tricky lenny

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.neopets (More info?)

i'm having trouble figuring this one out... lol


Bartleby the Skeith was bored one morning, and decided to pull out an empty
Armada board and some Armada pieces. He filled the entire board with random
Armada pieces, one in each space. Then, he emptied the whole board and did
it again. And then again, and then again. He decided to keep doing it until
he filled the board with every possible combination of pieces.


If it takes him 30 seconds to set up and then empty the board each time, how
long will it take him to set up every possible combination? Please round to
the nearest year.



there are 88 squares... i started there but after that i'm a bit lost...
never was good at tricky math (well i used to be but that muscle is a bit
atrophied)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.neopets (More info?)

well, if he only took out "some" armada pieces, how many did he take out,
were they all different or all the same... it wouldnt be a different
combination if he put the same style piece on a square again....
Did that make any sense?


"bama" <mjablecki@cox.net> wrote in message
news:ydS3e.11605$Tn.2171@lakeread06...
> i'm having trouble figuring this one out... lol
>
>
> Bartleby the Skeith was bored one morning, and decided to pull out an
> empty Armada board and some Armada pieces. He filled the entire board with
> random Armada pieces, one in each space. Then, he emptied the whole board
> and did it again. And then again, and then again. He decided to keep doing
> it until he filled the board with every possible combination of pieces.
>
>
> If it takes him 30 seconds to set up and then empty the board each time,
> how long will it take him to set up every possible combination? Please
> round to the nearest year.
>
>
>
> there are 88 squares... i started there but after that i'm a bit lost...
> never was good at tricky math (well i used to be but that muscle is a bit
> atrophied)
>
>

 

[Les]

Archived from groups: alt.games.neopets (More info?)

bodcat1 [bodcat1@yourunderpantsshaw.ca] said
> well, if he only took out "some" armada pieces, how many did he take out,
> were they all different or all the same... it wouldnt be a different
> combination if he put the same style piece on a square again....
> Did that make any sense?

I assumed, but didn't try to work out the final result, that it would
go...

88 black ---- 1 go

87 black + 1 white ---- 88 goes

86 black + 2 white and the maths would need my brain now but it would be
something like (88*87) ---- 7665 goes

85 black + 3 white which is perhaps (88*87*86) or at least something
like that ---- 868416 goes

Etc etc etc until you get to 88 white.

And then you would add them all up and work out how many years given
that it takes 30 seconds a go.

I think you can do this with what was called "sequences" when I did
maths - just pop in the figures and it does all the repetitive work for
you but I cannot remember how.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.neopets (More info?)

something to do with "n!" no?
"Les" <les789@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1cba5add71682510989a71@nntp.dsl.pipex.com...
> bodcat1 [bodcat1@yourunderpantsshaw.ca] said
>> well, if he only took out "some" armada pieces, how many did he take out,
>> were they all different or all the same... it wouldnt be a different
>> combination if he put the same style piece on a square again....
>> Did that make any sense?
>
> I assumed, but didn't try to work out the final result, that it would
> go...
>
> 88 black ---- 1 go
>
> 87 black + 1 white ---- 88 goes
>
> 86 black + 2 white and the maths would need my brain now but it would be
> something like (88*87) ---- 7665 goes
>
> 85 black + 3 white which is perhaps (88*87*86) or at least something
> like that ---- 868416 goes
>
> Etc etc etc until you get to 88 white.
>
> And then you would add them all up and work out how many years given
> that it takes 30 seconds a go.
>
> I think you can do this with what was called "sequences" when I did
> maths - just pop in the figures and it does all the repetitive work for
> you but I cannot remember how.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.neopets (More info?)

well then a possible combination would be 87 black and 1 white on square
one, then 87 black and 1 white on square 2
"Les" <les789@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1cba5add71682510989a71@nntp.dsl.pipex.com...
> bodcat1 [bodcat1@yourunderpantsshaw.ca] said
>> well, if he only took out "some" armada pieces, how many did he take out,
>> were they all different or all the same... it wouldnt be a different
>> combination if he put the same style piece on a square again....
>> Did that make any sense?
>
> I assumed, but didn't try to work out the final result, that it would
> go...
>
> 88 black ---- 1 go
>
> 87 black + 1 white ---- 88 goes
>
> 86 black + 2 white and the maths would need my brain now but it would be
> something like (88*87) ---- 7665 goes
>
> 85 black + 3 white which is perhaps (88*87*86) or at least something
> like that ---- 868416 goes
>
> Etc etc etc until you get to 88 white.
>
> And then you would add them all up and work out how many years given
> that it takes 30 seconds a go.
>
> I think you can do this with what was called "sequences" when I did
> maths - just pop in the figures and it does all the repetitive work for
> you but I cannot remember how.

 

[Les]

Archived from groups: alt.games.neopets (More info?)

bama [mjablecki@cox.net] said
> something to do with "n!" no?

Yes I think it might well have been, but as it has been more than 20
years, I cannot be sure.

> "Les" <les789@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:MPG.1cba5add71682510989a71@nntp.dsl.pipex.com...
> > bodcat1 [bodcat1@yourunderpantsshaw.ca] said
> >> well, if he only took out "some" armada pieces, how many did he take out,
> >> were they all different or all the same... it wouldnt be a different
> >> combination if he put the same style piece on a square again....
> >> Did that make any sense?
> >
> > I assumed, but didn't try to work out the final result, that it would
> > go...
> >
> > 88 black ---- 1 go
> >
> > 87 black + 1 white ---- 88 goes
> >
> > 86 black + 2 white and the maths would need my brain now but it would be
> > something like (88*87) ---- 7665 goes
> >
> > 85 black + 3 white which is perhaps (88*87*86) or at least something
> > like that ---- 868416 goes
> >
> > Etc etc etc until you get to 88 white.
> >
> > And then you would add them all up and work out how many years given
> > that it takes 30 seconds a go.
> >
> > I think you can do this with what was called "sequences" when I did
> > maths - just pop in the figures and it does all the repetitive work for
> > you but I cannot remember how.
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.neopets (More info?)

could also be the sigma (sum) function..

*goes to search for function rich graphing calculator*

"Les" <les789@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1cba5d7e4567a05a989a73@nntp.dsl.pipex.com...
> bama [mjablecki@cox.net] said
>> something to do with "n!" no?
>
> Yes I think it might well have been, but as it has been more than 20
> years, I cannot be sure.
>
>> "Les" <les789@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:MPG.1cba5add71682510989a71@nntp.dsl.pipex.com...
>> > bodcat1 [bodcat1@yourunderpantsshaw.ca] said
>> >> well, if he only took out "some" armada pieces, how many did he take
>> >> out,
>> >> were they all different or all the same... it wouldnt be a different
>> >> combination if he put the same style piece on a square again....
>> >> Did that make any sense?
>> >
>> > I assumed, but didn't try to work out the final result, that it would
>> > go...
>> >
>> > 88 black ---- 1 go
>> >
>> > 87 black + 1 white ---- 88 goes
>> >
>> > 86 black + 2 white and the maths would need my brain now but it would
>> > be
>> > something like (88*87) ---- 7665 goes
>> >
>> > 85 black + 3 white which is perhaps (88*87*86) or at least something
>> > like that ---- 868416 goes
>> >
>> > Etc etc etc until you get to 88 white.
>> >
>> > And then you would add them all up and work out how many years given
>> > that it takes 30 seconds a go.
>> >
>> > I think you can do this with what was called "sequences" when I did
>> > maths - just pop in the figures and it does all the repetitive work for
>> > you but I cannot remember how.
>>
>>
>>

 

[Les]

Archived from groups: alt.games.neopets (More info?)

bama [mjablecki@cox.net] said
> could also be the sigma (sum) function..

Nope, that is not what I was thinking of.

>
> *goes to search for function rich graphing calculator*
>
> "Les" <les789@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:MPG.1cba5d7e4567a05a989a73@nntp.dsl.pipex.com...
> > bama [mjablecki@cox.net] said
> >> something to do with "n!" no?
> >
> > Yes I think it might well have been, but as it has been more than 20
> > years, I cannot be sure.
> >
> >> "Les" <les789@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> >> news:MPG.1cba5add71682510989a71@nntp.dsl.pipex.com...
> >> > bodcat1 [bodcat1@yourunderpantsshaw.ca] said
> >> >> well, if he only took out "some" armada pieces, how many did he take
> >> >> out,
> >> >> were they all different or all the same... it wouldnt be a different
> >> >> combination if he put the same style piece on a square again....
> >> >> Did that make any sense?
> >> >
> >> > I assumed, but didn't try to work out the final result, that it would
> >> > go...
> >> >
> >> > 88 black ---- 1 go
> >> >
> >> > 87 black + 1 white ---- 88 goes
> >> >
> >> > 86 black + 2 white and the maths would need my brain now but it would
> >> > be
> >> > something like (88*87) ---- 7665 goes
> >> >
> >> > 85 black + 3 white which is perhaps (88*87*86) or at least something
> >> > like that ---- 868416 goes
> >> >
> >> > Etc etc etc until you get to 88 white.
> >> >
> >> > And then you would add them all up and work out how many years given
> >> > that it takes 30 seconds a go.
> >> >
> >> > I think you can do this with what was called "sequences" when I did
> >> > maths - just pop in the figures and it does all the repetitive work for
> >> > you but I cannot remember how.
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
>

 

[Les]

Archived from groups: alt.games.neopets (More info?)

~*Connie*~ [no@spam.com] said
> well then a possible combination would be 87 black and 1 white on square
> one, then 87 black and 1 white on square 2

Exactly. So I think the maths goes something along the lines of:

(88) + (88*87) + (88*87*86) + (88*87*86*85) + (88*87*86*85*84)....

If I could have done it in time for a trophy I'd have taken the trouble
to check that the above is correct and tweak as necessary, and then work
it out properly but it hardly seems worth it for a 100np prize and a pat
on the head.

> "Les" <les789@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:MPG.1cba5add71682510989a71@nntp.dsl.pipex.com...
> > bodcat1 [bodcat1@yourunderpantsshaw.ca] said
> >> well, if he only took out "some" armada pieces, how many did he take out,
> >> were they all different or all the same... it wouldnt be a different
> >> combination if he put the same style piece on a square again....
> >> Did that make any sense?
> >
> > I assumed, but didn't try to work out the final result, that it would
> > go...
> >
> > 88 black ---- 1 go
> >
> > 87 black + 1 white ---- 88 goes
> >
> > 86 black + 2 white and the maths would need my brain now but it would be
> > something like (88*87) ---- 7665 goes
> >
> > 85 black + 3 white which is perhaps (88*87*86) or at least something
> > like that ---- 868416 goes
> >
> > Etc etc etc until you get to 88 white.
> >
> > And then you would add them all up and work out how many years given
> > that it takes 30 seconds a go.
> >
> > I think you can do this with what was called "sequences" when I did
> > maths - just pop in the figures and it does all the repetitive work for
> > you but I cannot remember how.
>
>
>