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@SirAnonymous
That's why I thought it was Beta Delta, he mentioned a Greek thing with puzzle 2. I think Beta Delta would have been a better #1 answer and that they should have been done the other way around.
Interesting, I would have got it fasters than Athias anyway but I was pretty sure the puzzle was Beta Delta. Anyway, what exactly makes the second puzzle ETA?
I instantly thought of letters when I saw the code and saw 1 was the wrong answer.
1,2,3,4,5,?
Was replying to yoyr question about why I said I could solve it faster.
As for your puzzle, 12 came to mind as did 32 but I don't comprehend why exactly.
is a puzzle at all, because you have violated the very point that Zed was trying to explain to Edge; that a puzzle need not have context, just pattern. As Zed explained in his #59, your "solution," given in your #81 applies mathematic functions within the consecutive series of numbers, but one has no idea what functions are to be applied in what order. You have, first, an exponent [really multiplication of the same number], then simple multiplication, then division, and then addition, thus using three pf the four simple functions [minus subtraction]. Even that subtraction would be the missing function is self-explanitory; it is "minus," that is, a missing function. Fine. But, the sequence applied is still a problematic issue due to it not being an obvious pattern without convoluted attempts, and this goes beyond the use of intelligence, requiring some guesswork to arrive at the solution.
no pattern at all because the sequence of application of math function does not follow a logical sequence. Logic is replaced by guess work. That is not puzzle-solving at all.
Whereas, Zed's first puzzle, though also remote in its solution, uses, consistently, the same, most simple of math functions: addition, and the[pattern] of its use is consistent.
--> @FLRWNo incorrect. It's a puzzle not a sequence.
Therefore, presented as a patterned puzzle, I agree with Zed's solution: 6.
So your answer is "6"? There's no need to separate yourself from your answer by stating, "one initially doesn't need to come up with anything other than 6..." And no, the answer is not "6." (You were close, though.) You see, I can't expect you to figure it out just from its mere presentation--not even for a "keen" puzzler like yourself. Of course, you're going to state that it's "6" based on the only reasoning you can grasp from its presentation, and that is its order. But if I keep the rules to myself, how can the answer be determined by you or anyone other than guessing at the rules?
Zed, I'll have to admit I did not see this string until tonight, and trying the first puzzle, I''ll have to depend on your good graces that I solved it before reading your #68, in which you solved it, but I did not solve it until after your #59. I realized that it was additive, but at first fooled by trying to include the 20 cipher. I then realized it was a red herring, and just added the first three ciphers in each series, and backed into 18 as the solution. I take it that this is the end of the puzzle; that the pattern is not intended to continue.Whereas, I have stopped reading as of your #68 to enter these comments.
it's simpler to assume that which could have and should have been done after the fact.