Can you solve this easy brain teaser?
It is almost summer. Nobody wants to think too hard, so you might appreciate this puzzle, which I hope will make you think just a little. The inspiration for the problem comes from a neat trick that is used by programmers to design compilers. If you have any children at home, of at least around middle school age, they might they might also enjoy working on the problem.
You have two books. The first, written in English, tells how to translate anything from Chinese into English. The second, written in Chinese, tells how to translate anything from Chinese into French. Without knowledge of either Chinese or French, how could you use the two books to translate the second one into French?
Please hold off for a day before giving answers to give others a chance.
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17 Answers
LOL! The question alone fries my tiny elephant brain!
Can not be solved. A critical piece of information is missing: Do I speak English?
lang QaQ, @ragingloli. nuq vaj tlhIngan neH Dajatlh’a’?
@ragingloli , I was assuming that if you understood the question then you could speak English. If that is not good enough for you, make the additional assumption of understanding English.
For those of you who claim to be stumped, this is a two step process.
Hint: One book is written in Chinese and the other tells how to translate from Chinese.
I don’t see the problem… I don’t dare to answer, though, because I fear that I must be missing something? What is the puzzle element?
I see the solution, I think…but you don’t want it posted? If everyone is giving everyone else a chance to post, who gets to post?
I think I’ve got it though it is very confusing.
I’ve solved the puzzle. I’m going to post my answer in a way so that no person could accidentally see it.
If you have already attempted the problem, and you want to see my solution, you can look here:
http ://pastebin .com/ S7NiKwZn
I think I’ve got it. Now I’m going to get some Advil.
Thank you @LostInParadise. Thank you very much!
This is supposed to be easy? My brain is mush.
@PhinotPPi I can’t even get your link to work. My anti-virus protection will apparently not let me go to pastebin.
Thanks to those who solved the problem for waiting. Feel free to post your solution.
@PhiNotPi , I can’t get your link to work.
Use the first book (C->E, in E) to translate the second book.
Now the second book is a book that translates Chinese into French, written in English
(C->F, in E).
Use the translated second book (C->F in E), to translate the original second book (C->F, in C) into French.
Now you have four books:
The ones you started with, one that translates Chinese to French, written in English and one that translates Chinese into French, written in French..
@downtide @LostInParadise Did you remember to take out the spaces in the URL (all 3 of them)?
Anyways, here was the text of the link:
[MEGA SPOILERS]
Book 1: (Written in English) Chinese->English
Book 2: (Written in Chinese) Chinese->French
Use the first book to translate the second book to English, to create a third book:
Book 3: (Written in English) Chinese->French
Use the third book to translate the second book to French.
I see that @PhiNotPi came to the same path I did.
Is this indeed what you had in mind?
I still feel that I am missing the hard part of it. Maybe one of those things that are easy when you ‘see it’ and impossible when you don’t.
That is exactly what I had in mind. Nicely explained.
@PhiNotPi I took all three spaces out. McAfees will not allow me to access pastebin at all – says it’s too risky and I cannot seem to over-ride it.
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