Timeline for There are 2,001 doors leading to 2,001 hallways. How quickly can you find the way out?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
21 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 30, 2020 at 15:35 | comment | added | Eric Towers | Unless it is clear which one of "the adjacent rooms" or "the adjacent lots" is meant, either by prior callout or additional context, use of the definite pronoun is incorrect. In the absence of such a callout or context, use of the indefinite pronoun is grammatically necessary. | |
| May 30, 2020 at 15:33 | comment | added | Eric Towers | Nouns in English are preceded by the definite article when the speaker believes that the listener already knows what he is referring to. See also [butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/grammar/articles.html], specifically the distinction between articles for inspecific identity counting nouns and specific identity counting nouns. You are relying on inspecificity, so the use of the definite article is incorrect. <continued> | |
| May 30, 2020 at 14:00 | comment | added | Tanner Swett | @EricTowers I'm pretty sure that the phrase "the adjacent hallway" is commonly used to mean "one of the adjacent hallways" (like "the adjacent room" is used to mean "one of the adjacent rooms", and "the adjacent lot" to mean "one of the adjacent lots"). | |
| May 30, 2020 at 8:39 | comment | added | Eric Towers | I can't make unambiguous sense of "the adjacent hallway." Number the doors 1..2001 and likewise the hallways behind them and the rooms at the ends of those hallways. The 2 hallway has two adjacent hallways, the 1 and 3 hallways Which one is "the" adjacent hallway? The definite article does not apply. "An adjacent hallway" would be correct and the answer marked correct would still be so. | |
| May 29, 2020 at 16:32 | comment | added | Tanner Swett | @Kevin I think that possibility is ruled out by the fact that I wrote "the adjacent hallway" rather than "a nearby hallway" or something. Hallways #X and #X+2 can't connect since they're not adjacent. Even if they did, though, the solutions below would efficiently find those two hallways, and then you'd know that the hallway to freedom is in between them. | |
| May 29, 2020 at 15:49 | comment | added | Chronocidal | @Kevin In which case, there would be 2 adjacent hallways, and other door in the room at the end couldn't lead to the adjacent hallway. | |
| May 29, 2020 at 13:08 | comment | added | Kevin | Not sure how to open a chat room (or if I have the reputation for it.) I'll just put it this way: what happens when corridors #X and #X+2 connect to a room at the long end of the hallway, and corridor #X+1 stops short of reaching that room - instead, ending with a ladder that leads to freedom. The corridor lengths need to be defined explicitly equal instead of with "eh, about ABC long" to prevent that possibility. | |
| May 29, 2020 at 8:14 | answer | added | somethingknocked | timeline score: 0 | |
| May 28, 2020 at 20:27 | answer | added | Fogmeister | timeline score: 0 | |
| May 28, 2020 at 15:55 | comment | added | Tanner Swett | @Kevin Hmmmm, I don't quite understand your scenario and how it makes the problem more difficult. Maybe you could explain it in more detail in a chat room? | |
| May 28, 2020 at 15:53 | comment | added | Tanner Swett | @Neyt Nope, I haven't posed this puzzle to anyone before. The number is 2,001 because that's a number that works :) | |
| May 28, 2020 at 15:06 | comment | added | Kevin | You should probably specify a bit on the N/S hallways, and explicitly make them all the exact same length (instead of "about half an hour to walk"). Because I was stymied with the thought: what if the escape hallway was 20 feet shorter than the rest and had a ladder leading upward to freedom. Which makes solving the problem optimally pretty much impossible. | |
| May 28, 2020 at 9:53 | comment | added | Neyt | Hey ! I have a question : did you already ask this puzzle with a picture/diagram/visual help ? If yes, did it help them ? Like they found quickier than without ? Other question : why 2001 ? :D | |
| May 28, 2020 at 7:01 | answer | added | Cireo | timeline score: 11 | |
| May 27, 2020 at 10:03 | history | edited | Tanner Swett | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Why not a female Emperor?
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| May 27, 2020 at 9:51 | history | became hot network question | |||
| May 27, 2020 at 7:27 | history | edited | msh210 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
English
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| May 27, 2020 at 2:29 | answer | added | Bryon Nicoson | timeline score: 6 | |
| May 27, 2020 at 2:28 | vote | accept | Tanner Swett | ||
| May 27, 2020 at 2:24 | answer | added | athin | timeline score: 42 | |
| May 27, 2020 at 1:40 | history | asked | Tanner Swett | CC BY-SA 4.0 |