2017-08-03 20:16:41

Three ancient immortal beings float together in the vast emptiness of space... Unable to die, and looking for ways to pass the time.  The first Titan's name is fifteen, the second Titan is named seventeen, and the third is named twenty-three.  These mathematical Titans are each obsessed by the number they were named after, and are bound to them in strange and magical ways.

When attempting to count the stars around them, the three quickly realized that even their combined efforts could not quite do the job.  The titans had no way of expressing numbers 1 through 14, or number 16.  As they continued counting they failed at everything except 15, 17, 23, and finally 38.  When they reached 32 stars, the Titans fifteen and seventeen worked together.  As it turned out, Titans failed to express any number that wasn't some combination of their 3 names.  Titan fifteen was able to express the number 90 because it is exactly his name 6 times.  Titans seventeen and twenty-three were able to express the number 80 because it was each of their names twice, combined.

The Titans were so frustrated when they started to count the stars, that they almost gave up.  Fortunately they kept going and as time went on they ran into fewer and fewer numbers they couldn't express.  Eventually they reached 50, and once again couldn't figure out a way to express the number.  This was the point when the trio of Titans paused to wonder...

If they continued counting up to 100, what was the largest number they wouldn't be able to express?

- Aprone
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2017-08-03 21:36:27

I do not understand how titan fifteen can express 90 by using his name, fifteen, 3 times.

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2017-08-03 21:52:47

Yeah... 15×6=90. This is one of those puzzles I wish I'd been given in 6th grade but wasn't and now I'm going to spend at least 5 minutes trying to work it out. lol

看過來!
"If you want utopia but reality gives you Lovecraft, you don't give up, you carve your utopia out of the corpses of dead gods."
MaxAngor wrote:
    George... Don't do that.

2017-08-03 22:03:47

^Can they use subtraction?

看過來!
"If you want utopia but reality gives you Lovecraft, you don't give up, you carve your utopia out of the corpses of dead gods."
MaxAngor wrote:
    George... Don't do that.

2017-08-03 22:45:54

Good catch Key!  I had intended to write 6 instead of 3.  I've edited the first post to correct that typo.

CAE, they are only able to add.  For example, they cannot use 17-15 to get to 2.

- Aprone
Please try out my games and programs:
Aprone's software

2017-08-03 23:08:06

It's proving difficult to find a solution for 73. Feels sketchy, though.

看過來!
"If you want utopia but reality gives you Lovecraft, you don't give up, you carve your utopia out of the corpses of dead gods."
MaxAngor wrote:
    George... Don't do that.

2017-08-05 01:38:14

I'm not sure if anyone is still trying to solve this puzzle, but I'll post today to see.  The numbers 67, 71, and indeed 73 are all numbers the 3 Titans cannot express.  It sounds like you're getting close CAE, but are there any larger numbers between 74 and 100?  Did you start at the bottom and work your way up toward 100, or start at 100 and work your way down?

- Aprone
Please try out my games and programs:
Aprone's software

2017-08-05 03:34:33

Stewie and I  are pretty sure it's 88, we managed to get results for all numbers from 89 to 100.

I like to sleep, Sleep is good,
This is how I do it: Lie on a nice warm cozy bed, and dream dreams about how to rule the world!
Follow @TheGreatAthlon5 on twitter for humorous facts and game updates!
If you like my posts, thumb me up!

2017-08-05 03:40:30

Well done!  KeyIsFull and Stewie, 88 is indeed the correct answer!  big_smile

How long did it manage to take you guys to do numbers 100 down to 89?  I'm just curious.

- Aprone
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2017-08-05 04:14:17

it took us about 10 to 15 min. We started with the number such as 100 or 99 ,then subtracted combinations of 15 and 23 until we got down to a number that we knew could be represented

I like to sleep, Sleep is good,
This is how I do it: Lie on a nice warm cozy bed, and dream dreams about how to rule the world!
Follow @TheGreatAthlon5 on twitter for humorous facts and game updates!
If you like my posts, thumb me up!

2017-08-05 05:59:45

I counted down, too. I lost track of what numbers I had and hadn't confirmed a few times, though, and apparently 88 was among them. sad What usually happened was that I'd find lower numbers while testing higher numbers, so I'd remember which of those I'd confirmed to save time later. And the 60s are where most of the track-of-losing took place.

看過來!
"If you want utopia but reality gives you Lovecraft, you don't give up, you carve your utopia out of the corpses of dead gods."
MaxAngor wrote:
    George... Don't do that.

2017-08-05 09:26:41

The last Titan puzzle was significantly harder than this one, so my question for you guys is, should I do these riddles/puzzles more like this or more like the harder one?  I'm just trying to judge where to put the difficulty at for any future adventures the Titans get themselves into.

- Aprone
Please try out my games and programs:
Aprone's software

2017-08-05 18:37:47

Put the difficulty somewhere between this one and the previous one. The reason I didn't do the previous one is because I didn't want to put some huge calculation together that I had to look up the math for.

Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.