Can anyone help me make sense of this brain teaser?

a reply to: DetectiveT

OMG you #! Lol what have you done!? Now I sit here for hours trying to figure this out!?

I'm pretty sure the fact the hw has 3 equations and the dg just one is clue here,
850=dg+hw
1300=ma+hw
2500=cdh+hw
we also got the differences, so we can replace the ma value with 450+dg, the cdh with 1650+dg then it's I believe a (whatcha call it?) vector thingy which gives us 2hw+dg= 1550 and hw=700

And then it's just putting stuff in from there on

But dude I'm like... talking out of my arse here

a reply to: DetectiveT
The solution should be found if one uses matrices (math).
Or creating tables and then try to make sense of it poking into some numbers, is what most will do intuitive.

I love such quests but if you know how to calculate it, it becomes a chore.


Add: Peeple, you almost have the structure how to calculate it, look into matrices and what you can do with it

a reply to: DetectiveT
If this is all information we get and assume that there are no dirty tricks played...

so everyone always get's paid the same
everyone at least get's > 0 gold
and there are no special rules for if when HW + DG work together they both get 250 gold less each one....this happens when you assign the uneven onehundred steps to everyone but DG (DG is even 100 steps and the rest is *50 steps)

If the game is fair, then there seems to be only one solution and that's the one you posted.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

Me and maths aren't really friends....

It's entirely possible I cheated a bit. I just added them up, divided them by three and because I knew from the differences dg had to be smaller than 250 that in my
1550= 700+hw+dg equation 700 had to be hw.
So 1550 = 2hw + dg
Gradiation I believe the kidz call it

...or I'm full of #

a reply to: Peeple

...or I'm full of #

Actually your way to arrive at a solution is quicker, so no you are not. Using matrices is a bit overkill and was suggested by me because I didn't compare the equations but knew it will lead to solution, if there is one.

There's actually quite interesting mechanism for the exception rule and it stood out to me because a Hellhound Wrangler and a Conjurer of Demon Hordes (CD) sure can share resources if they team up. It's only logic to include this rule.

In this case, the solution is:

DG= 400
HW = 450
MA = 850
OO = 150
MS = 1750
CD = 1550

Numbers all add up except for when HW+CD = 2000 instead 2500 because they commute together and get 250 gold less each. The rest adds all up.

My quest to everyone not satisfied with it just being math, find out how to derive such rules and how to formulate it in mathematical terms. Helps a lot with problem solving of all kinds. What they tell everyone that "you never need that math in life again" is not true.

Believe me I know! Do you know what the sick part was this was listed under the easier section of the book...

Thanks to all who replied I’ll dig into the whole “math” part of it when I get a chance. I have a feeling I’m gonna be busy these next few days.

I mean, if anyone is still willing to do a step by step breakdown I won’t complain

a reply to: DetectiveT

Because it is very easy.

Even though I could count and do easy addition and subtraction before elementary school, I learned it a second time in school.

We used little different size and colored wood pieces to get a feeling for the numbers. for example 3 blue is 1 green.

blue = 2
green = 6
6/2 = 3

The way to crack this quest without any higher math knowledge like matrices is actually using matrices without knowing it. I treated the problem like learning a new number system with colored bricks, just that the bricks were the entities in your story now.

It's simple on a basic level because 5-6 year olds can use this concept, you just have to know about it then it's easy. It's like someone not good with cars maybe thinks the wheels come off with the suspension and starts to remove the dome, the suspension just to discover there are 1-5 screws to be opened and that's it.





Look at Fermat's Sentence and mail me the solution if you have it.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

I will look into it thanks! I love doing these things because it helps me to keep my thinking flexible. Pattern recognition and non math logic questions I usually do great on.

a reply to: DetectiveT

Fermat's Sentence is one of the end-boss-challenges. By all means, if you ever think you can prove/ disprove it, DON'T send it to me, make a copy with a newspaper (for dating) and cash in the reward yourself. There's a bounty on it.

Add: Two mothers and two daughters each bake a cake and put it on the table in front of you. It's three cakes, what's the solution?

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

Grandma, mom, and granddaughter/daughter

2 moms - grandma and mom
2 daughters- mom and daughter/granddaughter

Oh it’s one of those challenges. While I am curious and will check it out I will leave that to those much wiser and smarter then I!

a reply to: DetectiveT
Correct

Have fun reading about it, I found it interesting.