Search found 27 matches

by Vince Fernando
Fri Mar 01, 2019 7:19 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 28th February 2019 (Series 80, Prelim 27)
Replies: 10
Views: 5246

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 28th February 2019 (Series 80, Prelim 27)

Gavin Chipper: What is the official countdown dictionary? I thought it is the Oxford English Dictionary. There's different versions though. They use the online one but the subscription version so the free one is only an approximation. The word "tetragon" is in the printed version of the S...
by Vince Fernando
Thu Feb 28, 2019 5:25 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 28th February 2019 (Series 80, Prelim 27)
Replies: 10
Views: 5246

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 28th February 2019 (Series 80, Prelim 27)

Gavin Chipper:
What is the official countdown dictionary?
I thought it is the Oxford English Dictionary.
by Vince Fernando
Thu Feb 28, 2019 3:03 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 28th February 2019 (Series 80, Prelim 27)
Replies: 10
Views: 5246

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 28th February 2019 (Series 80, Prelim 27)

The word "Tetragon" is in my Shorter OED (Fifth edition, 2002) and even in my Concise Oxford (Seventh, 1982).
I wonder why SD did not allow that word.
by Vince Fernando
Sat Oct 13, 2018 9:43 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 12th October 2018 (Series 79, Prelim 76)
Replies: 8
Views: 6091

Re: Spoilers for Friday 12th October 2018 (Series 79, Prelim 76)

Susie did not allow the word "shapen". It is in my copy of the Shorter OED (5th edition, 2002) and many other dictionaries.
by Vince Fernando
Mon Sep 24, 2018 12:39 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Impossible Rachel
Replies: 20
Views: 11797

Re: Impossible Rachel

Elliott Mellor:
There are so many tables in that article and which is the correct table? How do you know they are exact?
by Vince Fernando
Mon Sep 24, 2018 6:32 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Impossible Rachel
Replies: 20
Views: 11797

Re: Impossible Rachel

My simulations indicate that the estimates of the number of impossible answers are: no big numbers: 16.97% one big number : 2.73% two big numbers: 1.92% three big numbers: 5.35% four big numbers: 10.19% Do these estimates look reasonable? If I want a solution then I would pick two big numbers.
by Vince Fernando
Thu Aug 23, 2018 6:24 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: incoherency solver
Replies: 23
Views: 12311

Re: incoherency solver

Then in this case they might be using different axioms, because by asking which numbers solutions in Countdown are identical, you're not formally defining it. Pedantically, you are correct. However, one has to start with a reasonable set of axioms/definitions to study equivalence between solutions....
by Vince Fernando
Thu Aug 23, 2018 6:21 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: incoherency solver
Replies: 23
Views: 12311

Re: incoherency solver

Then in this case they might be using different axioms, because by asking which numbers solutions in Countdown are identical, you're not formally defining it. Pedantically, you are correct. However, one has to start with a reasonable set of axioms/definitions to study equivalence between solutions....
by Vince Fernando
Wed Aug 22, 2018 7:28 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: incoherency solver
Replies: 23
Views: 12311

Re: incoherency solver

Gavin Chipper: Elliott Mellor: I am using the incoherency solver and it often gives more than one solution. My original question was whether the solution set is complete. If incoherency gives only one answer then my question is not a meaningful question in the first place. Mathematics is never cons...
by Vince Fernando
Wed Aug 22, 2018 2:18 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: incoherency solver
Replies: 23
Views: 12311

Re: incoherency solver

Gavin Chipper: Elliot Mellor: I am using the incoherency solver and it often gives more than one solution. My original question was whether the solution set is complete. If incoherency gives only one answer then my question is not a meaningful question in the first place. Mathematics is never consid...
by Vince Fernando
Wed Aug 22, 2018 11:45 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: incoherency solver
Replies: 23
Views: 12311

Re: incoherency solver

Elliott Mellor:
"More than 1. It will only ever give 1 solution regardless of whether there is 2 solutions or 200 solutions."

I do not understand your statement. I have seen up to six alternative solutions from the incoherency solver.
by Vince Fernando
Tue Aug 21, 2018 11:23 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: incoherency solver
Replies: 23
Views: 12311

Re: incoherency solver

Gavin Chipper: Thanks for the pointer to the "can of worms". I do not wish to re-open this "can of worms" but the equivalence problem is not exactly "rocket science"; any competent mathematician should be able to solve the problem. Going back to the incoherency solver, ...
by Vince Fernando
Tue Aug 21, 2018 10:34 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: How often do you go to the toilet?
Replies: 18
Views: 10220

Re: How often do you go to the toilet?

To demonstrate your super-human qualities to the scientific world.
by Vince Fernando
Tue Aug 21, 2018 10:32 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: incoherency solver
Replies: 23
Views: 12311

Re: incoherency solver

What Elliott Mellor says is a reasonable outcome from a good solver. However, it is not meaningful to equal "all possible solutions" to "the closest solution" as Owen Carroll has stated. Suppose that there are just four solutions (avoiding trivial equivalent solutions due to comm...
by Vince Fernando
Tue Aug 21, 2018 7:03 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: How often do you go to the toilet?
Replies: 18
Views: 10220

Re: How often do you go to the toilet?

Perhaps, you should see a doctor.
by Vince Fernando
Tue Aug 21, 2018 6:59 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: incoherency solver
Replies: 23
Views: 12311

Re: incoherency solver

Owen Carroll:
Why are you so certain that the incoherency solver gives all possible solutions to a given problem? I presume that you have not analysed each and every problem.
by Vince Fernando
Sat Aug 18, 2018 11:40 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: incoherency solver
Replies: 23
Views: 12311

Re: incoherency solver

Owen Carroll:
Do you have any evidence to back your claim?
by Vince Fernando
Wed Aug 15, 2018 8:26 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: incoherency solver
Replies: 23
Views: 12311

incoherency solver

Does the incoherency number solver give all possible solutions?
by Vince Fernando
Sat Aug 04, 2018 9:27 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 3rd August 2018 (Series 79, Prelim 28)
Replies: 14
Views: 9615

Re: Spoilers for Friday 3rd August 2018 (Series 79, Prelim 28)

Tony Atkins wrote: Fri Aug 03, 2018 2:08 pm 2nd numbers - 1 away (933) by the standard method, but out of time (100-6)x(8+50/25)-8=932.
What is meant by the "standard method"? Is there a "standard" algorithm to solve the number problem?
by Vince Fernando
Sun Jul 01, 2018 2:58 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: impossible number problems
Replies: 16
Views: 8445

Re: impossible number problems

Elliott: My apologies for missing the last "t".

This number 13,243 is not too large. It may be possible to calculate the target range for each number set.
by Vince Fernando
Sat Jun 30, 2018 8:45 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: impossible number problems
Replies: 16
Views: 8445

Re: impossible number problems

As Elliot Mellor has pointed out, my values were gross over estimates. The correct results appear to be for 6 small, 0 large = 2850 for 5 small, 1 large = 1452*4 = 5808 for 4 small, 2 large = 615*6 = 3690 for 3 small, 3 large = 210*4 = 840 for 2 small, 4 large = 55*1 = 55 total = 13243 This number i...
by Vince Fernando
Sat Jun 30, 2018 1:32 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: impossible number problems
Replies: 16
Views: 8445

Re: impossible number problems

Sorry for the mistake; as Graeme Cole and Rhys Benjamin have indicated as indicated, there are 899 targets (not 898).
by Vince Fernando
Sat Jun 30, 2018 12:15 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: impossible number problems
Replies: 16
Views: 8445

Re: impossible number problems

Some believe that 100 is not a valid target since if the number 100 is in the rack and the target is also 100 then there is no computations to be done. Using this assumption (many believe that this is the case with C4 countdown) there are only 898 targets.
by Vince Fernando
Fri Jun 29, 2018 11:42 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: impossible number problems
Replies: 16
Views: 8445

Re: impossible number problems

I accept that the number of possible problems is large but not too large. for 6 small, 0 large = C(20,6) = 38,760 for 5 small, 1 large = C(20,5)*C(4,1) = 15,504*4 = 62,016 for 4 small, 2 large = C(20,4)*C(4,2) = 4,845*6 = 29,070 for 3 small, 3 large = C(20,3)*C(4,3) = 1,140*4 = 4560 for 2 small, 4 l...
by Vince Fernando
Fri Jun 29, 2018 5:51 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: impossible number problems
Replies: 16
Views: 8445

Re: impossible number problems

Thanks for links for solvers. I am interested in analysing
(a) impossible problems (b) problems which are solvable but declared as impossible initially (c) problems with unconventional solutions
by Vince Fernando
Fri Jun 29, 2018 2:03 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: impossible number problems
Replies: 16
Views: 8445

impossible number problems

Is there a repository (data base) for impossible number problems?