NOTE: Cache Up NB has ceased operations as of October 1st, 2022. All content on this site remains for archive purposes only.

Pa's Caching TalesPuzzlesSaint John

Micro Logic Puzzles Part II

PA

I know what you are thinking. You are wondering why this is Part 2. Well you likely forgot about the previous post on this subject over a year ago. It contained a few stories about the puzzles, had a few solutions, and there were some interesting comments from cachers who liked them and from some who didn’t.

Here is the link

https://www.cacheupnb.com/archives/1653

This time I will post a solution and a story.

So why did I decide to post a new item? Well, we sometimes get emails asking for help on the puzzles and we are always pleased to help. We have even been asked if there are websites that would have information that would help solve them; of course I don’t know any.

We recently received a request for help from Kim Anderson, an Ottawa area cacher using the name buddysally. Before I was able to reply, she found the answer and wrote back. We wrote a few emails back and forth. Here is are extracts from her emails.

************************************************************
THanks so much for responding. I live in Ottawa and just got home from the hospital after major surgery two days ago. I won’t be able to cache for two months, so to pass the time, I am doing puzzles. I have done three of your puzzles so far and am presently working on a fourth. When I can get back to caching, I hope to go after your puzzles. Thanks for putting them out, I find them challenging and a lot of fun. cheers and happy caching.

Nice to hear from you, take care, Kim

******

Hi Paul,

My sister, who lives in Sudbury and I were just chatting, saying we would love to go to Moncton, to do all your puzzles. That would be the best caching trip ever. Well, we can dream anyway. Perhaps if we win the lottery. Cheers and happy caching.

Nice to hear from you, take care, Kim

*******

Hi Ma & Pa,

Buddysally here again. Well, I’m still on bed rest only, so I have been spending my time doing your logic puzzles. I have 7 done now in the Quebec region, which isn’t that far from where I live in Kanata. I am presently working on MICRO LOGIC 89 ANDERSON SQUARES ML89, GCP0EX, and am stuck. So far have spent about 20 hours on it. I think I have the north coords right. For the north I got: ……. Could you let me know if that is right. I am really stuck on the West coord, so if possible, could you give me a hint for that one to get me moving in the right direction. Thanks so much; I am really enjoying the stimulation and challenge of these puzzles, but at the moment my brain is cramped on this one. Thanks for any assistance. Cheers and happy caching.

******

Hi Paul,
………………………………………. I think I have 4 more in your Quebec series to do. My sister Libby, (Cleo23) and I are actually thinking about taking a trip to Moncton to do all your other micro logics; we love them. It may not be for a year or more, but it gives us somethng to dream about. Those are the most fun and challengng puzzles that I have ever done. Thanks so much for all your time and effort in putting them out; I reallly appreciate them. Cheers and happy caching.

Nice to hear from you, take care, Kim
******************************

As you can well imagine, the compliments went to my head.

OK enough of that. As promised, here is a solution.

I recently provided an answer in French to an Ottawa area cacher. It is for for ML 63, located in Rothesay. Here it is in English
*******
I find this puzzle interesting because you dont have to figure out the value of the letters till you are finished solving

AB – CD > AD – CB (1)
EC – FG > EG – FC (2)
FH – AE > FE – AH (3)
J > B (4)

NOTE: The results of the 6 subtractions above are two-digit numbers

Here is my solution

Line 1
The left side subtraction is larger than the right side so B is larger than D. B>D
The subtraction on the right must give a two digit number. Because B is larger than D, A muat be at least 2 larger than C

Line 2
The left side subtraction is larger than the right side so C is larger than G. C>G
The subtraction on the right must give a two digit number. Because C is larger than G, E muat be at least 2 larger than F

Line 3

The left side subtraction is larger than the right side so H is larger than E. H>E
The subtraction on the right must give a two digit number. Because H is larger than E, F muat be at least 2 larger than A

With all the above information, we can put all the letters in order, leaving a dash where there is a difference of at least 2 between two letters

G C _ A _ F _ E H

We also know that J > B > D so we have the answer.

G C D A B F J E H

14 thoughts on “Micro Logic Puzzles Part II”

  • I love the idea of your ML geocaches and appreciate the time you spend making then, I wish I had the patience to solve them.

  • Here is a question from a cacher about ML 70 and my reply

    Question

    A x B = CA (1)
    (A + C) x D = ED (2)
    (E + D) x F = BF (3)
    (G – C) x H = DH (4)
    J = ? (5)

    I’ve been working on ML 70 since yesterday. WOW, I’ve tried and tried and tried. Is there a correction to be done somewhere? I get up to the third equation and that stupid B doesn’t want to cooperate. There’s only 6 equations possible for the letters to line up. 2 x 6 = 12 , 4 x 6 = 24, 5 x 3 = 15, 5 x 7 = 35, 5 x 9 = 45 and 8 x 6 = 48. What am I missing here, grrrrrrrr, I’m getting so frustrated and such a HEADACHE. LOL

    Our Reply

    Yep those are the equations. A lot of my puzzles are based on some variation of the fact that 5 multiplied by an odd number will give a number ending in 5, or that 6 multiplied by an even number will give a number ending in that even number. So as you noticed, you have to figure out which ones apply here.

    I havent saved any solving instructions, so you have forced me to solve it. I get similar requests and I enjoy solving them.

    A x B = CA (1)
    (A + C) x D = ED (2)
    (E + D) x F = BF (3)
    (G – C) x H = DH (4)
    J = ? (5)

    Look first at equation 1. Based on your equations, B=6 or A=5. If B=6, equation 3 does not work, so A=5
    Now look at equation 2. It only works if A+C=6 so C=1
    Now we see that in equation 1, that B=3
    In equation 3 we know that E+D must equal 6 and it is 2+4 or 4+2. It must be 2+4 because ED in equation 2 has to be 24,
    so E=2 and D=4.
    In equation 4, G-C must equal 6, so G=7, also because D=4, DH can only be 48, so H=8
    In Equation 3, F must be 6. So F=6

  • I was sure new puzzles were coming out when I saw this. I have a lot of fun solving them since I rarely have the chance to actually grab them. Thanks for creating them, they are fun and challenging.

    • Actually I have over twenty puzzles ready but I am not sure where to hide the ML puzzles. I would like an area not far from Moncton where I could hide a number of them.I am still looking and you may see a bunch appear one day, sooner or later.

      If you are out of puzzles and have a need to do some, I could send you some new one to test for me.

      PAul

      • Sure, if you need some tested let me know. I do them in spurs tho, and I only have a few left to figure out. Can’t wait to spend a full caching day in Moncton. I will nail a lot of those ML for sure, I hate it everytime a solved puzzle is archive, feel like it’s work down the drain haha. But that’s part of a cycle of a cache.

        Thanks again.

      • Oh, I noticed you had some hidden in other area and people manage them for you. If you want to hide a ML in the Acadian peninsula let me know. I could hide a Micro Container for you and send you the coordinates. I would take care of the maintenance. This could give some folks around here the Micro Logic Fever haha.

        • Well I can send you a couple of puzzles to play with. They will soon be on their way.

          Also, if you want to hide a cache (or two), for us, we would prepare the cache page. Thanks

          • Allright, I will hide two pretty soon. Do you want them to be easy finds and keep the hard part for the puzzle ?

          • Thanks. I always make the hides easy.

  • I’ve enjoyed doing about a dozen of Pa’s micro logics, and other puzzles. For me it’s not so much about the puzzle as it is about getting that darn smiley in a corner of my map that is all smilies. So they are like filler or icing on the cake or gravy I guess.

    I do confess to sort-of cheating my way through one puzzle (I admitted it in my log entry) but my cheat was custom-built and required more programming ingenuity than perhaps the amount of logic or math ability required to do the puzzle itself. I spent hours and hours and couldn’t figure it out, and out of despair, I wrote a computer program that would test all 9 billion or whatever possible combinations of A = 1, B = 2, etc. But the program was not written well and spit out several dozen sets of answers, only one of which was correct, so I had to manually verify each set, and memorize the correct one as I didn’t have any paper handy and the program froze up my whole computer until it was done. So really, although it was not the way Pa intended for people to solve it, I did put a lot of work into it.

  • I have found 62 of the local micro logics which is most of them around Moncton. I have found a few out of town as well. I probably solved the first 20 or so my self but after that I fell behind and ended up getting the answers from friends while going out caching with them. To be honest I don’t have the time to sit down and spend hours solving puzzles unless it is different or a I am going to a place with a good puzzle there, also I am not a fan of math or logic puzzles outside of Geocaching either. For the most part I ignore most puzzles but I do enjoy finding them when I do and I enjoyed finding all of your puzzles PA, I really did. I have found over half of the JIM52 and all of the Dogs, I solved a few of Jim’s and over half of the dogs while teaming up with Zonker and Incepit to get them solved and we went out together to get them as a team. The micro logics did interest me at first but not being a math fan kinda made me lose interest, not the finding part just the solving part It does not bother me to have them around unfound or unsolved just like many other puzzles that I don’t want to solve. All part of this wonderful game, it appeals to everyone who plays in different ways and that is so cool.

  • I guess this item has been useful to someone.

    Here ispart of a recent log on a micro logic

    Log Date: 12/13/2011
    Quick find …..while geocaching in the area. Thanks to the Forum article on CacheUp NB, I had the coords for this one. …… TFTC

Leave a Reply