Each issue of the Automation Notebook features a section we call, “The Break Room”. We know you successfully answered everything without having to ask your friends for any help (wink, wink). But, just in case you want to make sure we didn’t miss anything, below are the brainteaser answers from Issue 33, 2015 of Automation Notebook. You can return to the brainteasers from Issue 33, 2015 without the answers here.
Brainteasers Answers
1.) Sequential Differential
What is the next number in this sequence?:
1
11
21
1211
111221
312211
13112221
Answer:
The next entry would be 1113213211
After the first item in the list, the following entries simply describe the previous entry. The second entry describes the first: “one 1”, the third describes the second: “2 ones”. The fourth describes the third: “one 2, one 1”, etc. So to describe the last entry in the list we would say: “one 1, one 3, two 1’s, three 2’s, and one 1” – or as a pure number: 1113213211
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2.) Vexing Hexing
How many people can understand hex, IF only you, your math teacher, and dead people can understand hex?
Answer:
57007
The trick is that the word DEAD represents a number in hexadecimal. That number in base 10, plus one to include yourself, and another to include the math teacher, is: 57005 + 1 + 1 = 57007.
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3.) Buying Timing
An engineer purchased 20 items at AutomationDirect.com and spent exactly $200. She bought at least one each of the following items (and nothing else): a SureStep stepper motor (STP-MTR-23055D) at $40, a SureMotion L-pitch timing belt (187L050NG) at $5, and a SureMotion XL-pitch timing belt (170XL025NG) at $2.50.
What were the quantities of the items on her order?
Answer:
3 motors, 15 “L” size belts, and 2 “XL” belts. (3×40)+(15×5)+(2×2.5) = 200
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