Post B2Iu6akCcpZQaWnXMm by clayfoot@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by clayfoot@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #B2ICyBjfQWxWgCIIPw by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T00:47:19Z
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I don't know how well this puzzle will translate to a toot. Imagine each line is on a card:□□▷□□□■■■□■□▷▣▣□▣■▷■▣▣▷□□■□▷▣▣□□□▣□□□▣■□▷□▷□□▷■▣■□▷▷Put them in order.(The 5th graders could do it, but they did have a helpful example first... There may be more than one solution, but I think there is ONE really good order. Can you find it?)
(DIR) Post #B2IDDwRi2c6vtQPFZI by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T00:50:10Z
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Yeah this is harder without cards to move around and put in arrays. But I think it's still possible.
(DIR) Post #B2IDRZRaMJ60bjqaBs by dahukanna@mastodon.social
2026-01-15T00:52:34Z
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@futurebird order of what?Make a related, transform sequence starting the first “card”?
(DIR) Post #B2IDX9jyptOgcz79to by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T00:53:38Z
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@dahukanna Imagine you have been learning to count in base 2, 3, 4 just before being asked to do this. However, if the order can be explained with a few simple rules it's valid IMO.
(DIR) Post #B2IDi2nsy4auIZ8JCS by golgaloth@writing.exchange
2026-01-15T00:55:33Z
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@futurebird □□□□□□□□■□□▷□□▣□■□▷□▷□□▷■□▷▷□▷▣□▣■■□■■■▷■▣▷▣▣□▣■▣▷▣▣Possible Solution.
(DIR) Post #B2IDwgZltMp1hjVrGK by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T00:58:15Z
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@golgaloth is this alphabetized?
(DIR) Post #B2IEZhADdki4ozA6m8 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T01:05:12Z
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@MxSpoon Ok what if I tell you ▷ is first□▷▷ is lastI think that narrows down the valid solutions a lot.
(DIR) Post #B2IEhrKJjrRaepmJlY by larrybiggs@infosec.exchange
2026-01-15T01:06:45Z
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@futurebird I can’t type the symbols on my phone, but I would rank the three sided open first, then the four sided open second, four sided closed third, and four sided double color highest. Then rearrange based on that from left to right and build lowest to highest. Hopefully that makes sense lol
(DIR) Post #B2IElvQkQIK0Xkj0m8 by mcc@mastodon.social
2026-01-15T01:07:28Z
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@futurebird ▷ : 0 or 3□ : 1 or 4▣ : 2 or 8■ : 3 or 4□▷ : 10 or 7□□ : 11 or 8□▣ : 12 or 12□■ : 13 or 8▣▷ : 20 or 7▣□ : 21 or 12▣▣ : 22 or 16▣■ : 23 or 12■▷ : 30 or 7■□ : 31 or 8■▣ : 32 or 12■■ : 33 or 8□▷▷ : 100 or 10□▷□ : 101 or 11□▷▣ : 102 or 15□▷■ : 103 or 11□□▷ : 110 or 11□□□ : 111 or 12□□▣ : 112 or 16□□■ : 113 or 12the numbers are my two guesses at a "number value
(DIR) Post #B2IEqMU7mFQHbrQ5ia by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T01:08:19Z
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@mcc This works IMO.
(DIR) Post #B2IGYWll08R8CaI70q by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T01:27:29Z
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@xarvos There is more than one valid solution.
(DIR) Post #B2IGo4XvhYATIrEgIS by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T01:30:17Z
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@leadore Works!
(DIR) Post #B2IGr8qcAK0bVpRHnc by mason@partychickens.net
2026-01-15T01:30:49Z
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@futurebird I like this. When I teach people about bases, I try to break them free from the symbols having values, and we often end up having them do something in base 3 with circles, squares, and triangles.
(DIR) Post #B2IGyf4Yki3JU1Y0ES by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T01:32:08Z
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@buddhawilliams There is more than one logical order if you want it to be like base 3But with that restriction I think there are only two. ...WAIT.I gave a bad hint. □□▣ is last.
(DIR) Post #B2IH0E7lurG2U4nRCq by meltedcheese@c.im
2026-01-15T01:32:30Z
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@futurebird Good puzzle. ‘The proof is left as an exercise for the reader.”
(DIR) Post #B2IH9evxbmPGEqllVw by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T01:34:10Z
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@mason Funny you should mention that.
(DIR) Post #B2IHVaRUzI80gCydqi by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T01:38:09Z
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@apophis What symbols do you like I can do find replace?
(DIR) Post #B2IHWfCEnYjNiHLtrc by clayfoot@mastodon.social
2026-01-15T01:38:20Z
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@futurebird 4 symbols, so maybe base-4 number system24 "cards" so assume 0-23Only 1 base-4 number in that range has 3 of the same digit: 111 (21). So □ must be 1.Only 9 3-digit numbers in that range, and only 1 of them is 1 followed by 2 digits: 100 (16). So ▷ must be 0.Digits 2 & 3 will have to wait until I get home.
(DIR) Post #B2IHfLfEmvb9k13el6 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T01:39:55Z
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@apophis This looks scary:[[*[[[---[-[*^^[^-*-^^*[[-[*^^[[[^[[[^-[*[*[[*-^-[**
(DIR) Post #B2II0eJcdcDtfW6Xy4 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T01:43:47Z
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@apophis I gave you some ASCII for extra safety.
(DIR) Post #B2II93wdEVzpTNMYbY by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T01:45:17Z
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@apophis Well I feel that there is a logic to:▷□■▣But, beyond the triangle I think you can reorder the other three.
(DIR) Post #B2IIfpygBP0ri9wsuO by Limnobotanik@norden.social
2026-01-15T01:51:11Z
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@futurebird @apophis ah i would have reversed the two last ones. But that wouldn't make a difference, would it?
(DIR) Post #B2IKrLvJwueDsozqAC by golgaloth@writing.exchange
2026-01-15T02:15:42Z
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@futurebird You said order. I'm a writer.
(DIR) Post #B2IKsq2xRBQBb9HEq8 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T02:15:54Z
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@gaditb Two cards that could be flipped where the last two the students fit into their pattern. They decided that having a repeat made no sense.
(DIR) Post #B2IPiWx44qDFFcQOqO by sjb@mstdn.io
2026-01-15T03:10:07Z
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@futurebird □□□□□□□□■□□▣□□▷□■□▣□▷□▷□□▷■□▷▣□▷▷■■□■■■▣■▷▣▣□▣■▣▣▣▷▷
(DIR) Post #B2ISgGvsxqCEqtUJc0 by mason@partychickens.net
2026-01-15T03:43:19Z
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@futurebird I don't see a way to determine if ■ is two or three, and ▣ is whichever of those that ■ is not. ▷ is zero. □ is one. Thus, depending on how you assign the two filled-in squares, the order is either▷ □■ ▣□ ▷□ □□ ■ □ ▣ ■ ▷■ □■ ■■ ▣▣ ▷▣ □▣ ■▣ ▣□ ▷ ▷□ ▷ □□ ▷ ■□ ▷ ▣□ □ ▷□ □ □□ □ ■□ □ ▣or▷ □ ▣ ■ □ ▷ □ □□ ▣□ ■▣ ▷▣ □▣ ▣▣ ■■ ▷ ■ □■ ▣ ■ ■□ ▷ ▷□ ▷ □□ ▷ ▣□ ▷ ■□ □ ▷□ □ □□ □ ▣□ □ ■I suspect the ordering of ■ and ▣ is arbitrary given that □ is definitely 1, which makes them all somewhat out of order if we consider the unicode values.▷ 25b7□ 25a1■ 25a0▣ 25a3I like patterns. Thank you again.
(DIR) Post #B2Il5WUS3bPvW8qWWW by stveje@mstdn.social
2026-01-15T07:09:32Z
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@futurebird ▷ 001□ 002▣ 003■ 004□▷ 021□□ 022□▣ 023□■ 024▣▷ 031▣□ 032▣▣ 033▣■ 034■▷ 041■□ 042■▣ 043■■ 044□▷▷ 211□▷□ 212□▷▣ 213□▷■ 214□□▷ 221□□□ 222□□▣ 223□□■ 224
(DIR) Post #B2In2Br8W9dsYrzm0O by IngaLovinde@embracing.space
2026-01-15T07:31:16Z
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@futurebird I'm an adult, and this looks like numbers to me. There are only four letters and too many combinations made of these letters, so it's unlikely that they are words rather than numbers in base-4.There are four single-character numbers and 12 two-character, with all possible combinations of the characters except the leading triangle in two-character numbers.None of the numbers (besides single-character triangle) start with triangle, so I'd guess that's 0. And another guess is that the list is a contiguous chunk of numbers (because at least it contains all numbers from 0 to 15)All three-digit numbers start with empty square, so I'd guess that's 1.All three-digit numbers start with either 10 or 11, further confirming the "contiguous range" hypothesis. There are all four possible combinations starting with 10, but only three starting with 11, so they must be 110, 111 (we already know how these look like) and 112. Therefore, nested squares is 2.Final answer: * It's a base-4 alphabet, encoding all integers from 0 to 112 (22 in decimal) * Triangle is 0* Empty square is 1* Empty square with nested filled square is 2* Filled square is 3
(DIR) Post #B2Iu6akCcpZQaWnXMm by clayfoot@mastodon.social
2026-01-15T08:50:37Z
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@futurebird I think assignment of ▣ and ■ is arbitrary, so I'm going to choose 2 and 3 just to make it easier to remember: 0 -> empty -> □1 -> partial -> ▣2 -> filled -> ■3 -> triangle -> ▷I can then sort the cards easily0 to 23 in base 10, or0 to 113 in base 4, or□ to ▣▣▷ with the cards
(DIR) Post #B2K1LLLB4Uorzn29se by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T21:46:28Z
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Here is the real puzzle. l
(DIR) Post #B2K21M3smTpYOVyd5U by RonJeffries@mastodon.social
2026-01-15T21:54:01Z
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@futurebird two of these things are not like the others
(DIR) Post #B2K2EemiTpIeEBI4My by anselmschueler@ieji.de
2026-01-15T21:56:23Z
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@futurebird Assuming you're using ▷ to represent the red triangle, it seems to me like there's a card that appears twice in the image but not in your list. Namely the one at the top and at the bottom right, which I'd render as ▷■. At the top the triangle is rotated differently so it's perhaps ■▷? Still, I can't find both of those in the textual representation
(DIR) Post #B2K3E2GNnmtWi3QzNQ by anselmschueler@ieji.de
2026-01-15T22:07:28Z
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@futurebird I haven't checked exhaustively, but it seems to me that interpreting this as base 4 is sensible, and you can deduce that ▷=0 and □=1, but I don't see a way to pin down the values of ▣■…
(DIR) Post #B2K9ibluwhJvFZ96Cu by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-15T23:20:17Z
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@VoiceofDuum He's very frustrated that it takes so long to move each card to a new location.
(DIR) Post #B2KD2cPCbDdwrxkodc by IngaLovinde@embracing.space
2026-01-15T23:57:27Z
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@futurebird once again we have four characters, four cards with each of the characters, and 12 cards with two-character combinations, so I'm just going to assume it's like the last time, base-4.On 12 two-character cards, we get one with two triangles, one with two filled circles, one with two squares, but none with two empty circles. Therefore empty circle is zero.Now from the card with empty circle and triangle we can deduce that if we write digits in the same order as usual, more senior to the left, less senior to the right, then the correct orientation of triangle is the one where the right angle is to the bottom left of diagonal.Rotating all cards with triangles to their right orientation, we see that in three-digit numbers, triangles only occur in the rightmost position, and in the leftmost it's always filled circle. This probably means that filled circle means 1."Filled circle, square, empty circle" card is oriented properly because empty circle is zero. But we never see a three-digit number with triangle in the middle. Assuming, like in the previous puzzle, that the numbers are consequential, we get that square is 2 and triangle is 3.The numbers on the cards are, in base-4 with Arabic digits:32 in the second (only) column of the top row.31, 20, 11, 2.113, 103, 100, 13.0, 3, 102, 12 or 21 (impossible to determine if it's upside down or not).120, 101, 30, 22.112, 110, 33, 1.111, 21 or 12, 23, 10.
(DIR) Post #B2KeqrrA7mtu2018Zk by lufthans@mastodon.social
2026-01-16T05:09:06Z
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@futurebird @xarvos There are 24 lines in your box empty, box full, box outline, triangle example. I swapped to , " : > to work in terminalIt seems one more or one fewer would allow determining which is the 3rd and which is 4th symbolYour card example has 25 cards, and a beetle assistant, so I skipped to 3 symbol cards and I believe the 25th card solidifies the order as:circleearthsquaretriangleFor the cards also had to figure out left to right order, but I think I got that correct
(DIR) Post #B2KfHNZcp7hzvgSLU8 by lufthans@mastodon.social
2026-01-16T05:13:54Z
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@futurebird @buddhawilliams woohoo! Got it rightGranted, if I understand it correctly, that was a 50/50 on correct or incorrect :)
(DIR) Post #B2KwCuppQhierPUbMO by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-16T08:23:31Z
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@c9a 1. I'm confused by your ordering. It's not alphabettized, and it's not a base 4 analog. That doesn't mean it's not logical, hmmm.2. I'm impressed by the little application. What language did you use? My CS club students are making some web games and they want to do things like save scores and let users compare answers so this could work. As such JavaScript isn't sufficent. Too client side. We've been trying PHP. I used to be a web dev but that was two decades ago.
(DIR) Post #B2KxbPNZcOicUoWGOG by mensrea@freeradical.zone
2026-01-16T08:39:13Z
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@futurebird without other context we can assume that it is potentially in the correct order already, as these could be words rather than just random groups of symbols
(DIR) Post #B2KxqsQvsUE6wwSzGi by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-16T08:42:01Z
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@bri7 @c9a Ah! grey. That makes more sense.
(DIR) Post #B2KyIKi8qnI6TBblOC by danyow@norden.social
2026-01-16T08:46:58Z
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@futurebird ▷□▣■□▷□□□▣□■▣▷▣□▣▣▣■■▷■□■▣■■□▷▷□▷□□▷▣□▷■□□▷□□▣□□□□□■(I believe there is an equally valid solution exchanging the meaning of the digits ▣ and ■.)
(DIR) Post #B2L8ry9bC5B8Tc5ABM by mspcommentary@mastodon.online
2026-01-16T10:45:28Z
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@futurebird I think you need some additional information. In particular: do the items represent numbers (whole numbers) and, if so, is it a continuous series?
(DIR) Post #B2LVAeBnqLpZ3GQOMy by swelljoe@mas.to
2026-01-16T14:55:21Z
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@futurebird @c9a JavaScript can be server-side with nodejs or bun or deno. I generally don't like JavaScript on the backend but it has the benefit of being the same language on the frontend and backend. PHP is still a reasonable option, and it runs easily on cheap shared hosts. There are better backend service language options (I prefer Go) but JavaScript or PHP is entirely defensible for students just learning how to do things on the web. Python is another good teaching option.
(DIR) Post #B2LYccB7DJhomk8A52 by lxo@snac.lx.oliva.nom.br
2026-01-16T15:32:12Z
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I'm leaning towards considering the symbols as "digits", in a positional numbering system in which, from left to right, positions become more significant (so reverse of our roman numbering system). as for sorting digits in the same position, I'd consider those that use more black "paint" to be higher, so ▷ < □ < ▣ < ■ < ▷▷. I'm missing a "zero".
(DIR) Post #B2LcHCZzasgH7xoOCu by Zergling_man@sacred.harpy.faith
2026-01-16T16:14:38.421596Z
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@futurebird 1) are you a nigger2) does this require knowledge of proprietary software interfaces
(DIR) Post #B2LdEMrB1jt85S3uEq by Zergling_man@sacred.harpy.faith
2026-01-16T16:25:25.052886Z
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@futurebird 3) your mapping sucks shit, just use wbgr
(DIR) Post #B2LeIgQmIC39uLKsym by Zergling_man@sacred.harpy.faith
2026-01-16T16:34:36.905537Z
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@futurebird 4) your transcription sucks shit too, you missed blue green white, or maybe white green blue, it's difficult to tell which way up any non-red card is, and this seems like pretty important information5) I do not believe the order is linear
(DIR) Post #B2LeIhr300eoK6dNZ2 by Zergling_man@sacred.harpy.faith
2026-01-16T16:37:21.224109Z
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@futurebird 6) I suspect that not all the cards are visible in that photo, so I am not convinced it is possible
(DIR) Post #B2LeqSJlGsehyy9qlM by Zergling_man@sacred.harpy.faith
2026-01-16T16:43:39.153207Z
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@futurebird If I am to assume the existence of additional cards, I can come up with 36 cards, making a square.I do not think there are 11 cards hidden.
(DIR) Post #B2LevOPhDNDrJzHuUq by Zergling_man@sacred.harpy.faith
2026-01-16T16:44:32.770174Z
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@futurebird Rather, bgw should not exist.