The Master Theorem

March 13, 2011 9:52 AM

M presents: The Master Theorem. Not that master theorem, this one is full of puzzles and games. Take a crack at this week's theorem, or start with a tutorial from the help page. Once you've solved your first theorem (and earned membership) check out the seals, a different, sometimes deeper style of puzzle. New theorems and seals are being added weekly.

Previously? (themearthmeteors.com seems to be produced by the same person as The Master Theorem)

posted by Maastrictian (59 comments total)

Awesome. Thank you for this.
posted by painquale at 10:16 AM on March 13, 2011

Heh, solving the Master Theorem today, and today only, earns you a unique hidden seal. So don't put it off!
posted by painquale at 10:20 AM on March 13, 2011

I love these things- I remember quite fondly the time spent on that Puzzle boat site. I do hope the puzzle for today is not indicative of the difficulty of the site; I'm assuming that anyone who likes puzzles has solved it before they finished the flavor text.
posted by hincandenza at 10:36 AM on March 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is fun :)
posted by Salvor Hardin at 10:42 AM on March 13, 2011

The others are marginally harder, hincandenza, but not by much. It's no Puzzle Boat. Still fun though. And a new P&A Magazine just came out yesterday, so I'm set for puzzles for the next little while.
posted by painquale at 10:45 AM on March 13, 2011

Not to be confused with the Marther Theorem, which wath proven by an Igor.
posted by Wolfdog at 11:07 AM on March 13, 2011 [3 favorites]

The theorems are not too challenging for experienced solvers, but check out the seals. Some of them are quite challenging.
posted by Maastrictian at 11:07 AM on March 13, 2011

Those are just achievement badges though. Doing semi-random things loosely guided by obscure phrases doesn't make for a very good puzzle; pretty much every Xbox Live or iPhone game has those. Unless I'm missing something and there are ways to unlock more complicated puzzles through the seals. The four theorems that are up are very well-designed and fair... I want more of those.
posted by painquale at 11:25 AM on March 13, 2011

I suggest you check out Videbimus Lumen & Await The Hour. These two are much more than just achievements. Spelling Bee is a bit tricky as well.
posted by Maastrictian at 11:36 AM on March 13, 2011

Ok, yeah, I seem to have found one that requires Flash, but I can't see what it wants me to do on this iPad.
posted by painquale at 11:50 AM on March 13, 2011

Interesting.
posted by flippant at 1:44 PM on March 13, 2011

The seals like Camaraderie and Disobedience made me think that the seals were like normal video game achievements: the whole puzzle is in finding them. I wouldn't have even bothered looking for them if Maastrictian hadn't prodded me. It turns out that some are easy to find and give real (flash) puzzles. I've found and solved three so far. Videbimus Lumen felt like a genuine puzzle hunt puzzle. Still don't know how to find Spelling Bee though.
posted by painquale at 2:14 PM on March 13, 2011

I'm stuck on Videbimus Lumen. I know the eight names, but the eighth name doesn't have a seventh letter in it, so I'm not sure what to do with them. The nth letter of the first seven do anagram to make a word, but it isn't the answer.
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 2:19 PM on March 13, 2011

Wrong set of numbers, inedita!
posted by painquale at 2:23 PM on March 13, 2011

As for the Spelling Bee seal, painquale, you might need some help.
posted by Isosceles at 2:32 PM on March 13, 2011

OK. Reading the list of names as one string, the Nth letter in sequence (3rd, 5 more, 8 more, etc.) also makes an anagrammable word, which ain't it.

Sigh.
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 2:36 PM on March 13, 2011

Got it! Thanks, Isosceles.
posted by painquale at 2:57 PM on March 13, 2011

Man, between this and the new Professor Layton game, I'm going to have puzzles coming out of my ears. Thanks!
posted by Strange Interlude at 3:07 PM on March 13, 2011

The text is stuck to the side of the screen in a small column and difficult to read from my browser. It seems to always hang (could just be my connection) while contacting amazonaws, facebook, twitter, and whatever else. This looks interesting, and I want to like it. I wasn't really interested in web-design and browser compatibility puzzles today, though.
posted by Avelwood at 5:15 PM on March 13, 2011

Oh, this is fun!
posted by misha at 5:54 PM on March 13, 2011

Wow. I figured out today's theorem. (I love those eureka moments.) And my IQ is probably way lower than yours. Stick with it. And thanks, Maastrictian, for directing me to this fun site.
posted by Uncle Chaos at 6:15 PM on March 13, 2011

There was a website called timehunt I used to like, as a teenager first figuring out the internet. It had what seemed to be ridiculously excessive intellectual puzzles, in an engaging, manic, not stuffy way. I'd love to see it again, to see how I've changed, but it's unfortunately defunct. I guess that bit of mystery is something I didn't realise I missed, because this is really fun!
posted by rollick at 6:32 PM on March 13, 2011

In lieu of an insightful comment, I'll just thank you all for giving me the topic of my first post, which you can expect after midterms. Also, thank you for taking a few points off of my midterms for trading study time with puzzling.
posted by persona at 6:43 PM on March 13, 2011

The time puzzle is making me nuts.
posted by Obscure Reference at 7:07 PM on March 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

The copyright puzzle has me wondering--first or last? Hmm.

I have 630 points so far.
posted by misha at 7:29 PM on March 13, 2011

Is the Evangelist seal what I think it is? ugh, that kind of puts me off if so.
posted by rollick at 7:31 PM on March 13, 2011

Got the copyright!
posted by Obscure Reference at 8:16 PM on March 13, 2011

misha: the copyright puzzle had me seriously overthinking before i finally got it. You may just need to squint a bit.

Up to 1930 points, 4 theorems, 11 seals, which (I think?) is as far as you can go having joined today. If anyone has found anything beyond that, though, maybe give me a nudge?
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 8:17 PM on March 13, 2011

I finally cracked the time puzzle.

One of the things that had been driving me most nuts about it was not knowing whether or not everything you needed to solve it was contained within the puzzle as is, or whether it was also time-bound as it were. Turns out to be the former.
posted by motty at 8:17 PM on March 13, 2011

I'm so glad you posted that, Two unicycles and some duct tape; I'm on the exact same score but it is getting kind of late over here.
posted by motty at 8:21 PM on March 13, 2011

Well, we might both be missing the same things, motty, but I've been poking at it for a couple of hours now and sounds like you have too, so hopefully we've pretty much covered it. Will revisit over the next couple of days to see about some of these visit- and date-based seals, I think.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 8:28 PM on March 13, 2011

Great site, thanks Maastrictian! I'm up to 1830, which I guess puts me 1 seal behind a few of you. The Videbimus Lumen seal was well worth the 500 points!
posted by krakedhalo at 8:30 PM on March 13, 2011

Yeah. All I can think of is the 'Evangelist' seal, but I can't think of another nine people right now to invite. And that might not be it - it might be something you get when your first invitee actually joins.
posted by motty at 8:31 PM on March 13, 2011

I sent my first invite to a dummy account and joined on its behalf, so I don't think that's it.

I also deleted the site's cookies and logged in again, with no effect, so I'm not sure what the Returner seal is.
posted by rollick at 8:41 PM on March 13, 2011

Also shouldn't someone have gotten the C/2R seal by now? I wonder when it counts days from.
posted by rollick at 8:42 PM on March 13, 2011

rollick, I suspect that we'll start seeing folks with the C/2R seal in a matter of minutes - I'm guessing it's based on server time, which would be Eastern (NYC).
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 8:48 PM on March 13, 2011

Or... not. I thought for sure that C/2R seal would have triggered by now - obviously not though. Interesting.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 9:53 PM on March 13, 2011

Just got Returner and C/2R. Still can't figure out Copyright, though.
posted by cthuljew at 10:04 PM on March 13, 2011

Dang that clock. But I finally got it. (the solution made me laugh/want to punch the screen once I saw the final word.)

I think 2130 is as high as I could possibly get from starting today (yesterday); note at this point I mean "I" as in me, not "I" as in one: I would be totally unsurprised if someone else from here is ranked higher.

Thanks for this. I know that there are a lot of puzzle type things out there that I've never discovered and that those who are "serious" about them might have found some of these easy, but as a newbie, I really dug them. (And look forward to when I have more time asking a AskMe about finding similar things.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:48 PM on March 13, 2011

I'm just having a look at this but I got tired of internet puzzles when it became apparent that most of them required you to leave the parameters of the game. Is this like that? I don't want to have to View HTML Source or use the hint to hold my laptop under the sun at midday or anything - I want the puzzle to be self contained. I hope this site disappoints me, because I really need to go to sleep.
posted by doublehappy at 2:32 AM on March 14, 2011

It just occurred to me that you can get the invite-based seals by entering made-up mailinator addresses. Sorry if that goes against the spirit of the thing, but I was conflicted between a desire not to be a bother vs. wanting as many lovely points as possible.
posted by rollick at 8:01 AM on March 14, 2011

doublehappy: All of the puzzles I've run across so far have been traditional puzzles where either everything you need is in front of you, or can easily be found on the internet. (The Help page indicates this as well.)

I actually ran across one puzzle where it was possible to cheat by looking at the HTML source, and there was a comment in the source that said "STOP TRYING TO CHEAT", so I think it's safe to assume that the site considers tricks like this outside of the spirit of the game.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 11:38 AM on March 14, 2011

rollick: hah! I wondered how you picked up the extra seal. (I'm Eric, right below you on the list, currently at #63.)

I should warn you though that I'll shortly be 100pts ahead of you, with the same theorem and seal count, due to something I noticed while chasing the Evangelist badge...
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 11:46 AM on March 14, 2011

What's frustrating me is that there's no way to catch up to players who have been on the site longer and thus had a chance to earn big points for solving earlier weekly theorems as soon as they came out. I want a fair shot at earning my way into the top ten without hoping that current top ten folks get distracted and fail to solve a few theorems someday!
posted by Eshkol at 8:54 PM on March 14, 2011

Just solve the new theorems faster than they do! When you submit an answer, you get a bonus if not many others have beaten you to the punch. (And no two people get the same bonus.)
posted by painquale at 11:51 PM on March 14, 2011

I'm sitting right next to rollick now, at #67.
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:02 AM on March 15, 2011

@ two unicycles - Wait, what? Really?
posted by Eshkol at 7:17 AM on March 15, 2011

Eshkol: Wait, what? Really?

*** spoiler ***
When you sent invites, the person who accepts the invite automatically gets 100 points just for joining. That's 100 points that you may not have received yourself, if you just joined by solving a theorem. So if you're really after every available point, invite yourself, accept your invite, catch up on the other activities around the site under your new login, and you should be at your old score +100.
*** spoiler ***

Unless you were asking about the HTML source thing? (It was on the copyright puzzle.)
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 12:41 PM on March 15, 2011

But it's no longer Pi day or the first day of spring.
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:01 PM on March 15, 2011

Obscure: no, you're right, it's not, so the 100pt gain is kind of a wash, isn't it? Sorry.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 9:50 PM on March 15, 2011

Looks like I was fourth to solve the new puzzle.

By looking at some of the new badge information and comparing to the Theorem page, you can see that 77 people have logged in since midnight and fourteen of those have solved the new puzzle thus far.
posted by nobody at 9:09 PM on March 16, 2011

Man, these are way too easy. I'm only in it for the super secret invite now.
posted by painquale at 9:15 PM on March 16, 2011

The main challenge seems to be visiting the site every day and at the right times, which I can't really take much pride in. Pity, but the puzzles are enough fun to come back for, I suppose.
posted by rollick at 9:48 PM on March 16, 2011

Of potential interest, this bit from the email notification that went out regarding the new puzzle:

Our mailing address is:
The Master Theorem
13 Whimsey Revere
New York, New York 11111

No such address or zip code of course.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 11:42 PM on March 16, 2011

That is a weird spelling of 'whimsey'. An anagram maybe?

Here's my review? Every mere wish?
posted by painquale at 10:32 AM on March 17, 2011

Wiser Eve Rhyme?
Why Reverse "Me/I"?
Where's Mere Ivy?
Me, I Rhyme Verse?

Columbia University is in zip code 10027, apparently, so maybe this requires permutations based on that?
posted by nobody at 12:06 PM on March 18, 2011

(Oh, that last one was a mistake. Make that "I/We Rhyme Verse," I guess.)
posted by nobody at 12:10 PM on March 18, 2011

The elusiveness of the Disobedience seal is driving me nuts.
posted by SakuraK at 5:16 PM on March 18, 2011

I got that one. You all must have one I don't.
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:38 PM on March 18, 2011