No. 001 - Simple Addition [Written]

[reminded]

[It's about time to give this device a go. In neat, legible writing is simply the following:]

5 + 5 + 5 = 550

It appears I have my arithmetic out of sorts. However, it would be a shame to scrap the equation entirely. Can you help me correct it by adding a single straight line?

Comments

[reminded]

[It's not fifteen indeed.]

Certainly. [He's always happy to indulge an eager puzzler.] Let's try something more practical this time.

Suppose you put a coin in a glass jar and then plug the opening with a cork. How can you retrieve the coin without breaking the glass or taking out the cork?

[selphie_t]

Like a reverse piggy bank? What if there was a slit cut into the glass? You could use a pair of tweezers to pull the coin out through the opening.

[reminded]

[He is really finding out that people around here like to test his puzzle language...]

I admire the lengths to which you'd go to retrieve a single coin, but I must reject that proposition. Unless I've stepped into a very strange place indeed, most people don't have glass-cutting tools at their disposal.

[selphie_t]

Strange is one way to describe to Luceti and I guess you could say that we're like the coin in the jar.

Speaking of the jar! What does it look like?

[reminded]

[An interesting analogy.]

As ordinary as any jar goes, but perhaps an illustration will help you put this in perspective:

[selphie_t]

And smacking the bottom of the jar with the palm of your hand would be removing the cork technically...

Wait. You turn the cork on its side on the lip of jar and place your hand over it, turn it upside down and the coin should fall right into your hand. That way, the cork is still in the jar and you're not removing it.

[reminded]

Ah, but if the opening were not stopped by the cork, then it would not be "plugged" as stated in the problem. And a good cork would not become unlodged simply by a turn of the jar.

As a matter of fact, there is a way to deal with the cork without touching the jar itself.

>.< /feels horribly dumb >.<

[selphie_t]

There is?

Wait... let's go back to the piggy bank idea minus the cutting into the glass part. If you push the cork into the jar, you can shake the coin out after that.

don't feel bad, it's a tricky one :|b

[reminded]

And there you have it. It will be a devil getting the cork back out, but at least you'll have your coin! Congratulations.

But it's so obvious! DX

[selphie_t]

Woo! Thanks! That one was tricky.

I'm Selphie, Mr. Puzzle. :)

it wouldn't be a good puzzle if it were obvious!!

[reminded]

[Ha ha.]

Most call me "Hershel", "Layton", or "Professor", but I suppose Mr. Puzzle will do as well. A pleasure, Selphie.

This is true! xD

[selphie_t]

Hershel, it is! Why a Professor though? Professor of puzzles or a Professor of something else?

[reminded]

[A professor of puzzleology...]

If only that were so. I am a professor of archaeology. Contrary to what many might think, I don't make a profession out of puzzles.