lol this was a fun one! figuring these out was hard but i eventually figured it out. i also didn’t figure out B until after solving the last puzzle. i had suspected the first puzzle’s gimmick but i did not expect where this would turn.
hint for people who still need to figure it out:all the answers can be written as 1 character, if you go beyond your keyboard and into ascii
If you can find tons of alternate solutions which make the final result basically arbitrary, you should think about if there is a hidden rule you don't follow and restricts the solution down to unique.
dubious in some places, and there are some alternate solutions that don't end up fitting the pattern (but if you find several alternate solutions then there is no obvious pattern...), but cute overall :) hny
Solved! It's a bit unfair that W requires some knowledge about <rot13>cebtenzzvat ynathntrf</rot13>. Also an unintended solution of B is <rot13>yrggre F zrnavat gur fhpprffbe, pbzzbayl hfrq va cebivat onfvp cebcregvrf bs Angheny ahzoref sebz Crnab Nkvbzf</rot13>, although that doesn't fit the final expression.
Solved! Thanks for the hints given in the comments! What shocked me was that ChatGPT helped me with three of the questions. I asked it two questions, and it corrected a previous one when I asked it the seventh. But it didn't solve the seventh question, and I spent three days thinking about it before I solved it. Thank you for the puzzle and happy new year!
I think that in addition to #7, #2 and #6 are particularly interesting. I believe that without the help of ChatGPT, these two questions may take me no less thinking time than #7.
Really fun so far! I think I've got everything except W and maybe B. Is there possibly a mistake or inconsistency with W? I found a way to get [3]50 = 40-30, which feels close. (And [0.7419]50 = 40-30, which is arguably true, lol.)
I came to the comments hoping for commiseration on how hard W is, but I suppose I can live with the reassurance that it is in fact gettable. Maybe in a few hours I'll be ready to re-enter the equation trenches and stare at it again.
oh, good lord. I wasn't expecting that gur gjb jbhyq unir qvssrerag zrnavatf!
Now I have solved the final challenge, but it did require me to rethink my understanding in one case. (That might be a nudge in the right direction. Can nudge further on request, but I bet you'll get there. :-) )
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Here’s a list of my answers. They weren’t correct (though I was able to figure out the final answer), but I did have a lot of fun finding them!
Spoilers below!
This was a really interesting idea, and a very novel experience. Well done to the creator!
lol this was a fun one! figuring these out was hard but i eventually figured it out. i also didn’t figure out B until after solving the last puzzle. i had suspected the first puzzle’s gimmick but i did not expect where this would turn.
hint for people who still need to figure it out:
all the answers can be written as 1 character, if you go beyond your keyboard and into asciii don't know how to make spoilers so here's rot13
ab gurer ner punenpgref orlbaq nfpvv hfrq va guvf tnzr. lbh arrq gb tb gb havpbqr.
my bad, thanks i get them mixed up
s literally has NO SOLUTION EXCEPT ∅. What is the solution even supposed to be if ONE OF THE VARIABLES IS NOT A NUMBER???
It's not a variable :)
0/10 Bad puzzle, didn’t prevent the infinite amount of alternate solutions
t=0+8073 works (try substituting yourself, the 0 gets pasted onto other numbers) s=-12 works B=1.5* works etc.
W can be -168121+2
(no spoilers: these are all solutions that are strictly* correct but don’t give the right final answer)
I got -72958 from entirely strictly* valid substitutions.
*strictly means that stuff like (2)5 = 10 and 055 = 55 are NOT allowed.
All of these options are prevented if you restrict yourself to one letter = one symbol
If you can find tons of alternate solutions which make the final result basically arbitrary, you should think about if there is a hidden rule you don't follow and restricts the solution down to unique.
dubious in some places, and there are some alternate solutions that don't end up fitting the pattern (but if you find several alternate solutions then there is no obvious pattern...), but cute overall :) hny
Solved! It's a bit unfair that W requires some knowledge about <rot13>cebtenzzvat ynathntrf</rot13>. Also an unintended solution of B is <rot13>yrggre F zrnavat gur fhpprffbe, pbzzbayl hfrq va cebivat onfvp cebcregvrf bs Angheny ahzoref sebz Crnab Nkvbzf</rot13>, although that doesn't fit the final expression.
I am also stuck in W and I hope I can succeed finally :)
Solved! Thanks for the hints given in the comments! What shocked me was that ChatGPT helped me with three of the questions. I asked it two questions, and it corrected a previous one when I asked it the seventh. But it didn't solve the seventh question, and I spent three days thinking about it before I solved it. Thank you for the puzzle and happy new year!
I think that in addition to #7, #2 and #6 are particularly interesting. I believe that without the help of ChatGPT, these two questions may take me no less thinking time than #7.
#2 uses a well-known number that you can find out about by just putting `40585 math` into a search engine
Really fun so far! I think I've got everything except W and maybe B. Is there possibly a mistake or inconsistency with W? I found a way to get [3]50 = 40-30, which feels close. (And [0.7419]50 = 40-30, which is arguably true, lol.)
Nevermind, I solved W. Wow!
I came to the comments hoping for commiseration on how hard W is, but I suppose I can live with the reassurance that it is in fact gettable. Maybe in a few hours I'll be ready to re-enter the equation trenches and stare at it again.
(small spoiler) Unlike the other letters, W is slightly nonstandard, potentially requiring some knowledge of <rot13> pbzchgre fpvrapr </rot13>.
(I haven't solved the final challenge yet, even though I thought I understood every letter.)
oh, good lord. I wasn't expecting that gur gjb jbhyq unir qvssrerag zrnavatf!
Now I have solved the final challenge, but it did require me to rethink my understanding in one case. (That might be a nudge in the right direction. Can nudge further on request, but I bet you'll get there. :-) )