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riddles >> what am i >> Take the colors of the rainbow...
(Message started by: Anonymous on Apr 6th, 2003, 8:26am)

Title: Take the colors of the rainbow...
Post by Anonymous on Apr 6th, 2003, 8:26am
I can't figure out the answer to this riddle! It's driving me insane!  >:(

Take the colors of the rainbow, and multiply by three.
Subtract from that past tense of eat, it's easy as can be.
Now add a three-digit number, a synonym for "sick",
Add three more; divide it by the corners on a brick.
What number am I?

//Title changed by moderator//

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by Kitty on Apr 6th, 2003, 10:59am
7 times 3 = 21
21 - 8 = 14
...

Then i dont no  ???
It mite b totally wrong but it is a start.  :-/

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by Icarus on Apr 6th, 2003, 11:14am
(7 x 3 - 8 + 111 + 3)/8 = 16

Of course some say that there are only 6 colors in a rainbow (red orange yellow green blue violet), but that does not leave you with a number divisible by 8.

Alternatively, you can say that there are an infinite number of colors in the rainbow, so the answer is infinity!

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by harpanet on Apr 6th, 2003, 11:46am
hmmmm. My calculator absolutely insists that 21 - 8 = 13 and
7 x 3 - 8 + 111 + 3 = 127.


Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by Icarus on Apr 6th, 2003, 8:27pm
Well, obviously as a mathematician, any thing I say about numbers is by definition correct. You are just going to have to get rid of that defective calculator! ::)

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by Anonymous on Apr 6th, 2003, 8:47pm
WOW! Thanks!  ;D I kept getting 62 because I kept finding the answer (like 7x3=21) then going on to the next part. I guess it works better if you don't do that! lol Thanks for your help Icarus! Now I can sleep better tonight!  ;D

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by Icarus on Apr 6th, 2003, 9:01pm
If you can't bedazzle them with brilliance - baffle them with BS. That's my motto!

111 = "ILL" by the way. Either this is not what the poser intended, or the poser also goofed on the math, or the answer is not an integer!

If the latter is true, then either of 15 1/2, or 15 7/8 is the answer (depending on counting 6 or 7 colors in the rainbow).

On the other hand, infinity still works as well! The rainbow is actually a spectrum, with infinitely many colors in it.

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by harpanet on Apr 6th, 2003, 11:53pm

on 04/06/03 at 20:27:27, Icarus wrote:
Well, obviously as a mathematician, any thing I say about numbers is by definition correct. You are just going to have to get rid of that defective calculator! ::)

I gave it a stern talking to and it is currently writing out lines on the blackboard at Springfield Elementary as a punishment:
"I will not expose the ignorance of the faculty"
"I will not expose the ignorance of the faculty"
"I will not expose the ign"

;D

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by Kitty on Apr 7th, 2003, 10:50am
Your nice to your calculator!  ;D

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by Anonymous on Apr 7th, 2003, 12:25pm
16 is NOT the answer!  :o See, in my guild, we have a riddle contest, and the person who runs it has given 2 hints:

1) It's a whole number
2) The number is under 30

I guessed 16 like you said, and she said, "No, but very close." So I guessed 15 since that's pretty close.. but I'll post the answer when she tells what it is.  ;)

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by aero_guy on Apr 8th, 2003, 10:43am
Working backwords and assuming we correctly interpret 8 and 111, we see that for the answer to be whole in the range they ask for, it must be 11 + 3n where n=1,2,3,4,5,6.

Thus, she says that the rainbow has -6+8n colors.

So, does anyone know of way of classifying visible light into 10 different colors? (ans of 17)

My guess is she screwed up.

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by BNC on Apr 8th, 2003, 11:29am
I got 15.75 too, but is a whole number is required, maybe the key is in "add three more" -- 3 more of what?
If you add "3 more" of what you got so far, you get 62. Is it "close" to 16? I don't know. What is your range??

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by Anonymous on Apr 12th, 2003, 7:55am
"Add 3 more". She said try adding the denomination of 3. What? ???

The range is- a whole number between 16-30

Order of operations doesn't seem to work either. I asked her if she typed it right and she said she did. It's been up for 2 weeks and I don't think she's going to change it until someone gets it right!

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by visitor on Apr 12th, 2003, 8:49am
Perhaps 3 more means 3 more 1's or a Roman 3, 111. If you go back and take only 6 colors for the rainbow, as Icarus suggested, then ((6*3)-8+111+111)/8=29

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by aero_guy on Apr 12th, 2003, 2:21pm
perhaps the trouble is in "ill".  I think that is the correct answer, but perhaps we are inerpreting it wrong.  Maybe she means it as a roman numeral ILL.  Of course, that is not the proper method of writing a roman numeral.

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by Anonymous on Apr 14th, 2003, 6:42am
The answer is between 15-20. I'll keep trying to figure it out, and I WILL post the answer when I figure it out!  ;D

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by DrOctopus on Apr 14th, 2003, 9:05pm
How do you know the answer is between 15 and 20? Did this person tell you that?

My theories:

1) Start assuming there are six rainbow colors. 6x3=18
Subrtract 8 to get 10.
"ILL" (which we may all be incorrectly assuming is the word) could be 99. (IL is a stupid 49, so ILL is a stupid 99, which is a REALLY stupid 099). 10+099=109
Add 3 to get 112. 112/8=14  So my best guess is 14.

2) Perhaps some parts of the equation are not use. For example, the past tense of "eat" is "ate". However, while "ate" sounds like "eight", the word "ate" itself is not a number and therefore cannot be used in a mathematical equation.

3) Some mentioned classifying rainbow light into 10 colors. It is possible: InfaRed, Pink, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, UltraViolet

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by aero_guy on Apr 15th, 2003, 4:07pm
I have no problem with them calling ILL three digits, it is three roman digits.  My problem is that that is the incorrect way to write the number.  I the the riddler was FOS.

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by Icarus on Apr 15th, 2003, 6:11pm
I still say there are infinitely many colors in the rainbow, therefore the answer has to be infinity, regardless of the what the rest of it means!

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by KicksGenius on Apr 15th, 2003, 6:20pm
What if by corners, it meant edges? Then instead of dividing by 8 you'd be dividing by 12. Just a thought.

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by Anonymous on Apr 20th, 2003, 8:06am
I asked her if she typed the riddle correctly and she said, "Yes". Then she said that someone got it right and the answer was on the page where the riddle contest is held. I re-read it, and guess what? She changed ONE little part that makes a HUGE difference! The riddle now reads:

Take the colors of the rainbow, and multiply by three.
Subtract from that past tense of eat, it's easy as can be.
Now add a three-digit number, a synonym for " 'ick",
Add three more; divide it by the corners on a brick.
What number am I?

See that 'ick part? It used to be "sick"! Hmm.. big difference there! Anyway, the answer is 20. It just makes me mad that I tried and tried and that one part was wrong! No wonder why no one could figure it out for 3 weeks...  :'(

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by visitor on Apr 20th, 2003, 9:11am
Eww, gross.

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by jade on Apr 20th, 2003, 2:58pm
sorry, I still don't get it :-(
In what way is 144 a synonym for 'ick?

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by mistysakura on Apr 21st, 2003, 4:43am

on 04/20/03 at 14:58:51, jade wrote:
sorry, I still don't get it :-(
In what way is 144 a synonym for 'ick?


144 is a gross.

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by BNC on Apr 21st, 2003, 4:48am
“ick” is a sound of disgust, as is “gross”. But gross is also 144.

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by Anonymous on Apr 22nd, 2003, 2:55pm
"ick" somehow stood for 150. Don't ask me how, but that's what she said. This was a pretty screwy riddle..  :-/

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by Icarus on Apr 22nd, 2003, 4:35pm

Quote:
"ick" somehow stood for 150. Don't ask me how, but that's what she said.


??? Sounds like she is bad at math as well as at stating riddles then. "ick" = 150 doesn't provide something divisible by 8 at the end, much less provide the answer of 20. The "ick" definitely stands for 144, not 150.

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by Anonymous on Apr 23rd, 2003, 7:41am
That's what I was thinking too. I still couldn't figure it out even when she told us the answer. Oh well, there's a new riddle up (like this one), so maybe I'll get it right. Thanks for your help everyone! It was much appreciated! Even though the riddle was wrong at first and it never really worked out in the end..

Title: Re: Can someone help me with this riddle?
Post by Jesus on May 23rd, 2003, 10:32am
7 x 3 = 21
ate = 3
21-3 = 18
ill = 3
18 + 3 = 21
21 + 3 = 24
8 corners
24 / 8 = 3
Simple



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