Lenny Conundrum 183

[AySz88]

A wise old Kougra has a puzzle for you:



"Suppose each letter is worth a certain number of points: A = 1 point, B = 2, C = 3, and so on. Then, make all vowels negative."

"Now, I'm thinking of three different pets. Each has a number of points based on the letters in the name of their species, and they are all different species. If the total number of points for all three is 203, what are the three pets?"

At this point, you ask the Kougra, "What about the letter Y? Isn't it sometimes considered a vowel?"

The Kougra looks at you. "Y DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!" he bellows. "Err, sorry for that outburst. Just assume that it isn't a vowel. Oh! And I forgot to mention that the first letter in the species name should have double points."

What are the three pets the Kougra is thinking of? Please submit your answer by putting all three pet names in alphabetical order, with no spaces or punctuation between the names. For example, if the answer was Ixi, Lupe, and Chia, you would submit the answer "chiaixilupe".

I hit two problems:

• There's more than one way to interpret "the first letter in the species name should have double points".
• Regardless of which way it should be interpreted, I have more than one answer either way.

In my rush, I sent in the first answer that checked, but all my other answers checked too.

[gabriellaeve]

I don't understand what the second interpretation is - but I got two answers regardless, PM me if you want to compare notes...

[Siniri]

I figured they meant, "Double the value of the first letter (whether it be a negative vowel or consonant)," sort of a "capital letter bonus"; that is, if that letter appeared again in the name, it would only count once since it wasn't the first letter. And I only got one solution; of course, I didn't dally to see if there were others -- I just double-checked my math and submitted. I found a number of solutions that were 1-3 letters off. I made an excel sheet with the points for each letter (writing the vowels as negative). Then I put the pet names and scores in a column and sorted by score. I grayed out any pets that had the same scores since I figured there would only be one unique solution. Then I just started adding combinations; when I got numbers that were close, I looked for other pets that might have similar scores.

The scores for my 3 pets were 66, 31, and 106. I contemplated whether that was too much info to post, but I've decided to post it. The top 250 is long gone, and people will still have to add up the scores for a bunch of pets until they find ones that add up to those scores. I've taken some of the math out for them, but there's still significant work left to be done.

[apranum]

aah... I reread this, and yep it kinda make different interpretation

the first letter in the species name

it could be K from Krawk
or
K, R, A, W from krawk

but yea... they said in instead of of... so perhaps the 2nd one is correct

[gabriellaeve]

That is how I interpreted it as well - ie. Kiko would be 11+11-9+11-15.

The numbers you got are not the numbers I got - I got 106, 56, 41 and one of those numbers had 2 possible pets that could make it...

interesting that you came up with a totally different solution...

[background_noise]

I probably made a mistake in my math, but I found 20 combinations of three names that work -- and exactly ONE combination that doesn't contain a Y in it anywhere. It does contain a W, though.

[Siniri]

The numbers you got are not the numbers I got - I got 106, 56, 41 and one of those numbers had 2 possible pets that could make it...

interesting that you came up with a totally different solution...

Hmm, I found the 56, but I never found one that equals 41. Do you want to confirm each other's math by PM? I assumed the TNT member in charge of the LC wrote a program to calculate all possible combinations, then picked a number that had only one (maybe 2) possible solutions... At least that's what I would have done. If there really are 20 possible answers, they're going to have many answer strings to compare... I guess it wouldn't be that hard, but it's a little sloppy.

[AySz88]

Here are the two interpretations:

- Double the first letter of the species name once, the first time it appears
- Double the first letter of the species name every time it appears in the name

However, I have at least two different solutions where none of the species repeat their first letter anywhere in their name (so they work for both interpretations).

I have a program that does it, and I have...
- 20 answers for the first interpretation
- 25 for the second

[Dragon Katt]

prehaps its wants the first 3 names that come alphabetically?

[stones]

*scratches head* uhhhhh.... me donno *smiles dumbly*

[Dragon Katt]

Congratulations! You have guessed correctly in the Lenny Conundrum game (round 183). You have won 617 NP!

[Siniri]

I also got it right (and first 250). My answer was jetsamtechotuskaninny.

[AySz88]

I got it right too - but my answer was cybunnygrarrlmynci .

Code:

/**
 * Produces solutions for Lenny Conundrum 183, using two different interpretations.
 *
 * @author (Alexander Yuan / AySz88)
 * @version (September 14, 2006)
 * Released into the public domain.
 * Most easily used with BlueJ
 */
public class LennyConund14Sept2006
{
    public static String[] species = {"Shoyru", "Kougra", "Kacheek", "Lupe", "Uni", "Gelert", "Eyrie", "Acara", "JubJub", "Grundo",
        "Ixi", "Bruce", "Mynci", "Usul", "Wocky", "Xweetok", "Scorchio", "Zafara", "Grarrl", "Aisha", "Kau", "Meerca",
        "Flotsam", "Peophin", "Elephante", "Quiggle", "Nimmo", "Chia", "Korbat", "Pteri", "Skeith", "Techo", "Blumaroo", "Kyrii",
        "Yurble", "Bori", "Buzz", "Tuskaninny", "Moehog", "Ruki", "Lenny", "Kiko", "Ogrin", "Jetsam", "Gnorbu", "Cybunny", "Poogle",
        "Chomby", "Koi", "Tonu", "Hissi", "Lutari", "Draik", "Krawk"};

    /**
     * Constructor for objects of class LennyConund06Sept2006
     * (Acts like a main())
     */
    public LennyConund14Sept2006()
    {
        int[] values = getCounts();
       
        for(int i = 0; i < values.length; i++)
           for(int j = i+1; j < values.length; j++) // not starting at 0 because don't need to go through combinations already done
              for(int k = j+1; k < values.length; k++) // same
                 if (values[i] + values[j] + values[k] == 203) System.out.println(species[i] + ", " + species[j] + ", " + species[k]);
       
         System.out.println("Done!");
    }

    /**
     * Produces an array of point values for String[] species
     *
     * @return     an array of integers (point values), in the same order as species
     */
    public static int[] getCounts()
    {
        int[] vals = new int[species.length];
       
        for (int i = 0; i < vals.length; i++) vals[i]=0; //just in case
       
        for (int i = 0; i < species.length; i++)
        {
            char[] chs = species[i].toLowerCase().toCharArray();
             
            // At first I thought it meant this...
            ///*
            vals[i] += 2*value(chs[0]);
           
            for (int j = 1; j < chs.length; j++)
                vals[i] += value(chs[j]);
            //*/
           
            // but instead, it could have meant this:
            /*
            for (int j = 0; j < chs.length; j++)
            {
                if (chs[j] == chs[0]) vals[i] += 2*value(chs[j]);
                else vals[i] += value(chs[j]);
            }
            */
        }
       
        for (int i = 0; i < vals.length; i++)
           System.out.print(vals[i] + ", ");
        System.out.print("\n");
        return vals;
    }
   
    public static int value(char c)
    {
        if (c == 'a' || c == 'e' || c == 'i' || c == 'o' || c == 'u')
           return - ((int) c - 96);
        else
           return (int) c - 96;
    }
}

First interpretation (first letter only the first time it appears):

53, 10, 33, 14, -37, 54, 19, 17, -8, 14, -3, -1, 59, -32, 70, 77, 31, 73, 79, 15, 0, 36, 60, 41, 49, 25, 30, 4, 46, 56, 63, 31, -5, 47, 56, -2, 35, 106, 6, 17, 72, 9, 0, 66, 12, 65, 16, 39, -2, 18, 36, 31, 27, 73,
Shoyru, Xweetok, Zafara
Shoyru, Xweetok, Krawk
Gelert, Wocky, Grarrl
Gelert, Xweetok, Lenny
Mynci, Grarrl, Cybunny
Wocky, Xweetok, Pteri
Wocky, Xweetok, Yurble
Wocky, Zafara, Flotsam
Wocky, Flotsam, Krawk
Wocky, Tuskaninny, Draik
Xweetok, Grarrl, Kyrii
Xweetok, Flotsam, Jetsam
Scorchio, Tuskaninny, Jetsam
Grarrl, Tuskaninny, Tonu
Peophin, Pteri, Tuskaninny
Peophin, Yurble, Tuskaninny
Quiggle, Tuskaninny, Lenny
Techo, Tuskaninny, Jetsam
Tuskaninny, Jetsam, Lutari
Lenny, Jetsam, Cybunny
Done!

Second interpretation (first letter every time it appears):

53, 10, 44, 14, -37, 54, 14, 15, 2, 14, -12, -1, 59, -53, 70, 77, 31, 73, 79, 14, 0, 36, 60, 57, 39, 25, 30, 4, 46, 56, 63, 31, -5, 47, 56, -2, 35, 106, 6, 17, 72, 20, 0, 66, 12, 65, 16, 39, -2, 18, 36, 31, 27, 84,
Shoyru, Kacheek, Tuskaninny
Shoyru, Xweetok, Zafara
Shoyru, Jetsam, Krawk
Gelert, Wocky, Grarrl
Gelert, Xweetok, Lenny
Gelert, Cybunny, Krawk
Mynci, Grarrl, Cybunny
Mynci, Flotsam, Krawk
Wocky, Xweetok, Pteri
Wocky, Xweetok, Yurble
Wocky, Zafara, Flotsam
Wocky, Tuskaninny, Draik
Xweetok, Grarrl, Kyrii
Xweetok, Flotsam, Jetsam
Xweetok, Tuskaninny, Kiko
Scorchio, Tuskaninny, Jetsam
Zafara, Korbat, Krawk
Grarrl, Tuskaninny, Tonu
Quiggle, Tuskaninny, Lenny
Pteri, Skeith, Krawk
Skeith, Yurble, Krawk
Techo, Tuskaninny, Jetsam
Kyrii, Lenny, Krawk
Tuskaninny, Jetsam, Lutari
Lenny, Jetsam, Cybunny
Done!

[gabriellaeve]

!!! I am soooo excited I broke the top 250 for the first time!!

I used peophin tuskaninny yurble

[AySz88]

!!! I am soooo excited I broke the top 250 for the first time!!

I used peophin tuskaninny yurble

Looks like they used the first interpretation, going by this.