4365: New Math
I won another monthly STEM puzzle at work! Maybe I should mention that before I forget to save the draft again =p
So I think I mentioned--or if I didn't, should have here somewhere--that Hoarder* writes the company newsletter every month [for the END of the month, for some reason, detailing events like birthdays that already happened vs. announcing that much in the way of future plans], and our COO [I guess I'll call him Pigeon for no reason--it's memorable, unlike anything I might've called him before, and he does sometimes remind me of a pigeon] writes a STEM problem to put in the newsletter.
*I don't remember what I called her and don't feel like looking it up, but it was something to do with keeping all the marketing crap in my cube, and that's fine enough for now.
The first two I was able to solve, the first because it was basic algebra, the second because it was... common fucking sense =/ but then it took a turn with probability and calculus, which I might've been able to do but really didn't feel like doing on the clock [or off the clock, even]... something like, "One in every 20 transmitters has a fault. What is the probability that a pallet of 100 transmitters contains a faulty one?" [I don't remember how to solve this, don't even ask me how]
So it went back to simpler math this time--I got it in, I'm pretty sure, five minutes WITH reading the newsletter up to that point AND triple-checking my work:Find a nine-digit number with no repeating digits such that the number, when multiplied by its last digit, added to 10, and divided by 11, equals 101010101.
Hint: [SPOILAR [not really]]You can check your answer by multiplying the number by its second-to-last digit and adding the last digit. The digits will appear in the same order, but reversed.
So I got the answer, and [SPOILARRRRRRR]sent in my answer, "[answer here], really???" =p
The odd thing was, as easy as it was to figure out, Hoarder came over to me a few minutes later and told me I was the first to respond [too much "gotta answer first!!!ONE" Lenny Conundrum training, I guess, though it wasn't as though I was watching my e-maill--I just happened to look up and see it], but she couldn't find Pigeon, so she didn't know if I had the correct answer \=' Then she came by later and said someone else submitted the same answer, so since both of us were smart, that must be the answer, so I won the little wood toy prize.
...
Even better! Someone was talking about the puzzle with Pigeon in the break room and had gotten the "how to solve" steps correct... but was stumped on the last part. I'm pretty sure this person is an engineer! Gah =| All it takes is some brute forcing, and even that doesn't take very long to do!
So... yay, I have a dinky wood puzzle I don't know how to solve [have ideas, but haven't tried them yet--on the clock, after all, and I'd prefer to leave it at work as a "trophy"]. It came with an answer sheet, but I really didn't look at it to try to parse what it's describing [how to assemble more than how to disassemble]. It doesn't look like I can look on Google for the answer, either, 'cause this is the closest I can find to it, and it's not quite the same [slightly different # of blocks, mine is definitely cheaper quality].
Now, the other puzzle in the newsletter I haven't been able to do--"Guess the Colleague": a Q&A interview with someone, posting only the questions and answers, and guess whose answers they are. [Not posting 'cause, if *I* don't know who it is, none of YOU are gonna.] Pretty much haven't been able to guess any of them, even the ones about the co-workers I work with the most. The STEM puzzle is supposed to balance that out, for the newbies [like, technically, me] who don't know anyone remotely that well yet.
I'd really like to be on long enough that I'd be able to figure out the answer! At the rate things are going, though, definitely not sure. Constantly being pushed out of the sinking ship has only been good in that I've managed to avoid much in the way of specifically "me" birthday parties [hate those--the "birthmonth" parties we do currently are definitely better across the board].
What else happened... bluh. I feel like I have loads to tell you guys, but I've had a headache pretty much all weekend since I woke up yesterday, and all brainage went away. I've temporarily switched to working on this puzzle/games magazine during lunch, though [meanwhile bringing Christine back home so I can finish reading it w/o threat of someone at work MAYBE taking it before I'm done], and that feels mildly more fulfilling than reading some shitty book -_-
[wrote some other reviews, too, but mostly ranting at nobody, not particularly worth reading--though I guess if you're the type to downvote something just because you disagree with the person's opinion, it's something for you to do]
So I think I mentioned--or if I didn't, should have here somewhere--that Hoarder* writes the company newsletter every month [for the END of the month, for some reason, detailing events like birthdays that already happened vs. announcing that much in the way of future plans], and our COO [I guess I'll call him Pigeon for no reason--it's memorable, unlike anything I might've called him before, and he does sometimes remind me of a pigeon] writes a STEM problem to put in the newsletter.
*I don't remember what I called her and don't feel like looking it up, but it was something to do with keeping all the marketing crap in my cube, and that's fine enough for now.
The first two I was able to solve, the first because it was basic algebra, the second because it was... common fucking sense =/ but then it took a turn with probability and calculus, which I might've been able to do but really didn't feel like doing on the clock [or off the clock, even]... something like, "One in every 20 transmitters has a fault. What is the probability that a pallet of 100 transmitters contains a faulty one?" [I don't remember how to solve this, don't even ask me how]
So it went back to simpler math this time--I got it in, I'm pretty sure, five minutes WITH reading the newsletter up to that point AND triple-checking my work:Find a nine-digit number with no repeating digits such that the number, when multiplied by its last digit, added to 10, and divided by 11, equals 101010101.
Hint: [SPOILAR [not really]]You can check your answer by multiplying the number by its second-to-last digit and adding the last digit. The digits will appear in the same order, but reversed.
So I got the answer, and [SPOILARRRRRRR]sent in my answer, "[answer here], really???" =p
The odd thing was, as easy as it was to figure out, Hoarder came over to me a few minutes later and told me I was the first to respond [too much "gotta answer first!!!ONE" Lenny Conundrum training, I guess, though it wasn't as though I was watching my e-maill--I just happened to look up and see it], but she couldn't find Pigeon, so she didn't know if I had the correct answer \=' Then she came by later and said someone else submitted the same answer, so since both of us were smart, that must be the answer, so I won the little wood toy prize.
...
Even better! Someone was talking about the puzzle with Pigeon in the break room and had gotten the "how to solve" steps correct... but was stumped on the last part. I'm pretty sure this person is an engineer! Gah =| All it takes is some brute forcing, and even that doesn't take very long to do!
So... yay, I have a dinky wood puzzle I don't know how to solve [have ideas, but haven't tried them yet--on the clock, after all, and I'd prefer to leave it at work as a "trophy"]. It came with an answer sheet, but I really didn't look at it to try to parse what it's describing [how to assemble more than how to disassemble]. It doesn't look like I can look on Google for the answer, either, 'cause this is the closest I can find to it, and it's not quite the same [slightly different # of blocks, mine is definitely cheaper quality].
Now, the other puzzle in the newsletter I haven't been able to do--"Guess the Colleague": a Q&A interview with someone, posting only the questions and answers, and guess whose answers they are. [Not posting 'cause, if *I* don't know who it is, none of YOU are gonna.] Pretty much haven't been able to guess any of them, even the ones about the co-workers I work with the most. The STEM puzzle is supposed to balance that out, for the newbies [like, technically, me] who don't know anyone remotely that well yet.
I'd really like to be on long enough that I'd be able to figure out the answer! At the rate things are going, though, definitely not sure. Constantly being pushed out of the sinking ship has only been good in that I've managed to avoid much in the way of specifically "me" birthday parties [hate those--the "birthmonth" parties we do currently are definitely better across the board].
What else happened... bluh. I feel like I have loads to tell you guys, but I've had a headache pretty much all weekend since I woke up yesterday, and all brainage went away. I've temporarily switched to working on this puzzle/games magazine during lunch, though [meanwhile bringing Christine back home so I can finish reading it w/o threat of someone at work MAYBE taking it before I'm done], and that feels mildly more fulfilling than reading some shitty book -_-
[wrote some other reviews, too, but mostly ranting at nobody, not particularly worth reading--though I guess if you're the type to downvote something just because you disagree with the person's opinion, it's something for you to do]