getting used to feeling like an idiot. Dunno why I’m still spoilering.
ETA: Also The color charge of quarks and gluons is completely unrelated to visual perception of color,[1] because it is a property that has almost no manifestation at distances above the size of an atomic nucleus. The term color was chosen because the charge responsible for the strong force between particles can be analogized to the three primary colors of human vision: red, green, and blue.[2] Another color scheme is “red, yellow, and blue”,[3] using paint, rather than light as the perceptible analogy.
Well, on the one hand that’s good 'cuz even though I was able to put them in the alphabetical order you specified, it got me no closer to an answer. As proof of this, I haven’t the foggiest idea what the last thing you said means.
On the other hand, that’s two wrongs in a row and I’m out.
With “sword-like,” it sounds botanical to me. Is there some variety of plant–it’s not yucca or agave, but something like these–that comes in these different varieties?
Here is a simple game that involves puzzle-solving and putting yourself in another person’s position.
Take a pack of cards and extract several red and black cards.
(Don’t include picture cards to avoid confusion.)
Get the players (any number from two upwards) to sit so they can all see each other.
Appoint a Referee (who organises the game.)
Assume there are n players. The Referee selects n red cards and (n-1) black cards (telling the players this has been done), shuffles them and gives each player one card face-down.
Each player carefully picks up their card MAKING SURE THEY DON’T SEE IT. Then the card is held on the player’s forehead (so all the other players can see it.)
The Referee gives players time to think, then asks “Can anyone tell me for certain what colour their card is?”
If nobody answers, there is another pause for thought, then the question is repeated.
Eventually some bright player will give the correct answer…
Here’s an example.
There are three players, Alice, Bill and Charlie. The Referee selects three red cards and two black ones, shuffles and deals.
Each player carefully holds their card on their forehead.
The possible outcomes:
Alice and Bill both have a black and Charlie a red. Charlie knows there are only two black, so immediately announces “I have a red.”
Alice and Bill both have a red and Charlie a black. Nobody can make a claim.
After this first lack of claim, both Alice and Bill know there are only two black, so can announce “I have a red.” (If either Alice or Bill had black, there would have been an immediate claim.)
Alice, Bill and Charlie all have a red. Nobody can make a claim.
After this lack of claim, there is a second ‘lack of claim’!
Finally all three players can announce “I have a red.”
You can imagine it gets more fun with more players…
In this version there are four doors and one contestant.
The contestant picks a door and Monty shows a goat behind one unchosen door. Now the contestant is given the opportunity to switch his door for one of the two remaining unchosen ones. Whether the contestant switches or not, Monty then opens a second of the two now unchosen doors revealing goat. The contestant is then given the opportunity to switch again, even if the remaining unchosen door is the one the contestant first had. What is the best strategy to win the car…switch once, twice, or not at all… or does it depend on which door is left at the end?
Stand pat and switch at the end for a 75% chance at the car. Switching the first time reduces it to 62.5%. Not swiching at the end gives 25%/37.5% depending on first round action.
It’s really annoying to me that nobody’s gotten mine, as it makes me feel like it’s a bad puzzle. Does someone want to volunteer to be spoiled, so I can PM them and they can critique whether it’s fair?
And with 100 boxes, the same Switch-only-at-the-End strategy gives you a 99% chance. (Stipulate that Monty is required to keep opening non-prize boxes other than your current box until down to two boxes.)
A more complicated variant is when you are required to switch at each turn until your final two-box choice. (You can select a previously selected box, just not the same box two turns in a row.) For this variant, where your chance is 62.5% with 4 boxes, your chance is 63.2% (1-1/e) when there are many boxes. Proof left as exercise. :eek:
It would be hypocritical for me to quarrel with sado-masochistic puzzles. Maybe a tiny hint?
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness]
With “sword-like,” it sounds botanical to me. Is there some variety of plant–it’s not yucca or agave, but something like these–that comes in these different varieties?
[/QUOTE]
I wondered about this, even Googling Latin translations of yellow, dry etc. to see if they showed up in the same genus. But you answered “Nope, getting colder again.”
Well, I’ve already given hints. But I will say that your most recent line of inquiry almost got you there, even if not in a way that you were expecting.
Maybe a tiny hint?