Do the pesky math problems drive you crazy?

[rimedragona]

Thank you for this. ^^ It will be most useful. *nod*

[catepillar682]

I have this updated on the Facebook DB (http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic ... #post47165), but not here so it is time to give everyone a small update/recap.

ANY ISSUES I MENTION BELOW ARE ONLY ABOUT THE 3x3 PUZZLE BOX. EVERY OTHER PART OF THE CODE WORKS IN EVERY BROWSER. (Sorry, I started typing then realized I did not fully explain where the issue is; and since it is so limited, I felt I had to clarify).

Internet Explorer has been having issues. It originally affected all versions of IE. Today, I managed to get it working on IE8 (the latest version) when I discovered the problem still persists in IE6 and IE7. Unfortunately, any change to fix this would substantially impact the code I wrote and take massive amounts of time to fix. With finals quickly approaching and my complete and a total lack of sleep in the past few days, I will be unable to devote too much time to writing fixes for IE6 and IE7.

What I will probably end up doing is writing 2 versions of the same code. One for IE and one for every other browser. But again, that takes time I cannot possibly promise.

If you absolutely have to have the puzzle box working, I suggest you use one of the following browsers: Firefox 3.0/3.5/3.6, Opera 10.10, Safari 4, and Chrome 3. While IE8 does work, it does not support a tool that the other browsers support that make entering the puzzle much easier.

As always if you have any questions or comments, do not hesitate to message me. Just do not be surprised if I do not respond in a "timely" manner.


Need Help: http://dream-world.hostse.com/
More to come, and please report all problems you encounter.

[SheDevil]

wow knowname, you made it harder that it had to be. Whatever animal you need the answer for take the opposite animal and mutiply the total head x however many legs that animal has then subtract that answer and total legs and that's your answer.

Now the problems I have seem to be with the stupid colored ones. I was always good at the game master mind. But here you just don't get enough guesses. When I first started this game I had no problem getting them, but it seems after I figured the math out, I can't figure the colors. I like math better anyway.

[catepillar682]

wow knowname, you made it harder that it had to be. Whatever animal you need the answer for take the opposite animal and mutiply the total head x however many legs that animal has then subtract that answer and total legs and that's your answer.

Now the problems I have seem to be with the stupid colored ones. I was always good at the game master mind. But here you just don't get enough guesses. When I first started this game I had no problem getting them, but it seems after I figured the math out, I can't figure the colors. I like math better anyway.

Today is your lucky day. I just finished test this tool. This is part one of the 2 part release for it. The second part is going to let the user input a(/some) sequences and the C value and P value the game returned and display the possible remaining results.

Also I renamed the site. Something a bit more interesting than "dream world helper page". I also removed the "beta" tag from the front page. The new page now has it and a little additional warning.


Need Help: http://dream-world.hostse.com/
More to come, and please report all problems you encounter.

[williamBurke]

the math problems are easy ... it's the puzzle box I can't solve because the instructions make no sense.
I do not understand the instructions. the part about the number of color choice wrong in columns or whatever it is.

please explain the instructions or have an example or something. I should be able to do but the instructions are not good ... I need a tutorial example to help me get it.

[catepillar682]

the math problems are easy ... it's the puzzle box I can't solve because the instructions make no sense.
I do not understand the instructions. the part about the number of color choice wrong in columns or whatever it is.

please explain the instructions or have an example or something. I should be able to do but the instructions are not good ... I need a tutorial example to help me get it.

Best I can do is show some examples. In terms of eliminating the largest number of problems, the best solution is to make your first guess have only 2 colors in it. So AABB or ABBA where A and B are 2 "random" colors. I always start with RRGG when I am not using my solver I wrote.

Example One:
1) RRGG C:1 P:1 (This means that I have 1 peg in the correct place and one peg in the wrong place, and 2 pegs that do not belong).

2) Next I will keep the 2 reds to see what happens and switch the greens to a blue and a yellow.
BYRR C:0 P:3 (This means that I have 3 pegs in the wrong place, and one peg that does not belong).

3) Next I need to figure out if there are 2 reds or 1 red and 1 green.
GYYY C:1 P:1 (This means that there is at least one yellow).

4) Next I will try:
BGBB C:2 P:0 (Now I can make some deductions. From guess 2 and guess 3 and this guess, I know that there one yellow and one blue and one red and one green, all I need now are correct placements. From this guess I know that the green belongs in spot 2 and from this deduction and the first and second guesses, I know that red belongs in spot 1. All I have left to do is figure out if the yellow belongs in spot 3 and green in spot four or vice versa, and I have two guesses to do it).

5) RGYB: C:2 P:2 (Oops, wrong order, all I have to do is switch them).

6) RGBY C:4 P:0

This took 6 guesses to do. In hindsight, I should have made my second guess RRBY or RRYB. I found a set of 4 guesses that will (always) produce the correct answer by the fifth guess. I will show that example with the a different color sequence as the final answer.

1) RGGR C:3 P:0 (This time I have 2 pegs in right place and 2 that do not belong. The remaining solutions are all ones that have 2+ reds and 1 green, 2+ greens and 1 red, very lucky as far as first guesses go).

2) BBRR C:0 P:2 (2 pegs in wrong spot, 2 dont belong. The last spot is NOT a red, therefore we can deduce RGGB as being the correct answer in solely 2 guesses).

3) RGGB C:4 P:0

I was only going to show 2 examples, but the previous one was sooo easy, I will give you a bonus third using the same sequence of 4 my solver uses again.

1) RGGR C:1 P:0

2) BBRR C:2 P:1 (From the first 2 guesses, we can already deduce that there is 2 blues and a red, and by extension either one more blue or a yellow. We know placement to be either RBBX or XBBR).

3) YYGR C:2 P:0 (Not exactly the most logical next guess, but it is the sequence I use to always solve a puzzle so we will go with it. We know now that the XBBR was the correct sequence with yellow being the unknown X).

4) YBBR C:4 P:0

btw- the sequence of guesses you can always rely on are RGGR, BBRR, YYGR, GBBY.

If you are still confused, stick to using my tool. http://dream-world.hostse.com/mastermind.html



Need Help: http://dream-world.hostse.com/
More to come, and please report all problems you encounter.

[Knowname]

I get it on my 3rd try about 50% of the time it's become rather predictable. But I suppose anyone who plays this game as much as I do will get to know the quirks like that...

I first started doing the 2x2 thing but now I start with only one color. that way you know WHAT color has how many. IE take your example, you set RRBB and hit on 2. how do you know what colors the two are? do you have a correct red or a correct blue? The other way may take you 4 guesses but your sure to know what works by the end, and you have 6 guesses to find it anyway.

Say I find one correct Red, I then move 3 pegs down to the next color and count on at least one 'C'. Say the next one (GGGR) gives me 1 'P', 0 C. than I switch the R and move on with the rest (ie BRBB). Say this one gives me 2 Correct and 1 P. How do I KNOW that that one of the two C's is the Red? Because if both C's were one of each color a P could not POSSIBLY be blue... and that's all that's left!! So it must be two C's are blue while that Red is once again wrong. AND that red peg... is NEITHER red nor blue (nor is it green, obviously) so it must be yellow. Our only question is WHICH of the 3 blues are correct? Well you know the last one isn't red AND you know none are green AND you deduce none are yellow as there can only be 4 positions. You will be able to start with this, (x-color, yellow, x-color, blue). with your final two guesses you'll be able to see which one is red and which is blue.

Now the problem with a 2x2 approach is what if you have THREE of one color? That always threw me off.

[catepillar682]

I get it on my 3rd try about 50% of the time it's become rather predictable. But I suppose anyone who plays this game as much as I do will get to know the quirks like that...

I know what you mean. I have had 3 problems in less than 24 hours where the code was one color 4 times. Doesnt take long to figure out at all

The odds of that happening once is 1.5% nonetheless three times in 24 hours

[Knowname]

must be hogging all the easy ones hehehe. from now on I am starting with the 4 on the bottom. cuz YYYY is a combination (probly the one you got... or GGGG, I got that one too), maybe I can get that super swell hole in one someday

[williamBurke]

thanks but I don't understand the instructions at all. this tool you made I have no idea how to use it.

when I get hte puzzle box it says something for P I don't understand. its not written well or I am an idiot.

is there some online version of this puzzle box thing that I can play so I can learn how to do it?

I know I did it before somewhere and I understood the instructions.