Brain Teasers
The Combination Lock
After Andrew had been sick for a week, he asked his best friend Jesse to get his books out of his locker. Instead of telling Jesse the three number combination Andrew said he kept a small piece of paper with the combination under his locker door.
After school Jesse went to Andrew's locker and pulled the paper. On the paper was written:
24 24 22 9 9 9 9 22 24 22 9 9.
Thinking this would be easy but a little tedious, Jesse entered in every arrangement of 24, 22, and 9 there was without the lock opening. Realizing there was something behind these numbers that he wasn't noticing, Jesse sat down for a few minutes to think it out. After ten minutes of intense thinking, Jesse went to the locker, entered the combination into the lock and it opened.
What was the combination?
After school Jesse went to Andrew's locker and pulled the paper. On the paper was written:
24 24 22 9 9 9 9 22 24 22 9 9.
Thinking this would be easy but a little tedious, Jesse entered in every arrangement of 24, 22, and 9 there was without the lock opening. Realizing there was something behind these numbers that he wasn't noticing, Jesse sat down for a few minutes to think it out. After ten minutes of intense thinking, Jesse went to the locker, entered the combination into the lock and it opened.
What was the combination?
Hint
My username may be a slight clue.Answer
28, 4, 17.Writing the 24th letter of the alphabet for each 24, the 22nd letter of the alphabet for each 22, and the 9th letter of the alphabet for each 9 reveals:
XXVIIIIVXVII
It is now clear that the combination is written in Roman Numerals. The only set of 3 Roman Numerals that fits this arrangement is:
XXVIII IV XVII or 28, 4, 17.
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Comments
cool first comment.
it took me a while but i figured it out .
nice teaser RomanG417
it took me a while but i figured it out .
nice teaser RomanG417
Nice.
Good one.
Wow. Got me there.
I was stumped! Great puzzle. I loved trying to solve it. Even after the hint, I had no clue how to solve it. I tried all sorts of adding and dividing numbers.. Keep up good work, RomanG417!
Jul 31, 2010
Really, really tough. Good one
Hm. I don't know... I had the right method, but this one still stumped me in the end.
I translated the numbers to the Roman Numerals, and then to the a possible combination, and ended up with 221. So I thought it would'v been 2, 2, 1. Wasn't too sure since I didn't see any helpful spacing in the numbers.
Either way, pretty fun puzzle.
I translated the numbers to the Roman Numerals, and then to the a possible combination, and ended up with 221. So I thought it would'v been 2, 2, 1. Wasn't too sure since I didn't see any helpful spacing in the numbers.
Either way, pretty fun puzzle.
awesome! i got it pretty quickly but i really enjoyed it
Wow. Great teaser. I missed that one.
I figured the numbers represented letters, but then I started with the double X and noticed there were four 9's in a row, and gave up, thinking it wouldn't be able to spell a word.
It might have helped to have a little more detail about the lock, like that it has three digits in the combination, or something along those lines.
I figured the numbers represented letters, but then I started with the double X and noticed there were four 9's in a row, and gave up, thinking it wouldn't be able to spell a word.
It might have helped to have a little more detail about the lock, like that it has three digits in the combination, or something along those lines.
Well done, thanks for posting.
If I were doing my friend a favor by getting his books for him, he better bloody well tell me the locker combination rather than make me go through trying to solve it from his silly clues. Good teaser though.
Ouch...this one hurt my brain. Well written...even though I didn't get it!
Tough, tough, tough. The old brain just didn't get into gear, even with the hint. Very clever, but also tricky.
Clever! I like it!
unique! i didn't connect the dots but it was really cool
that was a great one, it was really fun but i had absolutley no idea what the answer was though i think that maybe u should have said what type of lock it was, u know like if it was a three number combo or four or as many as u want combo. also, what kind of friend is Andrew anyhow?! Jesse was doing him a favor and andrew gives him some headache making riddle to solve! definatley not any friend i would wanna have
Good job,
I didn't get it without the hint, then it was easy
I didn't get it without the hint, then it was easy
I enjoyed this Teaser, but the Roman Numerals was a bit much. It would have been easier to just add the numbers.
hard harder hardest.
hard harder hardest.
Thank goodness I'm not Andrew's friend. For putting me through all that needlessly, I'd have beaten him over the head with his books once I met up with him!
kinna tough but pretty good job!!
If it were up to me Andrew would have gone another week without his books
I figured it out but still got the wrong answer... Great puzzle.
nice one, i figured it was roman numerals but dint get which combination of the numerals r to be taken
wow... complicated
VERY COMPLEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i would kill andrew
the hint gave it all away.
i actually got the answer!!
I luv this teaser! it took me a while to figure it out.
Fun one! I didn't get it, but I feel like I should have! At one point I was thinking the letters of the alphabet corresponding to the numbers, but for some reason I bailed on finishing the thought. Ugh
I liked the hint, but I think I'd prefer something like, "There's a reason these numbers repeat. Also, the same code would not use 2 or 3, but for different reasons from each other."
Anyway, good stuff!
Anyway, good stuff!
I have never seen a locker, or any lock for that matter, with a double figure combination?
It was in fact 5 numbers, not 3( 2,8,4,1,7, )!
Or am I missing something?
It was in fact 5 numbers, not 3( 2,8,4,1,7, )!
Or am I missing something?
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