This week’s puzzle has you negotiating with your investors who now question your genius. To be fair to all, please email your answers. First accurate answer submitted by Thursday is the winner. Remember, there are no prizes greater that the admiration of your peers. Puzzle after the jump along with some clarification on last week’s puzzle entry.
So, there is obviously some disagreement as to the success of last week’s extra-solar mapping assignment. After some heated discussion, the investors agree to pay you some small portion of your agreed fee, but you will have to guess the amount. You don’t know how large the number is, but you happen to know with certainty that it is less than $9,200.
You deduce that a few questions should be enough to derive the answer. You also know that your investors are in the habit of making statements that are alternatively true and false and, unfortunately you have been misinformed about the truthfulness of the last statement made by the investors that immediately preceded your questions. You write down three questions to which you ask the investors to write down answers "Yes" or "No":
- Is the number a perfect square? 2. Is it a multiple of 19? 3. Is it the product of five different primes (excluding 1)?
After reading what the investors have written and after a moment of thought you have no reason to change your views about which answers are true and which are false. You say: "If I knew that there was at least one zero in it I could tell you the number." You are told, truthfully, that there is not a zero in it. What is the amount you will be paid?
On "Extra-Solar G.P.S." Apologies and thanks to all those who commented on last week’s puzzle, "Extra-Solar G.P.S." There are indeed another two signs needed as some have pointed out. I had prepared a sixth sign, which never made it up and I did not realize. Lesson learned: Never prepare thinking puzzles at 3:30 a.m. Other versions of the puzzle have seven signs. My attempt was designed to make it tougher, but instead I made it FUBAR.
Not only did I forget to post the sixth sign (which would have allowed you to place the city of Helium), my version would likely have still given folks trouble. My geek cred is ruined for the week, and I weep.
The corrected version of the puzzle can be found here in its place, and with the solution.
