I, too, am wowed by NeonMadman’s response. I went with the sum doubled thing.
Ans’ 60.
Isn’t there also no 4 in base 4? ie 0, 1, 2, 3? Base 2 is just 0, 1 - right?
That’s correct. When you look at a base X number, each place value equals that number with a given exponent, starting with an exponent of 0 in the right-most position and rising by one for each move to the left. The available digits equal 0, 1, 2, … X-1.
So base 4 is like this:
…4^3 4^2 4^1 4^0
A number like 1323 equals
1*(4^3) + 3*(4^2) + 2*(4^1) + 3*(4^0). In base 10, that’s 64+48+8+3, or 123 (unless I’m doing my math wrong).
60 is my guess
I kinda sorta noticed that too. It’s kinda-sorta-base-4 but not-quite-base-4 funky-weirdo-goofy. Upon realizing this, I totally and instantly lost interest in the “puzzle” and didn’t try to figure it out further.
I got 60. It seemed pretty obvious from the math that we are looking at weeks and days.
1 week + 5 days = 12 days
2 weeks + 10 days = 24 days
etc
It’s interesting for me to see the different ways people came up with the answer of 60. At least the multiple ways of looking at this problem yield the same answer. if it were 5+23, we’d have at least two different answers depending on the method we used to get it. Using yours, it’d be 58. Using LHoD’s, it’d be 56. Both perfectly logical.
Yeah. I jumped the gun on this one. It seemed like something mod 4-ish, but not consistently enough to be base4 numbers.
Maybe this is why:
Right. If it was a series (an “if. . .then” puzzle), then 60 would be correct. No “if” in front of the series of equations just makes 5+25 an independent equation.
I’m not reading the other responses.
The answer is 60.
Each answer is twice what the “real” answer should be.
The answer is 60. To me, anyway.
Without reading the thread-60?
I don’t see the problem with remapping the “+” operator into “(+)*2”. You can give an operator whatever notation you want, so long as it’s internally consistent with the rules of your space. In this instance, the creator of the puzzle chose the plus sign. It could have been 1 (.)(.) 5, and the logic would be no different.
Did you guys get mad in middle school when homework 1 had x as the side of a square while homework 2 has x as the hypotenuse of a right triangle?
It’s a pattern, pure and simple.
They should’ve left out the mathematical notation, and just stuck the numbers in a grid, leaving an empty square.
if you’re intuitive, the answer is 60.
if you’re second-guessing yourself, 60 is too obvious an answer.
if you’re a stickler for rules, the answer is 30.
if you’re a smart-ass, the answer is a logically consistent alternative.
if you’re a skeptic, you know better than to waste time on a “14 k of g in a f p d” question with either a lame answer or none at all.
this question reminds me of another nonsensical puzzle: if
1=5,
2=10,
3=15,
then
5=?
Well, that’s not a good analogy. “X” is a variable, and can change from problem to problem. That’s expected. “+” is an arithmetical operator that indicates addition or a positive value. (There may be other meanings that I’m forgetting, but those are the main ones.)
When one sees “+” in a mathematical equation, there is an expectation of what it means, otherwise, math breaks down. “X” is defined to represent any unknown quantity, so there’s no expectation for an “x” in one problem to mean/represents the same thing an “x” in another problem means/represents.
No kidding! We should do one on skinning cats.