[time-nuts] Solstice Puzzle

Chris Albertson albertson.chris at gmail.com
Sat Dec 17 07:47:30 UTC 2011


How is this, right off the top of my head, so there might be flaws...
0) blocks must have a gravity sensor so they know which side is up.
Next they have to which faces touch other blocks and which two faces
need to have digits displayed

1) Each box is identical.
2) they need to communicate so that they can each figure out where in
the line they are located.  They only need to know their position in
line
3) if the boxes are to have a digit display why not use that for the
inter-block signal.  The digital faces can flash a message in binary
using some code.  Maybe it is baseband, maybe a carrier is modulated.
 So each face of each block needs a digital display and a light
sensor.  If the sensor gets data then the block knows it is a touching
face and not a display face.  Now it knows it's orientation but not
yet it's position in line
4) If the blocks are in a line there are only two cases (a) an end
block that touches only one other block and (b) a "not end" block that
touches two other blocks.
5) Every block sends data to each block it touches.  the data is just
a BEEP followed by the number of BEEPS it got on it's opposite side.
So the message it sends to the left and the right is different.  By
this rule the end blocks only send one BEEP to the block they touch.
Now every block knows it's place in the sequence. It simply counts the
number of beeps received on each side
6) so now each block "knows" that one of it's faces is the 2nd digit
and it's opposite face must be the 5th digit
7) All blocks listen to time code and each picks up the correct digit
for it's two faces.  Code can be sent by radio or optically to the
light sensors that are not touching other blocks.
8) the "beep" process continues for a while.  The end blocks control
when it ends.  They keep sending beeps until they hear five beeps
coming back.  Then they send a "START".    Each block waits for two
starts and then displays the proper digits.

On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 10:04 PM, Neville Michie <namichie at gmail.com> wrote:
> At this time of the year many people look for frivolous puzzles to solve.
> My puzzle is to design a clock.
> This clock consists of 6 cubes, each has a digit display on one face.
> It does not matter how you arrange them, if they are in a line they will
> display the
> right time. (there may also be a nearby box containing a Rb or GPS time
> standard.)
> A second or two may be needed for them to reorganise if they are moved.
> It must be possible to design them, but an elegant design has eluded me.
>
> Merry Solstice,
> Neville Michie
>
> _______________________________________________
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at febo.com
> To unsubscribe, go to
> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
> and follow the instructions there.



-- 

Chris Albertson
Redondo Beach, California




More information about the Time-nuts_lists.febo.com mailing list