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Jim Randell 10:12 am on 11 July 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: C Higgins ( 41 ), by: H Bradley ( 41 )
Teaser 2475: [Stopped clock]
From The Sunday Times, 28th February 2010 [link]

“I see that our long case has stopped”, said Watson, who had been reading Holmes’s monograph on chronometers. “Is there anything significant about the time?” Holmes replied: “Apart from the obvious facts that just one hand is precisely on 12, and clockwise the hands are in the order “second” , “minute”, “hour”, I see that the time read as a 3- or 4-digit number is the product of two whole numbers, the larger of which is the number of minutes clockwise from the minute hand to the hour hand”.

At what time did the clock stop?

This puzzle was originally published with no title.

[teaser2473]
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- Jim Randell 10:12 am on 11 July 2025 Permalink | Reply
  If one of the hands is on the 12, then the clock must be showing an exact number of minutes, and so the second hand must be on 12.
  
  Then as we go clockwise from the second hand we encounter the minute hand (which is on an exact minute marking), and then the hour hand (which must also be on an exact minute marking, so the number of minutes must be a multiple of 12).
  
  This Python program considers possible hours and minutes, calculates the number of minute divisions the hour hand is ahead of the minute hand and then checks that this divides into the time (read as a 3- or 4-digit number) to give a smaller number.
  
  It runs in 60ms. (Internal runtime is 46µs).
```
from enigma import (irange, cproduct, divc, div, printf)

# possible hours and minutes (must be a multiple of 12)
for (h, m) in cproduct([irange(1, 11), irange(12, 59, step=12)]):

  # number of minutes pointed to by the hour hand
  p = (5 * h) + (m // 12)
  # minute divisions the hour hand is ahead of the minute hand
  d = p - m
  if not (d > 0): continue

  # time read as a 3- or 4-digit number
  n = 100 * h + m
  r = div(n, d)
  if r is None or not (d > r): continue

  # output solution
  printf("{h:02d}:{m:02d} -> {n} = {d} * {r}")
```
  Solution: The clock stopped at 8:12.
  
  The second hand points to 12 (= 0 minutes), the minute hand to 12 minutes, and the hour hand to 8 + 12/60 hours (= 41 minutes).
  
  The hour hand is 29 minute divisions ahead of the minute hand, and: 812 = 29 × 28.
  
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Jim Randell 8:25 am on 8 July 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: Bert Brooke
Brainteaser 1031: Definitive darts
From The Sunday Times, 2nd May 1982 [link]

We of the Private Bar of the Wapping Boar are an exclusive elite in darting fraternity; albeit we play the conventional darts of commoner folk and employ their customary board and rules. Our two opposing players throw three darts each, in turn. We require that the last (winning) dart of any game must score some double or the bull (50) — and must thereby raise the player’s score precisely to 501.

Last evening, two of our virtuosi played an epic exhibition; a series of games were all won by the first-to-throw and each game, required the least possible number of darts. The precision was faultless and no dart thrown by the eventual winner of any game ever exceeded the score of any preceding dart in that game. Later, our President eulogised and vouched that in the suite but recently enjoyed, every possible scoring sequence of winning games (within our definition) had been played just once.

“What about my record?” interceded that parvenu from the “public” (one we import to manage the chalks and call the 3 dart total following each throw). The low fellow claims a maximum possible of top score shouts “One hundred and eighty!!” in a demonstration match such as we’d just had; he insists his feat be recognised. The oaf must have his due if we are to use him anew, but there’s the rub — who scores for a scorer?

Readers, please say the maximum of correct “180” shouts to be credited in our circumstance.

This puzzle is included in the book The Sunday Times Book of Brainteasers (1994).

[teaser1031]
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- Jim Randell 8:25 am on 8 July 2025 Permalink | Reply
  It is not possible to score 501 in fewer than 9 darts, as 60 is the maximum possible score with a single dart, and 501 / 60 > 8.
  
  But it is possible to score 501 in 9 darts, as 501 = 3 × 167, and 167 = 60 (treble 20) + 57 (treble 19) + 50 (bull). So we can finish the 9 dart run on a bull.
  
  We need to find sequences of 9 darts, with scores in non-increasing order, that score a total of 501, and finish on a double.
  
  And this corresponds to the winners throws. The winner went first, so the loser in each match only threw 6 darts, and as the scorer shouted “180” the maximum possible number of times, the loser must have thrown 6×60 for 2 shouts of “180”.
  
  This Python 3 program runs in 67ms. (Internal runtime is 1.3ms).
  
  Run: [ @codepad ]
```
from enigma import (irange, union, seq_items, chunk, printf)

# possible scores with 3 darts
single = union([irange(1, 20), [25]])
double = set(2 * x for x in single)
treble = set(3 * x for x in single if x != 25)
darts = sorted(union([single, double, treble]), reverse=1)

# score <t> in <k> darts (finishing with a double)
# using non-increasing subsets of darts[i..]
def score(t, k, i=0, ss=[]):
  x = darts[i]
  # finish on a double
  if k == 1:
    if t in double and not (x < t):
      yield ss + [t]
  elif not (x * k < t):
    # score the next dart
    for (j, x) in seq_items(darts, i):
      if x < t:
        yield from score(t - x, k - 1, j, ss + [x])

# score 501 in 9 darts, count the number of matches, and "180" shouts
n = s = 0
for ss in score(501, 9):
  n += 1
  gs = list(chunk(ss, 3))
  x = sum(sum(g) == 180 for g in gs)
  s += x
  printf("[{n}: {gs}; {x} shouts]")

# total number of shouts
t = s + 2 * n
printf("total shouts = {t} [from {n} matches]")
```
  Solution: There were 62 shouts of “180”.
  
  There were 18 matches. The winners scores as follows:
  
  1: [(60, 60, 60), (60, 60, 60), (60, 57, 24)]; 2 shouts
  2: [(60, 60, 60), (60, 60, 60), (60, 51, 30)]; 2 shouts
  3: [(60, 60, 60), (60, 60, 60), (60, 45, 36)]; 2 shouts
  4: [(60, 60, 60), (60, 60, 60), (57, 54, 30)]; 2 shouts
  5: [(60, 60, 60), (60, 60, 60), (57, 50, 34)]; 2 shouts
  6: [(60, 60, 60), (60, 60, 60), (57, 48, 36)]; 2 shouts
  7: [(60, 60, 60), (60, 60, 60), (54, 51, 36)]; 2 shouts
  8: [(60, 60, 60), (60, 60, 60), (51, 50, 40)]; 2 shouts
  9: [(60, 60, 60), (60, 60, 57), (57, 57, 30)]; 1 shout
  10: [(60, 60, 60), (60, 60, 57), (57, 51, 36)]; 1 shout
  11: [(60, 60, 60), (60, 60, 57), (54, 54, 36)]; 1 shout
  12: [(60, 60, 60), (60, 60, 57), (54, 50, 40)]; 1 shout
  13: [(60, 60, 60), (60, 60, 51), (50, 50, 50)]; 1 shout
  14: [(60, 60, 60), (60, 57, 57), (57, 54, 36)]; 1 shout
  15: [(60, 60, 60), (60, 57, 57), (57, 50, 40)]; 1 shout
  16: [(60, 60, 60), (60, 57, 54), (50, 50, 50)]; 1 shout
  17: [(60, 60, 60), (57, 57, 57), (57, 57, 36)]; 1 shout
  18: [(60, 60, 60), (57, 57, 57), (50, 50, 50)]; 1 shout
  
  This accounts for 26 of the shouts.
  
  The loser in each match accounts for another 2 shouts per match, giving 26 + 18×2 = 62 shouts in total.
  
  LikeLike
  - Frits 12:12 pm on 10 July 2025 Permalink | Reply
    
    @Jim, as “darts” is non-increasing the check in line 20 can be done outside the loop (if needed at all as x always seems to be less than t).
    
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    - Jim Randell 12:36 pm on 11 July 2025 Permalink | Reply
      
      @Frits: Yes, we could skip any elements that are not less than the remaining total, and then just process all the remaining elements without testing (as they are in decreasing order). But I didn’t think it was worth the additional complication.
      
      But we do need the test, for example, if we wanted to find a 2 dart finish from 37 we would call [[ score(37, 2) ]].
      
      LikeLike
- Frits 6:08 pm on 8 July 2025 Permalink | Reply
```
N = 9 # number of throws needed

# return a valid loop structure string, indent after every "for" statement
def indent(s):
  res, ind = "", 0
  for ln in s:
    res += " " * ind + ln + "\n"
    if len(ln) > 2 and ln[:3] == "for":
      ind += 2
  return res  

syms = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQR"
throws = ["X"] + list(syms[:N])
varstring = "[" + ', '.join(throws[1:]) + "]"
# possible scores with 3 darts
single = set(range(1, 21)) | {25}
double = {2 * x for x in single}
treble = {3 * x for x in single if x != 25}

# determine mininum for the first 8 throws
mn = 501 - (7 * max(treble) + max(double))
# darts to be used for the first 8 throws
darts = sorted([x for x in single | double | treble if x >= mn], reverse=True)

# generate an execution string with 8 loops
exprs = [f"X = {max(treble)}; cnt = 0"]           # X is a dummy variable
for i, t in enumerate(throws[1:], 1):
  if i < N:
    exprs.append(f"for {t} in [x for x in {darts} if x <= {throws[i - 1]}]:") 
    if i < N - 1:
      exprs.append(f"if sum([{', '.join(throws[1:i + 1])}]) + "
                   f"{N - i - 1} * {throws[i]} + {max(double)} < 501: break")
  else:
    # most inner loop
    exprs.append(f"{throws[N]} = 501 - sum([{', '.join(throws[1:-1])}])")   
    exprs.append(f"if {throws[N]} > {throws[N - 1]}: break")    
    exprs.append(f"if not ({throws[N]} in {double}): continue")   
    # the loser in each game accounts for another 2 shouts per game
    exprs.append(f"cnt += sum({varstring}[3 * i:3 * (i + 1)] == "
                 f"[max(treble)] * 3 for i in range(3)) + 2")
    #exprs.append(f"print({varstring})")
       
exprs = indent(exprs)
exprs += f"print('answer:', cnt)"
#print(exprs)
exec(exprs)
```
  The program generates (and executes) the following code:
```
X = 60; cnt = 0
for A in [x for x in [60, 57, 54, 51, 50, 48, 45, 42, 40, 39, 38, 36, 34, 33, 32] if x <= X]:
  if sum([A]) + 7 * A + 50 < 501: break
  for B in [x for x in [60, 57, 54, 51, 50, 48, 45, 42, 40, 39, 38, 36, 34, 33, 32] if x <= A]:
    if sum([A, B]) + 6 * B + 50 < 501: break
    for C in [x for x in [60, 57, 54, 51, 50, 48, 45, 42, 40, 39, 38, 36, 34, 33, 32] if x <= B]:
      if sum([A, B, C]) + 5 * C + 50 < 501: break
      for D in [x for x in [60, 57, 54, 51, 50, 48, 45, 42, 40, 39, 38, 36, 34, 33, 32] if x <= C]:
        if sum([A, B, C, D]) + 4 * D + 50 < 501: break
        for E in [x for x in [60, 57, 54, 51, 50, 48, 45, 42, 40, 39, 38, 36, 34, 33, 32] if x <= D]:
          if sum([A, B, C, D, E]) + 3 * E + 50 < 501: break
          for F in [x for x in [60, 57, 54, 51, 50, 48, 45, 42, 40, 39, 38, 36, 34, 33, 32] if x <= E]:
            if sum([A, B, C, D, E, F]) + 2 * F + 50 < 501: break
            for G in [x for x in [60, 57, 54, 51, 50, 48, 45, 42, 40, 39, 38, 36, 34, 33, 32] if x <= F]:
              if sum([A, B, C, D, E, F, G]) + 1 * G + 50 < 501: break
              for H in [x for x in [60, 57, 54, 51, 50, 48, 45, 42, 40, 39, 38, 36, 34, 33, 32] if x <= G]:
                I = 501 - sum([A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H])
                if I > H: break
                if not (I in {2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 50}): continue
                cnt += sum([A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I][3 * i:3 * (i + 1)] == [max(treble)] * 3 for i in range(3)) + 2
print('answer:', cnt)
```
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Jim Randell 6:41 am on 6 July 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: Howard Williams ( 46 )

Teaser 3276: First and last multiple

From The Sunday Times, 6th July 2025 [link] [link]

Johann enjoys playing with numbers and making up numerical challenges for his elder brother Jacob. He has worked out a new challenge, which involves Jacob trying to find the whole-number square root of a six-digit number. He explained that the sum of the individual digits [of the six-digit number] is exactly five times the sum of its first and last digits. To make it easier, he tells him that no number is repeated in the six digits, there are no zeros, and the last three digits are in descending numerical order.

What is the square root of the six digit number?

[teaser3276]

Jim Randell 6:48 am on 6 July 2025 Permalink | Reply

Here is a solution using the [[ SubstitutedExpression ]] solver from the enigma.py library.

It runs in 78ms. (Internal runtime of the generated program is 279µs).

Run: [ @codepad ]

#! python3 -m enigma -rr

SubstitutedExpression

# sqrt(ABCDEF) = XYZ
--distinct="ABCDEF"
--invalid="0,ABCDEFXZ"
--answer="XYZ"

# XYZ is the square root of ABCDEF
"sq(XYZ) = ABCDEF"

# the sum of the digits of the square is 5 times the
# sum of the first and last digit
"A + B + C + D + E + F == 5 * (A + F)"

# the final three digits are in descending order
"D > E > F"

# [optional] performance tweaks
--reorder="[1]"
--invalid="1|2,X"

Solution: The square root is 661.

And so the 6-digit number is: 661^2 = 436921.

And we have:

4 + 3 + 6 + 9 + 2 + 1 = 25 = 5 × (4 + 1)
9 > 2 > 1

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GeoffR 10:17 am on 6 July 2025 Permalink | Reply


% A Solution in MiniZinc
include "globals.mzn";

var 1..9:a; var 1..9:b; var 1..9:c; var 1..9:d;
var 1..9:e; var 1..9:f; 
var 316..999:ans; % square root of abcdef

var 100000..999999: abcdef == 100000*a + 10000*b 
+ 1000*c + 100*d + 10*e + f;

constraint all_different([a, b, c, d, e, f]);

constraint a + b + c + d + e + f == 5 * (a + f);
constraint d > e /\ e  > f;

predicate is_sq(var int: c) =
   let {
      var 0..ceil(pow(int2float(ub(c)),(1/2))): z
   } in z*z = c;

constraint ans * ans == abcdef;
constraint is_sq(abcdef);

solve satisfy;

output["Square root of the six digit number = " ++  show(ans)];

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Frits 3:03 pm on 6 July 2025 Permalink | Reply

# last 2 digits y and z  (abcdef = xyz^2)
last2 = set(i for i in range(11, 100) 
            if i % 10 and 9 < (m := (i * i) % 100) < 90 and m // 10 > m % 10)

for yz in last2:
  # A + F <= 7 so X < 9
  for x in range(3, 9):
    xyz = 100 * x + yz
    abcdef = xyz * xyz
    if len(set(s := str(abcdef))) != 6: continue
    if s[3] <= s[4] or "0" in s: continue
    dgts6 = [int(x) for x in s]
    if sum(dgts6) != 5 * (dgts6[0] + dgts6[-1]): continue

    print("answer:", xyz)

LikeLike

Frits 5:57 pm on 6 July 2025 Permalink | Reply

Processing six-digit numbers to find a valid square root.

from enigma import is_square

# last 2 digits e and f  (abcdef = xyz^2)
last2 = set(divmod(m, 10) for i in range(11, 100) 
            if i % 10 and 9 < (m := (i * i) % 100) < 90 and m // 10 > m % 10)
for (e, f) in last2:
  ef = 10 * e + f
  for d in range(e + 1, 10):
    _def = 100 * d + ef
    # 21 <= 5 * (a + f) <= 39  or  4 < a + f < 8
    for a in set(range(max(1, 5 - f), 8 - f))- {d, e, f}:
      # remaining for b + c
      if not (3 <= (bc := 5 * (a + f) - (a + d + e + f)) <= 17): continue
      adef = 10**5 * a + _def
      # determine missing numbers x and y (x + y = bc with x < y)
      for x in set(range(max(1, bc - 9), (bc + 1) // 2)) - {a, d, e, f}:
        if (y := bc - x) in {a, x, d, e, f}: continue
        for b, c in ((x, y), (y, x)):
          n = adef + 10**4 * b + 10**3 * c
          if (xyz := is_square(n)):
            print("answer:", xyz)

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Ruud 4:22 pm on 6 July 2025 Permalink | Reply

import math
import istr

for i in range(int(math.sqrt(100_000)), int(math.sqrt(1_000_000))):
    if (sum((sq := istr(i * i))) == 5 * (sq[0] + sq[-1])) and sq.all_distinct() and "0" not in sq and sq[-3] > sq[-2] > sq[-1]:
        print(sq, i)

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GeoffR 9:17 am on 9 July 2025 Permalink | Reply

sq6 = [ n**2 for n in range(317, 1000)    
        if len(set(str(n**2))) == 6 ]

for num in sq6:
  ds = str(num)
  if '0' in ds: continue
  dig = [int(x) for  x in ds]
  if (dig [3] > dig[4] > dig[5]):
    if sum(dig[:6]) == 5 * (dig[0] + dig[5]):
      print (f"Square root is {int(num ** 0.5)}.")

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Jim Randell 10:55 am on 4 July 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: Victor Bryant ( 149 )
Teaser 2478: [Palindromic primes]
From The Sunday Times, 21st March 2010 [link]

An article in The Times of January 2 commented that 2010 was the sum of four primes. As a reader pointed out in a letter on January 5, this was hardly worthy of comment: by Goldbach’s Conjecture, any even number greater than two is the sum of just two primes.

What is worthy of note is that 2010 is the sum of four palindromic primes. I found one such set of primes and each of my two grandsons, Oliver and Sam found different sets. My set had two primes in common with Oliver’s set and two in common with Sam’s set.

What are my four palindromic primes?

This puzzle was originally published with no title.

[teaser2478]
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Ruud and Jim Randell are discussing. Toggle Comments
- Jim Randell 10:55 am on 4 July 2025 Permalink | Reply
  This Python program runs in 69ms. (Internal runtime is 902µs).
```
from enigma import (primes, is_npalindrome, subsets, intersect, printf)

# target value
T = 2010

# collect palindromic primes
ps = list(p for p in primes.between(2, T) if is_npalindrome(p))

# find 4-subsets with the required sum
ts = list(ss for ss in subsets(ps, size=4) if sum(ss) == T)

# choose a set for the setter
for V in ts:
  # find other sets with 2 values in common with V
  gs = list(ss for ss in ts if ss != V and len(intersect([ss, V])) == 2)
  if len(gs) == 2:
    # output solution
    printf("V = {V} [O,S = {gs}]")
```
  Solution: Victor’s set was: (11, 151, 919, 929).
  
  And the grandsons sets were:
  
  (11, 313, 757, 929) [shares: 11, 929]
  (11, 353, 727, 919) [shares: 11, 919]
  
  And these are the only sets of 4 palindromic primes that sum to 2010.
  
  LikeLike
- Ruud 4:32 pm on 4 July 2025 Permalink | Reply
```
import istr

solutions = [set(p) for p in istr.combinations((i for i in istr.range(2010) if i.is_prime() and i == i[::-1]), 4) if sum(p) == 2010]
print([solution for solution in solutions if sum(len(solution & solution1) == 2 for solution1 in solutions) == 2])
```
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Jim Randell 8:42 am on 1 July 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: J. H. Hayhurst Batty ( 2 )

Brain teaser 1029: Staff factors

From The Sunday Times, 18th April 1982 [link]

The Manager of a large company greeted his twelve new computer staff. “You have been given consecutive, five-digit, Staff Reference Numbers (SRN). I remember numbers by finding their prime factors, using mental arithmetic — pre-computer vintage. Why not try it? If you would each tell me what factors you have, without specifying them (and ignoring unity), I should be able to work out your SR numbers”.

John said: “My number is prime.”

Ted said ” I have two prime factors. Your number follows mine doesn’t it, Les?”

Ian said: “I also have two, one of which squared. Alan’s just before me on the list.”

Sam said: “One of mine is to the power four. The last two digits of my SRN give me the other prime factor.”

Pete said: “I’ve got one factor to the power four as well. The other one is my year of birth.”

Brian said: “My number has one prime factor cubed and two others, both squared.”

Chris said: “I’m the only one with four factors, one of which is squared. Fred’s number is one less than mine.”

Dave started to say: “Kevin’s SRN is the one after mine, which …” when the Manager interrupted. “I can now list all twelve!”

List the twelve people, by initials, in increasing order of SRNs. What is Sam’s SRN?

This was the final puzzle to go by the title “Brain teaser“. The next puzzle was “Brainteaser 1030“.

This puzzle is included in the book The Sunday Times Book of Brainteasers (1994).

[teaser1029]

Jim Randell 8:43 am on 1 July 2025 Permalink | Reply

Instead of trying all possible 5-digit SRNs we can reduce the number of candidates considered by only considering numbers in the neighbourhood of P, as there are only a few numbers that are the 4th power of a prime multiplied by a viable prime birth year. (I considered primes between 1912 and 1982 as viable birth years).

This Python program uses the [[ SubstitutedExpression ]] solver from the enigma.py library, to solve the puzzle given a candidate start number.

It runs in 308ms (although I haven’t looked at optimising the evaluation order of the expressions).

from enigma import (SubstitutedExpression, irange, primes, cache, sprintf as f, join, printf)

# prime factors of n -> ((p1, e1), (p2, e2), ...)
factors = cache(lambda n: tuple(primes.prime_factor(n)))

# I has exactly 2 prime factors; one is a power of 2
def checkI(n):
  ((p1, e1), (p2, e2)) = factors(n)
  return 2 in {e1, e2}

# S has exactly 2 prime factors; one is a power of 4, and the other is the last 2 digits of S
def checkS(n):
  ((p1, e1), (p2, e2)) = factors(n)
  return (4, n % 100) in {(e1, p2), (e2, p1)}

# P has exactly 2 prime factors; one is a power of 4, and the other is his year of birth
def checkP(n):
  ((p1, e1), (p2, e2)) = factors(n)
  return (e1 == 4 and 1911 < p2 < 1983) or (e2 == 4 and 1911 < p1 < 1983)

# B has exactly 3 prime factors; a power of 3 and two powers of 2
def checkB(n):
  ((p1, e1), (p2, e2), (p3, e3)) = factors(n)
  return sorted([e1, e2, e3]) == [2, 2, 3]

# C has exactly 4 prime factors; one is a power of 2
def checkC(n):
  ((p1, e1), (p2, e2), (p3, e3), (p3, e4)) = factors(n)
  return 2 in {e1, e2, e3, e4}

def solve(start, s2d=dict()):
  # expressions to evaluate
  exprs = [
    # J is prime
    "is_prime(J + start)",
    # T has exactly 2 prime factors
    "len(factors(T + start)) == 2",
    # all the others (except C) have < 4 prime factors
    "all(len(factors(x + start)) < 4 for x in [A, D, F, K, L])",
    # adjacent values
    "T + 1 = L",
    "I - 1 = A",
    "C - 1 = F",
    "D + 1 = K",
    # checks on the remaining values
    "checkI({I} + start)",
    "checkS({S} + start)",
    "checkP({P} + start)",
    "checkB({B} + start)",
    "checkC({C} + start)", 
  ]

  # environment
  env = dict(
    start=start,
    factors=factors, is_prime=primes.is_prime,
    checkI=checkI, checkS=checkS, checkP=checkP, checkB=checkB, checkC=checkC,
  )

  # construct the puzzle
  p = SubstitutedExpression(exprs, base=12, s2d=s2d, env=env)

  # solve the puzzle for the offsets
  for s in p.solve(verbose=''):
    # fill out the actual numbers from the offsets
    s = dict((k, v + start) for (k, v) in s.items())
    # output the numbers in order
    fmt = (lambda fs: join((f("{p}" if e == 1 else "{p}^{e}") for (p, e) in fs), sep=", "))
    for k in sorted(s.keys(), key=s.get):
      n = s[k]
      printf("{k} = {n} [{fs}]", fs=fmt(factors(n)))
    printf()

# consider possible prime birth years for P
for y in primes.between(1912, 1982):
  # consider other prime factor, raised to the 4th power
  for p in primes:
    P = p**4 * y
    if P > 99999: break
    # consider possible start numbers
    for start in irange(max(10000, P - 11), min(99988, P)):
      solve(start, dict(P=P - start))

Solution: The order is: D K A I B S T L P F C J. Sam’s SRN is 31213.

The SRNs [along with their prime factors] are given below:

D = 31208 [2^3, 47, 83]
K = 31209 [3, 101, 103]
A = 31210 [2, 5, 3121]
I = 31211 [23^2, 59]
B = 31212 [2^2, 3^3, 17^2]
S = 31213 [7^4, 13]
T = 31214 [2, 15607]
L = 31215 [3, 5, 2081]
P = 31216 [2^4, 1951]
F = 31217 [19, 31, 53]
C = 31218 [2, 3, 11^2, 43]
J = 31219 [31219]

So we see P was born in 1951, which is 31 years before the puzzle was set.

With a bit of work, we can further reduce the number of cases considered significantly.

There are only 7 candidate values for P, and there are only 11 candidate values for S. And there is only a single pair where P and S are close enough together to give a solution. This also gives a way to tackle puzzle manually.

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Frits 1:44 pm on 1 July 2025 Permalink | Reply

@Jim, is there a typo in “which is 42 years before the puzzle was set”?

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- Jim Randell 5:21 pm on 1 July 2025 Permalink | Reply
  
  @Frits: Yes. I got it mixed up with a puzzle from 1993.
  
  LikeLike
- Frits 7:39 pm on 1 July 2025 Permalink | Reply
  
  @Jim, the puzzle text says that Ian has two prime factors, one of which squared.
  
  LikeLike
  - Jim Randell 11:14 pm on 1 July 2025 Permalink | Reply
    
    @Frits: Thanks. I’ll add in the missing condition.
    
    LikeLike

Frits 7:19 pm on 1 July 2025 Permalink | Reply

from enigma import is_prime, prime_factor as pfactor, ceil, subsets

# possible SRN's for people in list <s>
SRNs = lambda s: {i for i in range(s[0] - 11, s[0] + 12) 
                  if i not in s and all(abs(x - i) < 12 for x in s)}
                  
# mandatory SRN's for people in list <s>
m_SRNs = lambda s: {i for i in range(min(s) + 1, max(s)) if i not in s}                  

mn = 1912 # minimum birth date

# set of prime numbers up to 99
P = {3, 5, 7}
P |= {2} | {x for x in range(11, 100, 2) if all(x % p for p in P)}
sP = sorted(P)

# check last item in sequence <s>
def check(s, ln, vs, fs4={}):
  if fs4:
    # mandatory missing numbers plus last item  may not have 4 factors
    if not (m_SRNs(s) | {s[-1]}).isdisjoint(fs4): return False
  
  # check length and exponents
  if len(pfs := list(pfactor(s[-1]))) != ln or {y for x, y in pfs} != vs:
    return False
  return True  

# start with P ([p1^4, 19xx])
for p1 in sP:
  if p1**4 * mn > 99999: break
  ns = [n for y in range(mn, 1965) if 9999 < (n := p1**4 * y) <= 99999]
  mn, mx = ns[0] - 11 , ns[-1] + 11
  # check S ([s1^4, s2 with s2 last 2 digits])
  # S = xxxxab and S = ab.s1^4,  100 * xxxx = ab.(s1^4 - 1) so s1^4 = ...1
  for s1 in sP[1:]:
    if (pow4 := s1**4) * 11 > 99999: break
    if pow4 % 10 != 1 or mx / pow4 > 99: continue
    # calculate possible numbers for S
    for s in [s for ab in range(ceil(mn / pow4), mx // pow4 + 1) 
              if ab in P and (s := ab * pow4) % 100 == ab]:
      # only C may have exactly 4 factors
      fs4 = {x for x in SRNs([s]) if len(list(pfactor(x))) == 4}
      for j in [j for j in SRNs([s]) if is_prime(j)]:
        for c in SRNs([s, j]):
          if not check([s, j, c], 4, {1, 2}): continue
          for b in SRNs([s, j, c]):
            if not check([s, j, c, b], 3, {2, 3}, fs4): continue
            for i in SRNs([s, j, c, b]):
              if not check([s, j, c, b, i], 2, {1, 2}, fs4): continue
              for t in SRNs([s, j, c, b, i]):
                if not check([s, j, c, b, i, t], 2, {1}, fs4): continue
                for p in SRNs([s, j, c, b, i, t]):
                  if not check([s, j, c, b, i, t, p], 2, {1, 4}, fs4): continue
                  # before I is A, after T is L, before C is F
                  a, l, f = i - 1, t + 1, c - 1
                  n10 = sorted([s, j, c, b, i, t, p, a, l, f])
                  if len(set(n10)) != 10: continue
                  # K after D, find places to insert (D, K)
                  for d, k in subsets(SRNs(n10), 2):
                    if k != d + 1: continue
                    if not {d, k}.isdisjoint(fs4): continue
                    # 12 consecutive numbers
                    if ((n12 := sorted(n10 + [d, k])) == 
                         list(range(n12[0], n12[0] + 12))):
                      # final check   
                      if not (set(n12) - {c}).isdisjoint(fs4): continue
                      map = dict(list(zip([s, j, c, b, i, t, p, a, l, f, d, k],
                                    "SJCBITPALFDK")))
                      for k, v in sorted(map.items()):
                        print(f"{v}: {k} = "
                              f"{' * '.join(['^'.join(str(y) for y in x)
                                             for x in pfactor(k)])}")

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Jim Randell 7:22 am on 29 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: Andrew Skidmore ( 90 )
Teaser 3275: Against the odds
From The Sunday Times, 29th June 2025 [link] [link]

I have taken a number of playing cards (more red than black) from a standard pack of 52 cards and redistributed them in a certain way in two piles, each containing both red and black cards.

A card is taken at random from the smaller pile and placed in the larger pile. The larger pile is shuffled; a card is taken at random from it and placed in the smaller pile.

There is a one in eight chance that the number of red and black cards in each pile will be the same as they were originally.

How many black cards in total were used?

[teaser3275]
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Jim Randell is discussing. Toggle Comments
- Jim Randell 7:49 am on 29 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
  (See also: Teaser 2571).
  
  If we have two piles:
  
  pile 1, with b₁ black cards, and r₁ red cards; and:
  pile 2, with b₂ black cards, and r₂ red cards.
  
  where pile 1 (of size n₁) is smaller than pile 2 (of size n₂).
  
  Then the probability of the same colour card being chosen for both transfers is the sum of the following probabilities:
  
  P(both transfers black) = (b₁ / n₁) × ((b₂ + 1) / (n₂ + 1))
  P(both transfers red) = (r₁ / n₁) × ((r₂ + 1) / (n₂ + 1))
  ⇒
  P(both transfers same colour) = (b₁ × (b₂ + 1) + r₁ × (r₂ + 1)) / (n₁ × (n₂ + 1))
  
  The following Python program constructs all possible arrangements of cards and calculates the probability of the same coloured card moving in both directions.
  
  We can find the inverse of the combined probability, and this allows us to perform all the calculations using integers.
  
  It runs in 84ms. (Internal runtime is 22ms).
```
from enigma import (irange, subsets, Decompose, cproduct, div, printf)

# choose number of red and black cards (B < R)
for (B, R) in subsets(irange(2, 26), size=2, select='C'):

  # split into 2 piles (pile1 < pile2)
  decompose = Decompose(2, increasing=0, sep=0)
  for ((b1, b2), (r1, r2)) in cproduct([decompose(B), decompose(R)]):
    (n1, n2) = (b1 + r1, b2 + r2)
    if not (n1 < n2): continue

    # calculate probability of the same coloured card in both transfers
    # r = 1/p
    r = div(n1 * (n2 + 1), b1 * (b2 + 1) + r1 * (r2 + 1))

    # look for solution
    if r == 8:
      printf("B={B} R={R}")
      printf("  b1={b1} r1={r1} -> {n1}; b2={b2} r2={r2} -> {n2}")
      printf("    p=1/{r}")
      printf()
```
  Solution: There were 21 black cards.
  
  And 23 red cards.
  
  The cards are distributed into piles as follows:
  
  pile 1 = 20 black + 1 red (21 cards)
  pile 2 = 1 black + 22 red (23 cards)
  
  The probability of a black card moving in both directions is:
  
  pB = 20/21 × 2/24 = 40/504
  
  And the probability of a red card moving in both directions is:
  
  pR = 1/21 × 23/24 = 23/504
  
  And we have:
  
  pB + pR = 63/504 = 1/8
  
  LikeLike
  - Jim Randell 9:48 am on 30 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
    Or we can use the [[ SubstitutedExpression ]] solver from the enigma.py library, for a more declarative solution.
```
from enigma import (SubstitutedExpression, irange, printf)

# assign symbols
macro = dict(b1='W', r1='X', b2='Y', r2='Z')

# expressions to solve
exprs = [
  # more reds than blacks; no more than 26 cards per colour
  "@b1 + @b2 < @r1 + @r2 < 27",
  # pile 1 is smaller than pile 2
  "@b1 + @r1 < @b2 + @r2",
  # probability P = 1/8; P = Pn/Pd => Pd = 8 Pn
  "(@b1 + @r1) * (@b2 + @r2 + 1) == 8 * (@b1 * (@b2 + 1) + @r1 * (@r2 + 1))",
]

# construct the solver
p = SubstitutedExpression(exprs,
      base=26, digits=irange(1, 25), distinct=[], macro=macro,
      answer="(@b1, @r1, @b2, @r2)",
    )

# solve the puzzle
for (b1, r1, b2, r2) in p.answers(verbose=0):
  (B, R) = (b1 + b2, r1 + r2)
  printf("B={B} R={R} [b1={b1} r1={r1}; b2={b2} r2={r2}]")
```
    LikeLike
Jim Randell 8:28 am on 27 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: C Higgins ( 41 ), by: H Bradley ( 41 )
Teaser 2471: [Cutting a rod]
From The Sunday Times, 31st January 2010 [link]

In the woodwork class, students were being taught how to measure and cut accurately. Pat was given a rod that was a whole number of feet long and was told to saw it into three pieces, each a different whole number of inches long. While he was cutting his set of three pieces, Pat calculated how many different sets it would be possible to make. He discovered that the answer was equal to his father’s year of birth.

What year was that?

This puzzle was originally published with no title.

[teaser2471]
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Jim Randell and Frits are discussing. Toggle Comments
- Jim Randell 8:29 am on 27 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
  We assume the cuts themselves make a negligible difference to the length of the pieces.
  
  Here is a constructive program that counts the number of dissections of an n-foot rod into 3 dissimilar whole inch lengths.
  
  I decided that as the puzzle was set in 2010, viable years are in the range [1940, 1985].
  
  The program runs in 71ms. (Internal runtime is 6.1ms).
```
from enigma import (irange, inf, decompose, icount, printf)

# generate number of dissections
def generate():
  # consider number of feet
  for n in irange(1, inf):
    # divide into different sets of inches
    k = icount(decompose(12 * n, 3, increasing=1, sep=1))
    printf("[{n} ft -> {k} sets]")
    yield (n, k)

# find lengths that give up to 1985 sets
ss = list()
for (n, k) in generate():
  ss.append((n, k))
  if k > 1985: break

# output solution (between 1940 and 1985)
for (_, y) in ss:
  if 1939 < y < 1986:
    printf("year = {y}")
```
  Solution: Pat’s father was born in 1951.
  
  1951 is the number of dissections of a 13-foot rod.
  
  We can use the values accumulated by the program to determine a polynomial equation to generate the sequence:
```
% python3 -i teaser/teaser2471.py
[1 ft -> 7 sets]
[2 ft -> 37 sets]
[3 ft -> 91 sets]
[4 ft -> 169 sets]
[5 ft -> 271 sets]
[6 ft -> 397 sets]
[7 ft -> 547 sets]
[8 ft -> 721 sets]
[9 ft -> 919 sets]
[10 ft -> 1141 sets]
[11 ft -> 1387 sets]
[12 ft -> 1657 sets]
[13 ft -> 1951 sets]
[14 ft -> 2269 sets]
year = 1951

>>> from enigma import Polynomial
>>> p = Polynomial.interpolate(ss)
>>> print(p)
Polynomial[(+12)x^2 (-6)x (+1)]
>>> print(p(13))
1951
>>> print(p(5280))
334509121
```
  So, for an n-foot rod (integer n ≥ 1), the number of dissections D(n) is given by:
  
  D[n] = 12n^2 − 6n + 1
  
  This corresponds to OEIS A154105 [@oeis.org].
  
  LikeLike
  - Frits 3:32 pm on 27 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
    
    It is not too difficult to find this formula for the sum 1 + 2+4 + 5+7 + 8+10 + 11+13 + 14+16 + ….
    
    LikeLike
  - Frits 4:08 pm on 27 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
    
    Another formula for D(n) is:
    
    sum(6 * n – (k + 3) // 2 – k – 1 for k in range(4 * n – 1))
    
    LikeLike
- Jim Randell 8:10 am on 28 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
  
  See also: BrainTwister #25.
  
  Where we had:
  
  t[n] = intr(sq(n) / 12)
  
  Then D[n] appears as a subsequence of t[n] taking every 12th element (as there are 12 inches in 1 foot).
  
  Specifically:
  
  D[n] = t[12n − 3]
  
  And this gives rise to the quadratic equation given above.
  
  LikeLike

Jim Randell 8:26 am on 24 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: Victor Bryant ( 149 )

Teaser 2467: [Some primes]

From The Sunday Times, 3rd January 2010 [link]

To celebrate the start of a new decade, I have written down a list of prime numbers whose sum is equal to one of the years of this decade (in other words, it is one of the numbers from 2010 to 2019, inclusive). Overall, the numbers in this list contain just eight digits, namely four different even digits and four different odd digits, each used once.

With simple logic, rather than complicated calculations, you should be able to work out the list of numbers.

What are they?

This puzzle was originally published with no title.

[teaser2467]

Jim Randell 8:26 am on 24 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

This Python 3 program looks for sets of primes with the required property.

It runs in 120ms. (Internal run time is 53ms).

from enigma import (primes, nsplit, seq_items, join, printf)

# find possible primes, and record digits
ps = list()
for p in primes.between(2, 2018):
  ds = nsplit(p)
  ss = set(ds)
  if len(ss) == len(ds):
    ps.append((p, ss))

# odd and even digits
(evens, odds) = ({0, 2, 4, 6, 8}, {1, 3, 5, 7, 9})

# solve for primes in <ps>
# i = start index in <ps>
# t = total to far
# ds = digits used so far
# ns = primes used so far
def solve(ps, i=0, t=0, ds=set(), ns=[]):
  if t > 2009:
    if len(ds) == 8:
      yield ns
  if len(ds) < 8:
    # add in another prime
    for (j, (p, ss)) in seq_items(ps, i):
      t_ = t + p
      if t_ > 2019: break
      if not ss.isdisjoint(ds): continue
      ds_ = ds.union(ss)
      if evens.issubset(ds_) or odds.issubset(ds_): continue
      yield from solve(ps, j + 1, t_, ds_, ns + [p])

# solve the puzzle
for ns in solve(ps):
  # output solution
  printf("{ns} = {t}", ns=join(ns, sep=" + "), t=sum(ns))

Solution: The numbers are: 2, 947, 1063.

And:

2 + 947 + 1063 = 2012

The unused digits are 5 (odd) and 8 (even).

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Frits 11:01 am on 24 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

from itertools import compress

def primesbelow(n):
  # rwh_primes1v2(n):
  """ Returns a list of primes < n for n > 2 """
  sieve = bytearray([True]) * (n // 2 + 1)
  for i in range(1, int(n ** 0.5) // 2 + 1):
    if sieve[i]:
      sieve[2 * i * (i + 1)::2 * i + 1] = \
      bytearray((n // 2 - 2 * i * (i + 1)) // (2 * i + 1) + 1)
  return [2, *compress(range(3, n, 2), sieve[1:])]

# decompose <t> into increasing numbers from <ns> so that <k> different
# digits have been used and the sum of the numbers is in range (t-9) ... t
def decompose(t, ns, k=8, ds=set(), s=[]):
  if k <= 0 or t < 10:
    if k == 0 and t < 10:
      # not using one odd and one even digit
      if sum(int(x) for x in set("0123456789") - ds) % 2:
        yield s 
  else:
    for i, (n, dgts) in enumerate(ns):
      if n > t: break 
      if ds.isdisjoint(dgts):
        yield from decompose(t - n, ns[i + 1:], k - len(dgts), 
                             ds | dgts, s + [n])

m = 2000
P = [(p, s) for p in primesbelow(m) if len(s := set(str(p))) == len(str(p))]

# look for prime numbers that add up to 2010 ... 2019
for ps in decompose(2019, P):
  print(f"answer: {' + '.join(str(x) for x in ps)} = {sum(ps)}")

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Jim Randell 6:33 am on 22 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: Colin Vout ( 39 )

Teaser 3274: Anarithm

From The Sunday Times, 22nd June 2025 [link] [link]

If you rearrange the letters of a word to form another word, it’s called an anagram. So I think that if you rearrange the digits of a number to form another number, it could be called an anarithm.

Some numbers when expressed in two different number bases have representations that are anarithms of each other. For instance, the decimal number 66 is represented as 123 in base 7 and 231 in base 5.

I’ve recently been looking at numbers in base 8 and base 5 and found that it is possible to have a number whose representations in base 8 and base 5 are anarithms of each other.

In decimal notation, what is the largest such number?

[teaser3274]

Jim Randell 6:39 am on 22 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

The following Python program produces non-trivial (i.e. >1-digit) representations that are “anarithms”, in numerical order.

It runs in 66ms. (Internal runtime is 494µs).

from enigma import (irange, inf, nsplit, join, printf)

# the two bases (A < B)
(A, B) = (5, 8)

# consider increasing numbers of digits
for k in irange(2, inf):
  (x, y) = (B**(k - 1), (A**k) - 1)
  if x > y: break
  for n in irange(x, y):
    (a, b) = (nsplit(n, base=A), nsplit(n, base=B))
    if sorted(a) == sorted(b):
      # output solution
      printf("k={k}: {n} -> {a} [base {A}], {b} [base {B}]", a=join(a), b=join(b))

Solution: The number is 540 (decimal).

In base 5 it is represented: 4130.

And in base 8 it is represented: 1034.

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Jim Randell 2:56 pm on 22 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

Or, as we want the largest possible number, we can consider the candidate values starting with the largest. Then we can stop after the first solution is found.

This Python program has an internal runtime of 227µs.

from enigma import (irange, inf, nsplit, rev, join, printf)

# find largest number for bases A, B (where A < B)
def solve(A, B):
  assert A < B
  # intervals to consider
  ivs = list()
  for k in irange(2, inf):
    (x, y) = (B**(k - 1), (A**k) - 1)
    if x > y: break
    ivs.append((x, y))

  # consider each interval from largest to smallest
  for (x, y) in rev(ivs):
    for n in irange(y, x, step=-1):
      (a, b) = (nsplit(n, base=A), nsplit(n, base=B))
      if sorted(a) == sorted(b):
        # output solution
        printf("{n} -> {a} [base {A}], {b} [base {B}]", a=join(a), b=join(b))
        return

# solve for base 5 and base 8
solve(5, 8)

LikeLike

Frits 8:00 pm on 23 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

Not my fastest version but still fast and relatively simple.

# get digits of a number in base <b> (converted from <n> in base 10)
def int2base(n, b):
  ds = []
  while n:
      ds.append(int(n % b))
      n //= b
  return ds

b1, b2 = 5, 8
rng, invalid = [], set(range(b1, 10))
# get a list of valid ranges per number of digits
for n, _ in enumerate(iter(bool, 1), 2): # infinite  loop
  mn, mx = b2**(n - 1), b1**n - 1
  if mx < mn: break
  rng.append((mn, mx))

# for decreasing number of digits
for mn, mx in reversed(rng):
  # check all numbers in the valid range
  for n in range(mx, mn - 1, -1):
    # check for invalid digits
    if not invalid.isdisjoint(n_b2 := int2base(n, b2) ): continue

    # base 8 and base 5 are anarithms of each other
    if sorted(int2base(n, b1)) == sorted(n_b2):
      print(f"answer: {n}")
      exit(0)

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Jim Randell 8:12 am on 19 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: Graham Smithers ( 88 )
Teaser 2519: [Greek alphametic]
From The Sunday Times, 2nd January 2011 [link] [link]

This week’s letters-for-digits Teaser has a Greek theme. All words in capitals are numbers that have been coded by consistently using different letters for different digits.

Our story concerns the prime THALLO (goddess of spring buds), who was also good at sums, and produced:

ALPHA + BETA + GAMMA = OMEGA

What number is represented by OMEGA?

This puzzle was originally published with no title.

This completes the archive of Teaser puzzles originally published in 2011. There is now a complete archive of puzzles (and solutions) from the start of 2011 to present, along with many older puzzles.

[teaser2519]
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- Jim Randell 8:13 am on 19 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Here is a solution using the [[ SubstitutedExpression ]] solver from the enigma.py library.
  
  The following run file executes in 84ms. (Internal runtime of the generated code is 1.2ms).
```
#! python3 -m enigma -rr

SubstitutedExpression.split_sum

"ALPHA + BETA + GAMMA = OMEGA"

--extra="is_prime(THALLO)"

--answer="OMEGA"
```
  Solution: OMEGA = 76915.
  
  The sum is:
  
  52305 + 8945 + 15665 = 76915
  
  And we have: THALLO = 405227, which is prime.
  
  LikeLike
Jim Randell 7:51 am on 17 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: Victor Bryant ( 149 )
Teaser 2524: [Whispered birthday]
From The Sunday Times, 6th February 2011 [link] [link]

My birthday is on the first of a month. My three logical friends Lettice, Daisy and Bertha wanted to know which month. So I whispered to Lettice the number of letters in the spelling of the month, I whispered to Daisy the number of days in the month, and I whispered to Bertha the day of the week of my birthday this year. I explained to all three what I had done and then I asked them in turn whether they were able to work out the month yet. Their replies were:

Lettice: no
Daisy: no
Bertha: no
Lettice: no
Daisy: no
Bertha: yes

What is my birthday month?

This puzzle was originally published with no title.

[teaser2524]
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- Jim Randell 7:53 am on 17 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
  This Python program uses the [[ filter_unique() ]] function from the enigma.py library to eliminate candidate solutions at each step.
  
  It runs in 70ms. (Internal runtime is 263µs).
```
from enigma import (filter_unique, printf)

# month names
months = "January February March April May June July August September October November December".split()

# maps month names to: L = number of letters; D = number of days; B = day of week of 1st
L = dict((k, len(k)) for k in months)
D = dict(zip(months, [31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31]))  # for 2011
B = dict(zip(months, "Sa Tu Tu Fr Su We Fr Mo Th Sa Tu Th".split()))  # for 2011

# start with all possible months
ss = months

# answers: 1 = "no" (non_unique), 0 = "yes" (unique)
for (d, i) in [(L, 1), (D, 1), (B, 1), (L, 1), (D, 1), (B, 0)]:
  ss = filter_unique(ss, d.get)[i]

# output solution(s)
for m in ss:
  printf("month = {m}")
```
  Solution: The birthday month is March.
  
  LikeLike

Jim Randell 6:47 am on 15 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: Victor Bryant ( 149 )

Teaser 3273: A good deal?

From The Sunday Times, 15th June 2025 [link] [link]

Delia plays a game with a stack of different pieces of card. To shuffle the stack she deals them quickly into four equal piles (face-downwards throughout) — the top card starts the first pile, the next card starts the second pile, then the third starts the third pile and likewise the fourth. She continues to place the cards on the four piles in order. Then she puts the four piles back into one big stack with the first pile on the bottom, the second pile next, then the third, with the fourth pile on the top.

She is very pleased with her shuffling method because each card moves to a different position in the stack, so she decides to repeat the shuffle a few more times. However, this is counter-productive because after fewer than six such shuffles the cards will be back in their original order.

How many cards are in her stack?

There are now 1200 Teaser puzzles available on the S2T2 site.

[teaser3273]

Jim Randell 7:00 am on 15 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

See also: Enigma 710, Teaser 2446.

This Python program runs in 69ms. (Internal runtime is 328µs).

from enigma import (irange, inf, flatten, rev, printf)

# perform a shuffle using <p> piles
def shuffle(cs, p=4):
  return rev(flatten(cs[i::p] for i in irange(p)))

# find when cards return to original order
def solve(cs, fn, M=inf):
  cs0 = list(cs)
  for k in irange(1, M):
    cs = fn(cs)
    if cs == cs0:
      return k

# consider sets of cards
for n in irange(8, inf, step=4):
  cs = list(irange(1, n))
  # check the shuffle leaves no card in its original position
  if any(x == y for (x, y) in zip(cs, shuffle(cs))): continue
  # find number of shuffles (< 6) to return to original order
  k = solve(cs, shuffle, 5)
  if k is None or k < 3: continue
  # output solution
  printf("{n} cards -> {k} shuffles")
  break  # stop at first solution

Solution: There are 52 cards in the stack.

And the stack returns to the original order after 4 shuffles. (This can be verified with a standard pack of cards).

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Jim Randell 11:26 am on 15 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

Alternatively (shorter, and doesn’t do any unnecessary shuffles):

from enigma import (irange, inf, flatten, rev, repeat, cachegen, peek, printf)

# perform a shuffle using <p> piles
def shuffle(cs, p=4):
  return rev(flatten(cs[i::p] for i in irange(p)))

# consider sets of cards
for n in irange(8, inf, step=4):
  cs = list(irange(1, n))
  # generate the result of repeated shuffles
  ss = cachegen(repeat(shuffle, cs))
  # check shuffle 1 leaves no card in its original position
  if any(x == y for (x, y) in zip(ss(1), cs)): continue
  # find number of shuffles (2 .. 5) to return to original order
  k = peek((k for k in irange(2, 5) if ss(k) == cs), default=-1)
  if k < 2: continue
  # output solution
  printf("{n} cards -> {k} shuffles")
  break  # stop at first solution

The [[ cachegen() ]] function has been in enigma.py for a while, waiting for a use to come up.

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Jim Randell 1:56 pm on 16 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

Here is a neat alternative approach.

It analyses the cycle representation of the permutation that represents the shuffle, to determine the number of shuffles required to return to the original order, without needing to actually perform the shuffles.

It has an internal runtime of 286µs.

from enigma import (irange, inf, flatten, rev, cycles, mlcm, printf)

# perform a shuffle using <p> piles
def shuffle(cs, p=4):
  return rev(flatten(cs[i::p] for i in irange(p)))

# consider sets of cards
for n in irange(8, inf, step=4):
  cs = list(irange(1, n))
  # find the length of cycles in a shuffle
  cycs = set(len(cyc) for cyc in cycles(shuffle(cs), cs))
  # there are no 1-cycles
  if 1 in cycs: continue
  # calculate the number of shuffles to return to the original order
  k = mlcm(*cycs)
  if k < 6:
    printf("{n} cards -> {k} shuffles")
    break  # stop at the first solution

LikeLiked by 1 person

Frits 10:28 am on 15 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

Also printing the first solution.

# Delia's shuffle algorithm for cards <s>
def shuffle(s, ln):
  # make 4 piles (4th pile first)
  s_ = [[s[i] for i in reversed(range(ln)) if i % 4 == (3 - j)] 
        for j in range(4)]
  # put the 4 piles back into one big stack with the 1st pile on the bottom
  return [y for x in s_ for y in x]

for m, _ in enumerate(iter(bool, 1), 1): # infinite loop, starting from 1
  n = m * 4         # number of cards in the stack
  orig, new = list(range(n)), []
  
  # Delia shuffles for the first time
  new = shuffle(orig, n)
  # each card moves to a different position in the stack
  if any(new[i] == i for i in range(n)): continue
  shuffle_count = 1
  # Delia shuffles a few more times (meaning more than once)
  while new != orig and shuffle_count < 6:
    new = shuffle(new, n)
    shuffle_count += 1
  
  if 2 < shuffle_count < 6:
    print(f"answer: {n} (first solution)")
    break

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Frits 10:50 am on 15 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

The program prints the expected answer.

The way I read the teaser there is another solution (allowing to already return back to the original order after two shuffles).

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- Jim Randell 11:07 am on 15 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
  
  I considered this, but decided the phrase “a few more times” excludes the possibility of just 1 additional shuffle reverting the original stack.
  
  LikeLike
  - Frits 11:21 am on 15 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
    
    I see. I regard this as an additional requirement. I can’t determine that for sure from the puzzle text.
    
    Delia will not check the cards after each shuffle so in my opinion nothing is to be excluded.
    
    LikeLike

Frits 9:57 am on 16 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

Using a dictionary

# Delia's shuffle algorithm for cards <s> using a dictionary
dct = lambda s: dict(enumerate(sum((s[i::4] for i in range(4)), [])[::-1]))
shuffle = lambda s: [d[x] for x in s]
  
# infinite loop, starting from 2 (avoiding trivial case of four cards)
for m, _ in enumerate(iter(bool, 1), 2): 
  n = m * 4         # number of cards in the stack
  # dictionary of position changes
  d = dct(orig := list(range(n)))
  # Delia shuffles for the first time
  new = shuffle(orig)
  # each card moves to a different position in the stack
  if any(new[i] == i for i in range(n)): continue
  shuffle_count = 1
  # Delia shuffles a few more times 
  while new != orig and shuffle_count < 6:
    new = shuffle(new)
    shuffle_count += 1
  
  if shuffle_count < 6:
    print(f"answer: {n} (first solution after trivial case n=4)")
    break

or using map()

# Delia's shuffle algorithm for cards <s> using a dictionary
shuffle = lambda s: sum((s[i::4] for i in range(4)), [])[::-1]
  
# infinite loop, starting from 2 (avoiding trivial case of four cards)
for m, _ in enumerate(iter(bool, 1), 2): 
  n = m * 4         # number of cards in the stack
  # Delia shuffles for the first time
  s1 = shuffle(orig := list(range(n)))
  # each card moves to a different position in the stack
  if any(s1[i] == i for i in range(n)): continue
  new = s1
  shuffle_count = 1
  # Delia shuffles a few more times 
  while new != orig and shuffle_count < 6:
    new = list(map(lambda x: s1[x], new))
    shuffle_count += 1
  
  if shuffle_count < 6:
    print(f"answer: {n} (first solution after trivial case n=4)")
    break

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Jim Randell 4:31 pm on 16 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

@Frits: I can’t recommend the (ab)use of [[ sum() ]] for joining lists. As a quick hack it may be acceptable to save a bit of typing, but the behaviour of [[ sum() ]] is only defined for numeric types, so it may not work at all (in CPython strings are explicitly rejected). And if it does work, it uses an inefficient algorithm for sequences (constructing a new sequence at each intermediate stage).

I would recommend using [[ enigma.flatten ]] (or [[ itertools.chain ]]) instead.

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Frits 12:03 pm on 19 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

A more efficient version. Instead of always shuffling the whole stack of cards we keep track of the position of only one specific card.

flat = lambda group: [x for g in group for x in g]

# Delia's shuffle algorithm for cards <s> using a dictionary
shuffle = lambda s: flat(s[i::4] for i in range(4))[::-1]

# determine new position of number at position <i> 
# in a sequence of 4 * m numbers
shuffle1 = lambda i, m: m * (4 - i % 4) - i // 4 - 1

# check when number 1 will return to position 1 again (numbers 0...n-1)

# infinite loop, starting from 2 (avoiding trivial case of four cards)
for m, _ in enumerate(iter(bool, 1), 2):  
  n = m * 4         # number of cards in the stack
  new, cnt = 1, 1
  while cnt < 6:
    # shuffle one card (let's say the 2nd card)
    new = shuffle1(new, m)
    cnt += 1
    # shuffle the whole stack 
    if new == 1:
      # Delia shuffles for the first time
      s1 = shuffle(orig := list(range(n)))
      # each card moves to a different position in the stack
      if any(s1[i] == i for i in range(n)): break
      new, shuffle_count = s1, 1
      # Delia shuffles a few more times 
      while new != orig and shuffle_count < 6:
        new = list(map(lambda x: s1[x], new))
        shuffle_count += 1

      if shuffle_count < 6:
        print(f"answer: {n} (first solution after trivial case n=4)")
        exit(0)
      break

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Jim Randell 8:45 am on 12 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: DJT Hogg ( 3 )
Teaser 2521: [The Dudeney Stakes]
From The Sunday Times, 16th January 2011 [link] [link]

In The Dudeney Stakes at the local racecourse, six horses were rather special. A bookie, Isaac Conway, told me how much, in pence, he had taken on each of the six (less than £500 on each). But he translated the totals using a letter-for-digit substitution and the six figures were FIRST, THIRD, FIFTH, SIXTH, NINTH and TENTH, which happened to correspond to their positions in the race! Isaac also told me the total amount taken on the horses finishing first and third equalled that taken on the sixth.

How much did he take on the tenth?

This puzzle was originally published with no title.

[teaser2521]
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Ruud and Jim Randell are discussing. Toggle Comments
- Jim Randell 8:47 am on 12 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
  We can solve this puzzle using the [[ SubstitutedExpression ]] solver from the enigma.py library.
  
  A straightforward recipe has an internal runtime of 6.9ms. However using the [[ SubstitutedExpression.split_sum ]] solver brings this down to 129µs (50× faster).
```
#! python3 -m enigma -rr

SubstitutedExpression.split_sum

# leading digits must be 1-4
--invalid="0|5|6|7|8|9,FNST"

"FIRST + THIRD = SIXTH"

# make sure all the letters can be allocated
--extra="true(FIRST, THIRD, FIFTH, SIXTH, NINTH, TENTH)"

--answer="TENTH"
```
  Solution: The amount taken on the tenth horse was: £ 203.29.
  
  The amounts taken (in pence) on each horse are as follows:
  
  FIRST = 16842
  THIRD = 29687
  FIFTH = 16129
  SIXTH = 46529
  NINTH = 36329
  TENTH = 20329
  
  LikeLike
- Ruud 1:12 pm on 13 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
```
import istr

istr.repr_mode("int")


for f, i, r, s, t, h, d, x, n, e in istr.permutations(istr.digits()):
    p = {1: f | i | r | s | t, 3: t | h | i | r | d, 5: f | i | f | t | h, 6: s | i | x | t | h, 9: n | i | n | t | h, 10: t | e | n | t | h}
    if p[1] + p[3] == p[6]:
        if all(amount < 50000 and amount[0] != "0" for amount in p.values()):
            print(p)
```
  LikeLike
Jim Randell 7:27 am on 10 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: Graham Smithers ( 88 )
Teaser 2542: Two routes
From The Sunday Times, 12th June 2011 [link] [link]

A line of equally spaced poles is marked in order with odd numbers, 1, 3, 5, etc. Directly opposite is a parallel line of an equal number of poles with even numbers, 2, 4, 6, etc. There are fewer than 100 poles. The distance in metres between adjacent poles is a two-digit prime; the distance between opposite poles is another two-digit prime.

Jan walks the route 1-2-4-3-5, etc to reach the final pole. John walks the odds 1-3-5, etc to the last odd-numbered pole; then walks diagonally to pole 2; then walks the evens 2-4-6, etc, also finishing at the final pole. Jan’s and John’s routes are of equal length.

How many poles are there?

News

This completes the archive of puzzles from the book The Sunday Times Brain Teasers 2 (2020).

As far as I am aware, there are 927 Teaser puzzles that have been published across 9 books. So far I have posted 835 (= 90.1%) of these puzzles to the S2T2 site, and have complete coverage of 6 of the books. I will continue working on the 3 remaining books (published in 1974, 1981, 1994).

[teaser2542]
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Ruud, Frits, and Jim Randell are discussing. Toggle Comments
- Jim Randell 7:27 am on 10 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
  If the distance between adjacent odd (and even) poles is a, and the distance between the two rows is b, and there are k gaps between poles in a row (i.e each row has (k + 1) poles, so in total there are (2k + 2) poles), then:
  
  1 < k < 49
  
  Jan’s distance = ak + b(k + 1)
  
  John’s distance = 2ak + hypot(ak, b)
  
  And these two distances are equal when:
  
  b(k + 1) = ak + hypot(ak, b)
  
  It also seems the setter intends that Jan and John are to arrive at the same final pole, so we require k to be a multiple of 2. (Although this condition does not eliminate any candidate solutions).
  
  The following Python program runs in 71ms. (Internal runtime is 11.4ms).
```
from enigma import (irange, primes, subsets, ihypot, printf)

# consider (different) 2-digit primes a, b
for (a, b) in subsets(primes.between(10, 99), size=2, select='P'):
  # consider number of gaps
  for k in irange(2, 48, step=2):
    ak = a * k
    h = ihypot(ak, b)
    if h is None or ak + h != b * (k + 1): continue
    # output solution
    printf("k={k} a={a} b={b} -> {n} poles", n=2 * k + 2)
```
  Solution: There are 74 poles.
  
  Adjacent poles are separated by 19 m, and the rows are separated by 37 m.
  
  Jan walks 19×36 + 37×37 = 2053 m.
  
  John walks 2×19×36 + hypot(19×36, 37) = 2053 m.
  
  With additional analysis we can show:
  
  b(k + 1) = ak + hypot(ak, b)
  ⇒
  b(k + 2) = 2a(k + 1)
  
  Where a and b are prime.
  
  Hence:
  
  b = k + 1
  2a = k + 2
  
  This allows us to consider fewer cases:
```
from enigma import (primes, div, printf)

for a in primes.between(10, 99):
  k = 2 * a - 2
  n = 2 * k + 2
  if not (n < 100): break
  b = k + 1
  if not (b in primes): continue
  # output solution
  printf("k={k} a={a} b={b} -> {n} poles")
```
  LikeLike
- Frits 2:40 pm on 10 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
  
  See also [https://brg.me.uk/?page_id=3746#comment-578]
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
- Ruud 6:01 pm on 10 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
```
import itertools
import sympy
import math

primes = [i for i in range(10, 100) if sympy.isprime(i)]
for a, b in itertools.product(primes, primes):
    for n in range(4, 100):
        n1 = int((n - 1) / 2)
        n2 = int(n / 2)
        d_jan = n1 * a + n2 * b
        d_john = n1 * a + n1 * a + math.sqrt((n1 * a) ** 2 + b**2)
        if d_jan == d_john:
            print(a, b, n)
```
  LikeLike
Jim Randell 7:10 am on 8 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: Danny Roth ( 91 )
Teaser 3272: Festive visitors
From The Sunday Times, 8th June 2025 [link] [link]

George and Martha’s five daughters left home some years ago but have all moved into the same road, Square Avenue, which has 25 normally numbered houses. At Christmas last year, the parents drove to the road to visit but, with age rolling on, George’s memory was beginning to fail him. “Can’t remember the house numbers!” he moaned. “Quite easy!” retorted Martha, “if you remember three things. If you take the house numbers of Andrea, Bertha and Caroline, square each of them and add up the three squares, you get the square of Dorothy’s house number. Furthermore, the average of Andrea’s and Dorothy’s house numbers equals the average of Bertha’s and Caroline’s house numbers. Finally, Elizabeth’s house number is the average of the other four, and could not be smaller”.

Which five houses got a knock on the door?

[teaser3272]
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- Jim Randell 7:15 am on 8 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Here’s a quick solution using the [[ SubstitutedExpression ]] solver from the enigma.py library to implement the requirements directly. (More efficient formulations are available).
  
  The following Python program executes in 129ms. (Internal runtime is 65ms).
```
from enigma import (SubstitutedExpression, Accumulator, irange, printf)

p = SubstitutedExpression(
  [
    # "sum of the squares of A, B, C equals square of D"
    "sq(A) + sq(B) + sq(C) == sq(D)",
    # "mean of A and D equals mean of B and C"
    "A + D == B + C",
    # "E's number is the mean of the other four"
    "A + B + C + D == 4 * E",
  ],
  # allow house numbers from 1-25
  base=26,
  digits=irange(1, 25),
  # return the house numbers
  answer="(A, B, C, D, E)",
  template=""
)

# minimise the value of E
r = Accumulator(fn=min, collect=1)

# find candidate solutions
for (A, B, C, D, E) in p.answers():
  r.accumulate_data(E, (A, B, C, D, E))

# output solution
printf()
printf("min(E) = {r.value}")
for (A, B, C, D, E) in r.data:
  printf("-> A={A} B={B} C={C} D={D} E={E}")
```
  Solution: The house numbers are: 3, 4, 8, 12, 13.
  
  There are four candidate solutions:
  
  A=3 B=4 C=12 D=13 E=8
  A=3 B=12 C=4 D=13 E=8
  A=4 B=6 C=12 D=14 E=9
  A=4 B=12 C=6 D=14 E=9
  
  The minimum value for E is 8, and so the other numbers are: A = 3, (B, C) = (4, 12) (in some order), D = 13.
  
  LikeLike
- Ruud 4:00 pm on 8 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
```
import itertools

min_e = 25
for a, b, c, d in itertools.permutations(range(1, 26), 4):
    if a * a + b * b + c * c == d * d and a + d == b + c and (e := (a + b + c + d) / 4) % 1 == 0:
        if e < min_e:
            min_numbers = set()
            min_e = e
        if e <= min_e:
            min_numbers.add(tuple(sorted((a, b, c, d, int(e)))))
print(*min_numbers)
```
  LikeLike
- Ruud 7:04 am on 9 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
  One liner:
```
import itertools

print(
    *next(
        solutions
        for e in range(1, 26)
        if (
            solutions := [
                (a, b, c, d, e)
                for a, b, c, d in itertools.permutations(range(1, 26), 4)
                if a * a + b * b + c * c == d * d and a + d == b + c and e == (a + b + c + d) / 4
            ]
        )
    )
)
```
  LikeLike

Jim Randell 9:11 am on 5 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: C Higgins ( 41 ), by: H Bradley ( 41 )

Teaser 2536: ELEMENTARY

From The Sunday Times, 1st May 2011 [link] [link]

“Every number has some significance”, said Holmes, referring to his monograph on the subject. “Then what do you make of this?”, asked Watson, scribbling a seven-digit number on the desk diary. “Apart from the obvious fact that it is your old Indian army number”, replied Holmes, “I see that it is the largest seven-digit number where the difference between it and its reverse is the cube of a factor of the number itself”.

What was Watson’s number?

[teaser2536]

Jim Randell 9:11 am on 5 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
A simple search yields the largest possible number in a reasonable time.

This Python program runs in 194ms. (Internal runtime is 122ms).
```
from enigma import (irange, nrev, is_cube, printf)

# consider 7-digit numbers
for n in irange(9999999, 1000000, step=-1):

  # difference between n and its reverse is the cube of a divisor of n
  d = abs(n - nrev(n))
  if d == 0: continue
  x = is_cube(d)
  if x is None or n % x != 0: continue

  # output soultion
  printf("{n} [diff = {d} = {x}^3]")
  break  # we want the largest number
```
Solution: Watson’s number is: 9841788.

We have:

abs(9841788 − 8871489) = 970299 = 99³
9841788 = 99 × 99412

Because the number is quite large the search doesn’t have to look too far, but we can speed it up.

Writing the number as ABCDEFG then the difference between it and its reverse is a cube, so:

abs(ABCDEFG − GFEDCBA) = x³
where x divides ABCDEFG

And we can rewrite the argument to abs() as:

99 × (10101(A − G) + 1010(B − F) + 100(C − E))

From which we see x must have factors of 3 and 11.

And the original number is divisible by x, so it must be a multiple of 33, which means we can skip candidates that are not divisible by 33. And this gives us a nice compact program, with a much more acceptable runtime.

The following Python program runs in 76ms. (Internal runtime is 12.4ms).
```
from enigma import (irange, nrev, is_cube, printf)

# consider 7-digit numbers
for n in irange.round(9999999, 1000000, step=-33, rnd='I'):

  # difference between n and its reverse is a cube of a divisor of n
  d = abs(n - nrev(n))
  if d == 0: continue
  x = is_cube(d)
  if x is None or n % x != 0: continue

  # output solution
  printf("{n} [diff = {d} = {x}^3]")
  break  # we want the largest number
```
There are 198 such 7-digit numbers, of which the largest is the required answer. The rest can be seen by removing the final [[ break ]] from the program.

The smallest number with this property is 10164:

abs(10164 − 46101) = 35937 = 33³
10164 = 33 × 308

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Frits 1:19 pm on 5 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

I have been discussing this Teaser with Brian Gladman for the last couple of days.
This program has an interal runtime of 12 resp 135 microseconds (Py/PyCPython).

from functools import reduce

d2n = lambda *s: reduce(lambda x,  y: 10 * x + y, s)

# the number's digits: abcdefg
#
# dif =   99^3.(a - g)                   (credit: Brian Gladman)
#       + 99^2.{3.(a - g) + 10.(b - f) + (c - e)}
#       + 99^1.(3.(a - g) + 20.(b - f) + (c - e)}
#
# dif must be a multiple of 99. If abs(dif) also must be a cube then
# dif must be at least a multiple of 33^3.
mx = int((10**7)**(1/3))

# 4th digit from the end of the difference must be 0 or 9
cbs = [i**3 for i in range(33, mx + 1, 33) if (cb := i**3) % 99 == 0 and 
                                               str(cb)[-4] in "09"]

# formula (10^6 - 1).(a - g) + 10.(10^4 - 1).(b - f) + 100.(10^2 - 1).(c - e)
# equals <cb> if abcdefg > gfedcba otherwise it equals -<cb>
mx = 0
# process all possible differences (cubes)
for cb in cbs:
  cr = round(cb ** (1/ 3))
  # if n % cr = 0 then abc9efg % cr must be one of 10 values 
  # (we can know them in advance)
  d9mods = [(i * (1000 % cr)) % cr for i in range(10)]
  s_d9mods = set(d9mods)
  for a in range(9, 0, -1):
    if mx and a < int(str(mx)[0]): break
    for b in range(9, -1, -1):
      if mx and b < int(str(mx)[1]): break
      for g in range(9, -1, -1):
        # a != g otherwise difference = ...0 and a cube root = ...0 
        #        which is impossible as a != 0 (and thus g != 0)
        if g == a: continue
        p1 = 999999 * (a - g)
        for f in range(9, -1, -1):
          p1p2 = p1 + 99990 * (b - f)
          # 99.(c - e) = (+/-)cb - p1p2  
          c_min_e, r = divmod((cb if a > g else -cb) - p1p2 , 9900)
          if not r and -10 < c_min_e < 10:
            # list of possible c's
            cs = (range(c_min_e, 10) if c_min_e > 0 else range(10 + c_min_e))
            for c in reversed(cs):
              e = c - c_min_e
              r = (n9 := d2n(a, b, c, 9, e, f, g)) % cr
              if r in s_d9mods:
                d = 9 - d9mods.index(r)
                n = n9 + 1000 * (d - 9)
                if n > mx:
                  mx = n
                break # propagate this break till we have a new <cb>
            else: continue
            break  
        else: continue
        break  
      else: continue
      break  
    else: continue
    break  

print(f"answer: {mx}")

LikeLike

Frits 4:03 pm on 5 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
Instead of using d9mods to determine “d” we can also use:
```
d = ((a + c + e + g) - (b + f)) % 11
```
LikeLike

Frits 1:49 pm on 5 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

Less efficient.

This program has an interal runtime of 1.1 resp 3.2 ms (PyPy/CPython).

from collections import defaultdict

# difference must be a multiple of 99. If difference also is a cube then
# the difference must be at least a multiple of 33^3.
mx = int((10**7)**(1/3))

# 4th digit from the end of the difference must be 0 or 9
cbs = {i**3 for i in range(33, mx + 1, 33) if (cb := i**3) % 99 == 0 and 
                                              str(cb)[-4] in "09"}
# 7-digit number = abcdefg
# make a dictionary of possible <fg>'s per <ab> 
d = defaultdict(set)
for cube in cbs:
  last2 = (cube % 100)
  for ab in range(10, 100):
    ba = int(str(ab)[::-1])
    # 2 situations: fg < ba or fg > ba
    for i, fg in enumerate([(100 + ba - last2) % 100, (ba + last2) % 100]):
      gf = int(str(fg).zfill(2)[::-1]) 
      if i: 
        if ab > gf: 
          d[ab] |= {fg}
      else: 
        if ab < gf: 
          d[ab] |= {fg}   
      # ab = gf implies dif = ...00 which can't be a multiple of 33^3  

for ab in reversed(range(10, 100)):
  ab_ = 100000 * ab 
  for cde in reversed(range(1000)):
    abcde = ab_ + 100 * cde
    # check all possible fg's
    for fg in sorted(d[ab], reverse=True):
      n = abcde + fg
      r = int(str(n)[::-1])
      # find whether the cube root of the difference
      # is an integer that is a divisor of the number
      if abs(n - r) in cbs:
        # calculate cube root of the difference
        cr = round(abs(n - r) ** (1/3))
        if n % cr == 0: 
          print("answer:", n)
          exit(0)

LikeLike

Jim Randell 3:01 pm on 6 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

I’ve obviously not spent as much time analysing this as Frits. But here is an alternative approach that uses the [[ express() ]] function from the enigma.py library to express the difference between the original number and its reverse in terms of the differences between digits of the number (using the expression given in my original comment).

It then generates all 198 possible 7-digit numbers with the property, and selects the largest of them.

It has an internal runtime of 2.3ms.

from enigma import (Accumulator, irange, inf, cb, express, cproduct, nconcat, group, subsets, unpack, printf)

# collect pairs of digits by their difference
diff = group(subsets(irange(0, 9), size=2, select='M'), by=unpack(lambda x, y: x - y))

# find n for difference d, must be divisible by x (a multiple of 11)
def solve(d, x):
  # find d1 = (A - G), d2 = (B - F), d3 = (C - E) values
  ms = [100, 1010, 10101]  # multiples of (C - E), (B - F), (A - G)
  # solve for quantities -9 ... +9
  for (q1, q2, q3) in express(d // 99, ms, min_q=-9, max_q=9):
    # consider +d and -d
    for (d3, d2, d1) in [(q1, q2, q3), (-q1, -q2, -q3)]:
      # find possible digit values
      for (A, G) in diff[d1]:
        if A == 0: continue
        for ((B, F), (C, E)) in cproduct([diff[d2], diff[d3]]):
          # x is a multiple of 11, so there is only one possible value for D
          D = (A - B + C + E - F + G) % 11
          if D > 9: continue
          n = nconcat(A, B, C, D, E, F, G)
          if n % x == 0:
            yield n

# find the largest value
r = Accumulator(fn=max)

# consider possible differences
for x in irange(33, inf, step=33):
  d = cb(x)
  if d > 9999999: break
  # find possible n values
  for n in solve(d, x):
    r.accumulate_data(n, (d, x))

# output solution
(n, (d, x), t) = (r.value, r.data, r.count)
printf("max(n) = {n} [diff = {d} = {x}^3] [from {t} values]")

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Frits 12:15 pm on 7 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

@Jim,

An interesting idea to use “express”.

It looks like “n” is ordered within the (A, G) loop.

If you use “irange(9, 0, -1)” in the diff formula you can break after the yield and propagate the break until you are out of the (A, G) loop.

LikeLike

ruudvanderham 1:24 pm on 7 June 2025 Permalink | Reply

import peek

for i in range(9999999, 1000000 - 1, -1):
    if (diff := i - int("".join(*[reversed(str(i))]))) > 0:
        if (c := round(diff ** (1 / 3))) ** 3 == diff:
            if i % c == 0:
                peek(i, diff, c)
                break

LikeLike

Jim Randell 8:35 am on 3 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: C Higgins ( 41 ), by: H Bradley ( 41 )
Teaser 2541: Lotto luck
From The Sunday Times, 5th June 2011 [link]

Chris was lucky in the lotto, winning a whole number of pounds (under £ 5,000), which he shared with his five children. John got £ 1 more than a fifth of the total; Ciaran got £ 1 more than a fifth of the remainder. After Ciaran got his share, Fergal got £ 1 more than a fifth of the remainder, and after Fergal got his share, Brendan got £ 1 more than a fifth of what was left. After Brendan got his share, Chris gave Grainne £ 1 more than a fifth of what was left and kept the remainder (a whole number of pounds).

How much did Chris keep?

[teaser2541]
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Hugo, Jim Randell, and John Crabtree are discussing. Toggle Comments
- Jim Randell 8:36 am on 3 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
  For a starting amount X, the next child’s share is X/5 + 1, and the remainder is 4X/5 − 1.
  
  Each of the shares and remainders must be an integer, because if we ever get a share that has a fractional part, then the fractional part of the remainder will be further subdivided into a smaller fraction. And as both the starting amount and the final remainder are whole numbers, then all the intermediate numbers are too.
  
  The following Python program runs in 71ms. (Internal runtime is 3.7ms).
```
from enigma import (irange, ediv, printf)

# calculate share and remainder from total X
def calc(X):
  share = ediv(X, 5) + 1
  return (share, X - share)

# consider possible winnings
for W in irange(1, 4999):

  # calculate share and remainder for each child
  try:
    (J, R) = calc(W)  # John
    (C, R) = calc(R)  # Ciaran
    (F, R) = calc(R)  # Fergal
    (B, R) = calc(R)  # Brendan
    (G, R) = calc(R)  # Grainne
  except ValueError:
    continue

  # output solution
  printf("W={W} -> J={J} C={C} F={F} B={B} G={G} -> R={R}")
```
  Solution: Chris kept £ 1019.
  
  The initial winnings were £ 3120, and they are distributed as:
  
  John = £ 625
  Ciaran = £ 500
  Fergal = £ 400
  Brendan = £ 320
  Grainne = £ 256
  Chris = £ 1019
  total = £ 3120
  
  It is easy to see that the initial amount won must be a multiple of 5, which allows us to skip 80% of the cases checked. (And brings the internal runtime down to 1.0ms).
  
  And with further analysis we can get an even faster solution:
  
  We find the remainder after step k is:
  
  R[k] = (4^k W − 5(5^k − 4^k)) / (5^k)
  
  So after the shares for the 5 sons have been distributed we have:
  
  R[5] = (1024 W − 10505) / 3125
  ⇒
  1024 W − 3125 R = 10505
  
  where: 0 < R < W < 5000.
  
  This is a Linear Diophantine Equation in 2 variables, and can be solved using the Extended Euclidean Algorithm [@wikipedia], implemented as [[ egcd() ]] in the enigma.py library.
  
  Here is a general solver for this kind of equation:
```
from enigma import (egcd, div, divc)

# solve linear diophantine equations in 2 variables:
def diop_linear(a, b, c, mX=0, fn=0):
  """
  solve the linear Diophantine equation a.X + b.Y = c for integers X, Y
  (where a, b are non-zero, and gcd(a, b) divides c).

  return ((X0, Y0), (Xd, Yd)) to give solutions of the form:

    (X, Y) = (X0 + t.Xd, Y0 + t.Yd) for integer t

  the value of X0 returned is the smallest integer possible above (or equal
  to) mX, and Xd is positive.

  however, if <fn> is set, then a function f: t -> (X, Y) is returned instead.
  """
  if a == 0 or b == 0: raise ValueError("diop_linear: invalid equation")
  (X, Y, g) = egcd(a, b)
  if g > 1:
    (a, b, c) = (a // g, b // g, div(c, g))
    if c is None: raise ValueError("diop_linear: no solutions")
  # calculate particular solution (X0, Y0) and deltas (Xd, Yd)
  (X0, Y0) = (c * X, c * Y)
  (Xd, Yd) = ((-b, a) if b < 0 else (b, -a))
  # adjust X0 to be the smallest possible value
  t = divc(mX - X0, Xd)
  X0 += t * Xd
  Y0 += t * Yd
  if fn: return (lambda t: (X0 + t * Xd, Y0 + t * Yd))
  return ((X0, Y0), (Xd, Yd))
```
  Which we can then use to solve the puzzle:
```
from enigma import (irange, inf, printf)

# k = number of sons
k = 5
# solve the Diophantine equation: 4^k W - 5^k R = 5(5^k - 4^k)
(p4k, p5k) = (4**k, 5**k)
fn = diop_linear(p4k, -p5k, 5 * (p5k - p4k), fn=1)

# consider increasing solutions where 0 < W < 5000
for t in irange(0, inf):
  (W, R) = fn(t)
  if not (W < 5000): break
  if R < 0: continue
  # output solution
  printf("W={W} R={R}")
```
  This program has an internal runtime of just 35µs.
  
  LikeLike
  - Hugo 10:54 am on 9 January 2026 Permalink | Reply
    
    A slightly different way of looking at it:
    
    He borrows £5 from his wife, so the amount to be distributed is £3125 (= 5^5).
    The eldest child gets a fifth of that, and each successive child four fifths as much as the previous child, being a fifth of what is left. He ends up with £1024 (= 4^5), from which he can repay his wife.
    
    There are further solutions with an integer times as much, always including the borrowed £5.
    
    If there were six children, the smallest solution would be £15625 (= 5^6),
    if only four then £625 (= 5^4), in each case including the borrowed £5.
    
    It’s not hard to come up with variants in which each child gets a quarter, or a sixth, or some other fraction of what is left.
    
    LikeLike
- John Crabtree 8:03 pm on 4 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
  
  This teaser is a variation of the Monkey and the Coconuts puzzle which Martin Gardner wrote about decades ago in his column in the Scientific American. The puzzle is older than that.
  R[1] = 4W/5-1 = 4(W+5)/5 – 5
  And so R[k] = 4^k (W + 5) / (5^k) – 5
  R[5] = 1024(W+5) / 3125 – 5, and so (W+5) = 3125, and the answer follows.
  
  LikeLike
  - Jim Randell 3:10 pm on 6 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
    
    A neat bit of analysis.
    
    LikeLike
Jim Randell 6:21 am on 1 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: Peter Good ( 30 )
Teaser 3271: Uncut diamonds
From The Sunday Times, 1st June 2025 [link] [link]

Andrew was building a rhombus-shaped patio. He could have paved it with equilateral triangular slabs with 1ft edges, but he wanted a layout with a hexagonal slab in place of six triangular ones at various places. He considered two layouts that were symmetrical in two perpendicular directions:

Layout 1: every triangular slab touches the perimeter of the patio in at least one point.

Layout 2: each group of three adjacent hexagonal slabs encloses exactly one triangular one.

The triangular and hexagonal slabs come in boxes of 12, and Andrew chose layout 1 because he would only need a third as many boxes of triangular slabs as layout 2.

What length were the sides of the patio and how many slabs in total would be left over?

[teaser3271]
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Jim Randell is discussing. Toggle Comments
- Jim Randell 7:13 am on 1 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Once you have determined how the two layouts work (isometric graph paper helps), this is a relatively straightforward puzzle.
  
  Here are the two layouts on a rhombus with sides of size 8:
  
  (Layout 1 uses 17 hexes and 26 tris. Layout 2 uses 16 hexes and 32 tris. Note that there are tris in Layout 2 that are not surrounded by 3 hexes).
  
  The following Python program generates increasing sizes for each layout, and determines the (side, hexes, tris) for each case, and then looks for two layouts with the same size where layout 1 requires 1/3 the number of boxes of triangular tiles as layout 2.
  
  It runs in 60ms. (Internal runtime is 266µs).
```
from enigma import (irange, inf, sq, intersect, divc, printf)

# generate (<side>, <hexes>, <tris>) for layout 1
def layout1(M):
  # consider number of hexagons on the long diagonal
  for n in irange(1, inf):
    s = n + 1
    if s > M: break
    h = 2 * sum(irange(n, 1, step=-3)) - n
    t = 2 * sq(s) - 6 * h
    yield (s, h, t)

# generate (<side>, <hexes>, <tris>) for layout 2
def layout2(M):
  # there is a sq(n) array of hexagons
  for n in irange(1, inf):
    s = 2 * n
    if s > M: break
    h = sq(n)
    t = 2 * sq(s) - 6 * h
    yield (s, h, t)

# collect (h, t) by s for each layout
M = 100
(d1, d2) = (dict(), dict())
for (s, h, t) in layout1(M): d1[s] = (h, t)
for (s, h, t) in layout2(M): d2[s] = (h, t)

# calculate boxes and left overs
def boxes(n, k=12):
  b = divc(n, k)
  return (b, k * b - n)

# examine common side lengths
for s in sorted(intersect([d1.keys(), d2.keys()])):
  ((h1, t1), (h2, t2)) = (d1[s], d2[s])
  # check for layout 1 needing 1/3 as many boxes of tris as layout 2
  ((b1, r1), (b2, r2)) = (boxes(t1), boxes(t2))
  if 3 * b1 == b2:
    # output solution
    printf("s={s}: layout 1 = {h1} hex + {t1} tri; layout 2 = {h2} hex + {t2} tri")
    printf("-> tri: layout 1 = {b1} boxes (rem = {r1}); layout 2 = {b2} boxes (rem = {r2})")
    ((b1, r1), (b2, r2)) = (boxes(h1), boxes(h2))
    printf("-> hex: layout 1 = {b1} boxes (rem = {r1}); layout 2 = {b2} boxes (rem = {r2})")
    printf()
```
  Solution: The sides of the patio were 24 ft. There are 9 slabs left over.
  
  Layout 1 uses 177 hex slabs (= 15 boxes, with 3 unused), and 90 tri slabs (= 8 boxes, with 6 unused).
  
  Layout 2 uses 144 hex slabs (= 12 boxes, with 0 unused), and 288 tri slabs (= 24 boxes, with 0 unused).
  
  LikeLike
  - Jim Randell 9:45 am on 1 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
    Some analysis gives a shorter program:
    
    For a rhombus with side s, the number of hexagons in each of the layouts is:
    
    layout 1: h1 = ceil(sq(s − 1)/3), where s ≥ 2
    layout 2: h2 = sq(s/2), where s is even
    
    The following program considers increasing even length sides of the rhombus, until a solution is found.
```
from enigma import (irange, inf, sq, divc, ediv, printf)

# calculate boxes and left overs
def boxes(n, k=12):
  b = divc(n, k)
  return (b, k * b - n)

# consider possible sides of the rhombus
for s in irange(2, inf, step=2):
  n = 2 * sq(s)  # number of triangular cells
  # calculate the number of hex tiles
  (h1, h2) = (divc(sq(s - 1), 3), sq(ediv(s, 2)))
  # calculate the number of tri tiles
  (t1, t2) = (n - 6 * h1, n - 6 * h2)
  # calculate number of boxes of tri tiles
  ((b1, r1), (b2, r2)) = (boxes(t1), boxes(t2))
  if 3 * b1 == b2:
    # output solution
    printf("s={s}: layout 1 = {h1} hex + {t1} tri; layout 2 = {h2} hex + {t2} tri")
    printf("-> tri: layout 1 = {b1} boxes (rem = {r1}); layout 2 = {b2} boxes (rem = {r2})")
    ((b1, r1), (b2, r2)) = (boxes(h1), boxes(h2))
    printf("-> hex: layout 1 = {b1} boxes (rem = {r1}); layout 2 = {b2} boxes (rem = {r2})")
    printf()
    break
```
    LikeLike
Jim Randell 7:48 am on 29 May 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: Victor Bryant ( 149 )
Teaser 2537: Odds and evens
From The Sunday Times, 8th May 2011 [link] [link]

I have taken two three-digit numbers and multiplied them together by long multiplication. [Below] are my workings, but with O marking the positions of the odd digits and E the even digits:

What are the two three-digit numbers?

[teaser2537]
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ELBAZ HAVIV and Jim Randell are discussing. Toggle Comments
- Jim Randell 7:49 am on 29 May 2025 Permalink | Reply
  Here is a solution using the [[ SubstitutedExpression ]] solver from the enigma.py library.
  
  It runs in 76ms. (Internal runtime of the generated program is 478µs).
```
#! python3 -m enigma -rr

#      E E E          a b c
#  *   O O O      *   d e f
#  ---------      ----------
#  E E E          g h i
#    E O E    ->    j k m
#    O O O E        n p q r
#  =========      =========
#  O E O O E      s t u v w

SubstitutedExpression

--distinct=""

"{abc} * {def} = {stuvw}"

"{abc} * {f} = {npqr}"
"{abc} * {e} = {jkm}"
"{abc} * {d} = {ghi}"

# odds and evens
--invalid="0,adefgjknpqsuv"
--invalid="2|4|6|8,defknpqsuv"
--invalid="1|3|5|7|9,abcghijmrtw"

# prettify the output (disable with: -O -A -S)
--answer="({abc}, {def})"
--output="lambda p, s, ans: p.output_mul(s, ans, rev=1)"
```
  Solution: The three-digit numbers are: 226 and 135.
  
  The completed multiplication sum looks like this:
  
  LikeLike
- ELBAZ HAVIV 6:06 pm on 9 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
  
  Hello Jim
  
  Please help me to understand
  the removing of the 3 E’s
  
  from the original puzzle
  
  or why
  the original puzzle add those 3 E’s
  if they are not needed.
  
  Thank you.
  
  LikeLike
  - Jim Randell 8:34 pm on 9 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
    
    The removed Es are the 0 padding in the intermediate multiplications.
    
    So instead of doing:
    
    226 × 100 = 22600
    226 × 30 = 6780
    226 × 5 = 1130
    
    We just do:
    
    226 × 1 = 226
    226 × 3 = 678
    226 × 5 = 1130
    
    And shift the results across by the appropriate number of places.
    
    LikeLike
- ELBAZ HAVIV 9:04 pm on 9 June 2025 Permalink | Reply
  
  Hello again
  
  That’s a bit strange.
  but it’s ok
  
  because regularly long multiplication
  is as you show in the We just do:
  
  Thank you.
  
  LikeLike

Jim Randell 9:39 am on 27 May 2025 Permalink | Reply
Tags: by: Angela Newing ( 40 )

Teaser 2520: [Phone number]

From The Sunday Times, 9th January 2011 [link] [link]

I have a brand-new 11-digit phone number. The first and last digits are zero and the middle section uses each of the digits 1 to 9 once. If you called the number by pressing the buttons on the standard keypad of a modern phone, you would find no two consecutive digits of the number in the same row or column. Looking at the fifth and sixth digits, I see one is double the other. The second and third digits differ by two, the seventh is lower than the sixth and the 10th is odd, and one more than the eighth.

What is my number?

This puzzle was originally published with no title.

[teaser2520]

Jim Randell 9:40 am on 27 May 2025 Permalink | Reply

Here is a solution using the [[ SubstitutedExpression ]] solver from the enigma.py library.

The following run file executes in 77ms. (Internal runtime of the generated program is 170µs).

#! python3 -m enigma -rr

SubstitutedExpression

# the number is: 0ABCDEFGHI0
--digits="1-9"  # for A-I

# a keypad is laid out as:
#
#   1 2 3
#   4 5 6
#   7 8 9
#     0
#
# map digits to (<row>, <col>):
#              0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
--code="row = [4, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3]"
--code="col = [2, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3]"

# no digits share row or col with an adjacent digit
--code="check = lambda x, y: col[x] != col[y] and row[x] != row[y]"
"check(0, A)"
"check(A, B)"
"check(B, C)"
"check(C, D)"
"check(D, E)"
"check(E, F)"
"check(F, G)"
"check(G, H)"
"check(H, I)"
"check(I, 0)"

# one of 5th or 6th digits is double the other
"(D == 2 * E) or (E == 2 * D)"

# 2nd and 3rd digits differ by 2
"abs(A - B) = 2"

# 7th digit is lower than 6th
"F < E"

# 10th digit is odd, and one more than 8th
"I % 2 = 1"
"G + 1 = I"

--template="0 A B C D E F G H I 0"
--solution=""

Solution: The number is: 03594816270.

LikeLike

Ruud 3:02 pm on 27 May 2025 Permalink | Reply

Very brute force, but still vey fast:

row = {0: 0, 1: 1, 2: 1, 3: 1, 4: 4, 5: 4, 6: 4, 7: 7, 8: 7, 9: 7}
column = {0: 2, 1: 1, 2: 2, 3: 3, 4: 1, 5: 2, 6: 3, 7: 1, 8: 2, 9: 3}

for n in itertools.permutations(range(1, 10)):
    if (
        ((number:=(None,0)+ n + (0,))[5] == 2 * number[6] or number[6] == 2 * number[5])
        and abs(number[2] - number[3]) == 2
        and number[7] < number[6]
        and number[10] % 2 == 1
        and number[10] == number[8] + 1
        and all(row[number[i]] != row[number[i + 1]] and column[number[i]] != column[number[i + 1]] for i in range(1, 11))
    ):
        print("".join(str(number[i]) for i in range(1, 12)))

LikeLike

Frits 6:29 pm on 27 May 2025 Permalink | Reply

#! python3 -m enigma -rr
 
SubstitutedExpression

# the number is: 0ABCDEFGHI0
--digits="1-9"  # for A-I
 
# a keypad is laid out as:
#
#   1 2 3      
#   4 5 6      
#   7 8 9      
#     0       
#
# map digits to (<row>, <col>):
#              0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
--code="row = [4, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3]"
--code="col = [2, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3]"

--invalid="1|3|5|7|9,G"     # G is even
--invalid="1|3|5|6|7|9,DE"  # {D, E} is either {2, 4} or {4, 8}
--invalid="8|9,F"           # F < E and E is 2, 4 or 8
--invalid="4,ABCFGH"        # either D = 4 or E = 4
--invalid="2|4|6|8,AB"      # D, E and G are even, so A and B can't be even
--invalid="1|9,AB"          # A and B not both on same row
--invalid="5,CDEFGH"        # {3, 5, 7} remains for A and B
--invalid="2|5|8,A"         # not adjacent to "0" button

--assign="B,5"              # either A = 5 or B = 5 but also A != 5
--invalid="2|4|6|8,AC"      # not on same row/col as B(5)
 
# no digits share row or col with an adjacent digit
--code="check = lambda x, y: col[x] != col[y] and row[x] != row[y]"
"check(A, B)"
"check(B, C)"
"check(C, D)"
"check(D, E)"
"check(E, F)"
"check(F, G)"
"check(G, H)"
"check(H, I)"

# parity of F and H is unknown
"45 - (A + B + C + D + E + F + G + I) = H"
 
# one of 5th or 6th digits is double the other
"(D == 2 * E) or (E == 2 * D)"
 
# 2nd and 3rd digits differ by 2
"abs(A - B) = 2"
 
# 7th digit is lower than 6th
"F < E"
 
# 10th digit is odd, and one more than 8th
"G + 1 = I"
 
--template="0 A B C D E F G H I 0"
--distinct="ABCDEFGI"
--solution=""

N = 3
r = lambda i: (i - 1) // N
c = lambda i: (i - 1) % N if i else 1

forbidden = {i: set(j for j in range(10) if j != i and
                (r(i) == r(j) or c(i) == c(j))) for i in range(10)}

def solve(k=9, ns=set(range(1, 10)), ss=[0]):
  if k == 0:
    # check 10th number
    if 0 not in forbidden[ss[-1]] and ss[-1] == ss[-3] + 1:
      yield ss + [0]
  else:
    match(10 - k):
     case(3): 
       if abs(ss[-1] - ss[-2]) != 2: return
     case(6): 
       if not (ss[-1] == 2 * ss[-2] or ss[-2] == 2 * ss[-1]): return
     case(7):   
       if ss[-1] > ss[-2]: return
     case(8):    
       if ss[-1] % 2: return

    for n in ns:
      if n not in forbidden[ss[-1]]:
        yield from solve(k - 1, ns - {n}, ss + [n])

for s in solve():
  print("answer:", ''.join(str(x) for x in s))

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