thnik again!

“People stop playing,” said Norma Koskoff, another regular player here, “and very often when they stop playing, they don’t live much longer.”

More

Happy Cubes are a set of mechanical puzzles created in 1986 by the Belgian toy inventor Dirk Laureyssens. Until 2003, the company “Happy n.v.” had the exclusive license to manufacture and sell these puzzles[1]. However, several other vendors have produced these earlier in the 80s or 90s or before 2003. Happy Cubes are also known by a number of other names, among them: “Cube It!” cubes, “Wirrel Warrel” (in Holland), “I.Q.ubes” and “Cococrash” (in Spain).

The Happy Cubes were made of 8mm-thick ethylene-vinyl acetate foam mats (also known as EVA). The tiles were based upon a 5×5 matrix where the outer squares may be present or absent. The central 3×3 kernel was fixed. Initially the puzzle is assembled into a 2-dimensional, flat 2×3 piece rectangle fitted into a frame. The basic challenge is to construct a perfect, 6-sided cube out of these 6 pieces. Usually, there is only one way to fit the pieces into a complete cube and it can be reached with various levels of difficulty by trial and error. - Wikipedia

Download a program to play here. Read about the game in Spanish here.

I have never played with this puzzle. Have you?

- Write this number on a piece of paper:
12934996293713980777956211320414507833168958121509352023936597191219256371203395909015136942592299897341739965172537947539094640548058114108344536009517557472657951376125193218497301739825284484200587100843036070437186169123281989270447213468773197364177545732400566354286573812353215825719736176201107229662483254843916868063633231803653049906331265155973799421340095757296913084020666317153543090048344557354229610746075393960639170405640508149789223361366489510025142218946265579225383722572551826544002518120526273969108006400395519943443915451626412808939875355655305864196751610859649120113057173349048339651188978924574050918175504509711167331402101689837630663894139276885179838726146760019028061011507576181410180919283778341140685458575850675934204580486450746220191218883551691042709777420171839895634209399719781235776969190460995625777711826833561305159693107745730395569619432484234085266635968637393382052421052845612509046583452372172633658310561964319100821209704459379034026359063872072140388436561079922479696324277594082319639007737836595198711067763925983345012095305024850873782566817553375119553395393676346463233021149844976494929260364488377790578452096139797843400612320281551607107939626470207832767212256432333567614976276260289205090266789253604531670393182535559755013087796302012372829339471398413066311459138614151872154655628153436832950575663923189543552027655525776192337898763800375948613929701903024012268382303899498661897516192938283503843137624483153789551737489944836344551476954974894767203824679774953849666679904493875312925974368917558431331569938719026264693263855693898709733131818004909093425803007469067016674892746352809728063768655007518332423543
- OK.
- Erase its rightmost digit and add five times that digit to what remains.
- OK, I erase the 3 and add 15. Done!
- Here is the challenge. Repeating this process will you ever reach this number: 131169120753693435909543.
- I need some help.
- The first number is 7^2007 and the last 2007^7.

Problem source: Problem of the Fortnight, San Diego State University.

The art work is copyright keusta.net.

There it was, surprisingly in alphabetical order. - Rita Holt

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A word has been added or deleted, or replaced by another word, to arrive at the ‘almost a quote’ above. Which word?

- Please come over at once!
- What’s going on?
- My brother has just served himself a rectangular piece of a rectangular brownie.
- So what?
- I have to divide what remains into two identical pieces for my sister and myself.
- That can’t be too hard.
- You don’t know what you are talking about! The piece he cut is not parallell to the edges of the brownie.
- I see.
- Come over at once. It is an emergency!

Problem source: The Emissary.

I have just returned from Boston. It is the only sane thing to do if you find problems up there. - Fred Allen

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A word has been added or deleted, or replaced by another word, to arrive at the ‘almost a quote’ above. Which word?

Select three points where two lines meet in such a way that the triangle that is formed is equilateral and has an area that is as small as possible.

The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a party. - Doug Larson

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A word has been added or deleted, or replaced by another word, to arrive at the ‘almost a quote’ above. Which word?

Thirteen identical wine bottles are placed in a box. There is not room for four bottles at the bottom of the box, but ample room for three. A and C are placed next to the walls, while B is placed anywhere between them. The second layer will have room for only two bottles and the position of B will determine their location. The third layer will have three bottles, the fourth two, and the fifth and last three.

Here is the shocker: Regardless of B’s position the three bottles on the top, i.e. the fifth layer, will be horisontal.

Can you prove it?

Problem creator: Charles Payan, the creator of Cabri. He discovered it while playing with his software.

I found the problem here and here. The illustration is taken from the first link.

Insects find life entirely too time-consuming. - Stanislaw J Lec

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A word has been added or deleted, or replaced by another word, to arrive at the ‘almost a quote’ above. Which word?