The One Where Technothlon Unpacks

Yeah! The Technothlon team has arrived the beautiful campus of IIT Guwahati. As the team members unpacked their bags (and ideas) to start up the work for the Mains, a short delay in this discussion might have depressed you. But now we are back with the next set of solutions, and some more questions. Tomorrow we will be discussing the section, "Ingenioso Matematica".

"Work In Progress"

 

Q-1:

            The basic idea to minimize the rope being used is to place the barricades such that they are equidistant from the ends to which they would get connected. Every time a new pillar is to be placed it's placed in the mid of the 2 existing pillars.

            So, first he places the barricade in the middle of the Left and Right Pillars, using 8m rope. Then he places the next barricade in the middle of this barricade and the Left Pillar, and then between this(middle) barricade and the Right pillar, using 4+4=8m rope (The order to place these two barricades can be interchanged).

Then rest of the barricades can be placed in any order, using a total of 2+2+2+2=8m of rope.

Hence the total rope used is:
8+2*(4+2+2) = 24m rope

8+2*(4+2+2) = 24m rope

Q-2:

            Since he has enough funds he doesn't have to strategies things out, and he will directly arrange the barricades one by one. The rope used for the first barricade is 8m, for the second is 7m, for the third is 6m, ..... for the seventh is 2m.
Hence the total rope used is:

8+7+6+5+4+3+2=35m rope.

Q-3:

(There was a typo in the question, and the correct question should have been:

            If he applies to another such stretch, 10m long, and with 9 barricades. Then            what would be his minimum wastage? (in case of 57 m long rope))

For this correct question:

            Check for the total rope required as in case of no bar on the budget and length of rope (similar to Ques-2). Following the procedure above, it would come out to be 54m.

Hence the minimum wastage would be of 57-54 = 3m.

(Add more to your knowledge: One might interpret that minimum wastage means the worst case as in Ques-2. Be cautious!

            You must check out the length given. In this question, if the total available length had been less than 54m (say 53m) then to solve the question it would have required to find an arrangement such that it uses length less than but nearest to  53 m)

Answers:

Question-1: option-(4) 24

Question-2: option-(3) 35

Question-3: option-(1) 3

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"Dcrypt D'crypto"

Ans-1: khulja sim sim
Reason: The clue for it lies in the words "wait for a second" which means we have to select the second letter from each of the words.

Since from here onwards all the questions are to be sequentially answered, i.e. the answer to a particular question will give the instruction for the next question, so the answer to all the questions must be some instruction except for the last one. (If you pay attention, you can cleverly decipher some questions directly too)

Ans-2: follow (the) arrow
Reason: Deciphered like Think outside the box, and as a hint the next question has arrow in the inscriptions.

Ans-3: next step swap even rows and read
Reason: Find the letters of "TECHNO" in the diamond. Now pick up only those letters written around these in the diamond where there is a line around the square boxes, and arrange them by following the arrow. For eg:, around T, pick up n,e,x,t in the ssense of the motion of the arrow around T, and hence 'NEXT'. Similarly for other characters.

Ans-4: divide half up half down and then alternate top & bottom
Reason: Follow the instruction fetched from the answer to the previous question. Swap the characters  in the even rows.

Ans-5: start right and alternate ends
Reason:  Distribute the 26 letters long code into 2 parts and write the second half just below the first. Now Pick first character of the upper code, second from the lower, third from the upper again, and so on.

Ans-6: reverse the abcd like a with z b with y

Reason: Pick one character from the right end and then from the left, then again from the right, and continue the same way (alternating ends).

Ans-7: ideate nurture kindle

Reason: Simply reverse a with z, b with y, and so on. (OR the hint: "Techniche speaks" can be used.)

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"Code Wars"

 

Let's tabulate all the information:

(First line of the Enciphered Text comes after taking into consideration: “DASY VJBYZ YL” and “GIFT DEATH TO”)

Q-1

Start checking for every word(city) one-by-one.

Kanpur, Nagpur, Mumbai could be enciphered to “CTCIBA”. Now reject Kanpur, and Nagpur as 'C' can be deciphered only in one way. Thus, MUMBAI is the only satisfactory choice for this.

Delhi, Patna could be enciphered to “OHYFB”. Now reject Delhi as 'Y' can be deciphered only to 'T'. Patna can be deciphered keeping in consideration all the rules.

Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad could be enciphered to “ZKVWNBIBE”. Now reject Ahmedabad, and Bengaluru (based on similar reasons as above). Thus, HYDERABAD is the only satisfactory choice for this.

All this helps us to fill the second line of the enciphered text row.

Hence the answer is: 3+5+8=16.

Q-2

Simply check for all those characters which can't be enciphered, and add the numbers corresponding to those words(city) which contain at-least one of these characters.

Hence the answer is: 1+2+4+6+7+8=28.

Q-3

Since 'E' can be ciphered in 2 ways: V,E; and for rest of the alphabets there is only one possible option.

Moreover since 'E' comes twice in 'EUROPE' therefore it can be enciphered in total 2*1*1*1*1*2=4 ways.

Answers:

Question-1: option-(4) 16

Question-2: option-(3) 28

Question-3: option-(1) 4

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The One With The "Facebook" Guy

Ghissu, multitasker, responsible are some of the few words that do not describe the west regional head of Techno'13 as much as Super-Ghissu, Super-multitasker and Super-responsible!   Arpit also handles the publicity work of Techno'13. Cool facebook guy, whose two all time  favourite one-liners are " Cool ra" and " I am so Awesome " . Arpit  really adores his bag apparently it being his "second" girlfriend ;) P.S. Ghissu is IITG lingo for a padhakoo...

Arpit Jain

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The One With The "Crazy" Guy

Very hardworking, dedicated comrade, he is literally the brain of Techno’13. Being the happy go lucky type his favorite hobby is to get his pics clicked ( you can clearly see the wackiest one on the right!) . North regional head of Techno’13, Pranshu also co-heads the question paper work.Intelligent, optimistic and especially “Nautanki” are few words which describe him.  Even though he is a crazy guy but a lot of fun to be around with.

Pranshu Anand

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The One With The "Alien" Girl

Girl power of team Techno. Along with being the heart of the team she's also the regional head of heart of our country(central). Soft-spoken, hard-working, and not to forget - the best hostess of (read for :P) team. The one behind all the complex yet amazing designs & questions of the paper (many of you might want to kill her now :p) is too simple in her real life & 'alien' is the only word she curses someone with even when angry(Just to imagine!). In a sentence, good at heart, best to work with.

Neha Singh

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The One With All The "Decrypt"ing

Pavan in search of the ultimate mantra for success goes to a saint, living in the Himalayas. The Saint wants to test the determination Pavan has, to achieve his goal, and shows him a passage. On unlocking its door he can find the hidden code of life. But the door only opens with a magical keyword, which is hidden in the Saint’s words.

“Sky there, humbly blesses, Ajanta caves:

‘ asamba kimba amar… asamba kimba amar!!’ ”

To help him, the saint has also given him a clue:

 “Wait for a second, think carefully , repeat, you will get it.”

He also tells him,” Everything you see beyond this door, will have a relation to what you see next.”

Question 1:

Say the magical word to open the door for Pavan.

Question 2:

The door opens, and Pavan finds that a series of challenges await him. First up, is a sign board that looks like this:

Question 3:

Then he encounters  an ancient scroll, that has the following inscriptions:

Question 4:

In a dark corner, is a pillar with inscriptions all over it, here’s what it looks like:

Question 5:

An unsuccessful  hunter, has written on the walls

S L A E T N I  T H E A D D  A T T R R R A G E T N N S

(Hint: Divide and rule)

Question 6:

You are just a step away from success, echoes a voice

     ees_h_bdlk_ _ ihzadbwt_ yhi_ _twaei_caetervr

("_" represent spaces)

Question 7:

Finally, unravel the mystery of success.

   rwvzgv  mfigfiv  prmwov

(Hint : Techniche speaks)

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The One "(Work) In Progress"

While supervising the construction of Metro in Technolasia, Pavan came up with quite a weird pattern of placing the barricades near the “Work in progress” board. There are 2 pillars, Left and Right, separated by 8m long stretch. He chose seven equidistant positions in this stretch to place the barricades. But the length of the rope required to connect these depends on their order of placement. Once a barricade is placed, it is connected to its immediate left and right barricades, if there is none, then to the pillar, with a stretched rope.

Assuming Pavan bought a 57m of rope.

Question 1:

What’s the minimum amount of wire he could have used?

1)28     2) 20   3) 26   4) 24

Question 2:

If he has no bar on using the fund. What’s the length of wire he could have used (not wasted)?

(not wasted)?

1) 27    2) 28   3) 35    4) 36

Question 3:

If he applies to another such stretch, 9m long, and with 9 barricades. Then what

would be his minimum wastage? (in case of 57 m long rope)

1) 3      2) 2      3) 0     4) 1

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The One With The "Code War"

Secret codes are often used, by spies and military, to carry out operations. In one such case, the CBI Coders, Ashima, Roshan and Himanshu, intercepted a mail in which they picked out two patterns, which they suspected could be the key. The rest of the code has been deciphered and conveys information about the camps of a terrorist group. Only the cities where these camps are located now are to be found.  You have been asked to decipher and answer before it’s too late!

All you have is the piece of information provided below:

(Hint: You can have multiple codes for an alphabet, but only one way to decipher it back.)

Question 1:

The first line of the code when deciphered comes out to be “GIFT DEATH TO”.

Given below are the possible deciphered texts of the encircled code.

Kanpur = 1            Nagpur = 2                Mumbai = 3              Delhi = 4

Patna =5                Ahmedabad = 6        Bengaluru = 7           Hyderabad = 8

Add up the numbers corresponding to the correct deciphered possibilities.

1) 12                2) 13            3) 14            4) 16

Question 2:

Which of the following given possibilities can under no condition, be ciphered using the code logic of the previous question?

Kanpur = 1              Chennai = 2       Ahmedabad = 3        Kolkata = 4

Hyderabad= 5        Srinagar= 6        Varanasi= 7              Jaipur = 8

Add up the numbers corresponding to these possibilities.

1) 26                2) 27            3) 28            4) 29

Question 3:

In how many ways the word “EUROPE” can be ciphered according to the code logic

used in the first question?

1) 4                2) 12            3) 0            4) 8

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The One Where Technothlon Answers

"The Drowning City"

Let’s start with filling up the grid. Let for our purpose, the cell in Row-x and Column-y be denoted as: (x, y).

·     Try to fill column E. To satisfy 12 at the top we must not fill (1,E) with 9,8,7,6 (Rule-5), and also not with 2,3,4,5,6,7 (Rule-3). So it has to be 1. So should be (4,E), (3,B), and (6,B). Now to satisfy 12 at the top of col-E, (3,E), (6,F), (1,B), and (4,B) must be 8.

·    Since we start at the top of column F, people from (2,E) will be rescued before we reach the right of Row-2. Hence, (2,F), (2,C), (5,F), (5,C) are 5.

·     Let’s see (3,F), it can’t be filled with 1(check (2,C)),3,4,5,6,7,8, or, 9 (Rule-3) therefore it has to be 2; so should be (6,F), (1,C), (4,C).

·    Similarly, (2,D) can’t be filled with 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 (Rule-3), and it’s 9 along with (2,A), (5,A), and (5,D).

·     Only possible choice for (3,C) and hence (3,D), (3,A), (6,A) and (6,D) is 4.

The numbers outside the grid can be filled now.

(Remember: You can’t save one’s who have already been saved. Be cautious while answering the questions. Avoid over-counting.)

·   Brown and Green box represents the ones who couldn’t be saved in the original situation.

·    Green box represents the ones who could have been saved if the diagonal light was allowed.

Question-1: option-1) 4

Question-2: option-3) 25

Question-3: option-1) 9

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"Jumbled"

(A few clarifications:

• In Q2, ‘None of these’ means ‘None of these’ and nothing else, unlike what is being interpreted in the discussion.
• In Q4 we asked for option which is where the attentiveness is being tested as Q-2 doesn’t contain 3 and 4 and Q-4 doesn’t contain 0 in any of the options.)

Let’s start by rejecting the inappropriate options.

• In Q1, reject opt-3 (Rule-2).
• In Q2, reject opt-4 (Rule-1).
• In Q3, reject opt-4 (Rule-2).
• In Q4, reject opt-1 (read Q4).

Interestingly, you can solve the Q2 before any other Ques, but when all Ques are taken in account, you must chose opt-2 for Q3 else it will create a contradiction. And this is where the actual thinking was involved, and the approach, “Start your thinking process from Q3, and hence it’s ans is opt-2” is not strong enough to support the answer to Q3.

Based on the above step, reject opt-4 in Q1.In Q2, reject opt-2 i.e. 0 as then ans to Q4 would be opt-3, a contradiction. Also reject opt-1 as that would mean ans to Q4 is opt-4 and the 2 ques to have opt-3 as their ans must be Q1 & Q3-a contradiction to above answers.

=>Ans to Q2 is opt-3. => Ans to Q-4 is opt-2.

Now Q1 is left to be answered at the end. => Ans to Q1 is opt-1.

Question-1: option-1) 1

Question-2: option-3) 1

Question-3: option-2) 3

Question-4: option-2) 3

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"Follow The Arrow"

(will be updated with the next set of Solutions. The discussion is still on.)

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The One With The Jolly Guy

A down to earth person . Even though he likes to speak less but it is hard to match him when it comes to hard work. South regional head of Technothon, Vijay is also the co-in-charge of publicity of techno’13. The most humble, optimistic, "Jolly" guy who adds a fun element to everything once he pairs up with a yet to be introduced organizer (guess who that crazy guy is?). A great team mate.
	Vijay Sai

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The One With The Geek

Cool dude among the seven.He is the East Regional Head of Technothlon'13. Skilled in coding he manages the online life and databases of Technothlon'13. Even though he does all the online work but on a personal level he doesn't like to be online himself .The only place in the entire campus where you can actually spot him is the IITG library. Being optimistic hardworking and chilled out are some of his most awesome qualities.

Krtin Kumar

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The One Where We "Follow The Arrow"

                A Kindergarten teacher has introduced a new game for her students, during their school picnic. She divided students into 6 teams: 1st two teams (G and H) had 1 student each, next 2 teams(I and J) had 3 students each, and the last two teams(P and  N) had 5 students each. The equisized teams were to face each other in the interesting game. For the same, she arranged the opponent teams in rows, facing each other as shown:

   

Team G v/s Team H

Team I  v/s Team J

Team P v/s Team N

                                               
                                      
Opponent teams are to exchange heir positions, but with certain twists:
a student can move only in the direction of his arrow to an empty block only if:
●    The empty block is exactly in front of him, or
●    There is exactly one student of opposition and none of his own team between him and the empty
      block.

            Finally all the kids completed the game, and were rewarded by the teacher. Shockingly there was a striking similarity between all the game plays : One team in each gameplay had to take 1 step more than its opponent team. With this fact in mind, we can  derive some more similarities the game had  in each case.

(They played…you solve :P) 
(Hint: Try to visualize for small sized teams, and then build your logic.)


Question 1:
 The total number of steps taken by students A, E and V can be?
 1) 7, 9        2) 8, 9        3) 9, 11          4)10, 11
  

Question 2:
How many total steps were taken by all the little kids(in 3rd match) of teams P and N to complete the game? 
1) 30        2) 33        3)35        4)38


Question 3:
 If E being the bold started first, then the total number of steps taken by A, B, C and D is-
 1) 12        2) 15        3) 13        4) 14


Guidelines: Give complete strategies used to get the answer that would help our team and your fellow contestants to know the way you thought.

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Regards

Team Techno'13

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The One Where Everything Is "Jumbled"

                  Richa has been challenged by her friend, Naveen to solve the following  “Jumbled Set” of four questions. The rules are simple:

• (Rule-1): No three of these four questions have same option as their answer.
• (Rule-2): Q.4 must be answered just after Q.2.

She has promised you a treat, if you could help her.

Give it a try !

Question 1:
Which question’s answer will you get at last?
1) 1        2)4         3)2        4)3


Question 2:
How many questions do have (3) as correct option?
1)2            2)0        3)1        4) None of the above


Question 3:
Which one  is the basic question that you must answer first, to be able to answer the other question(s)?
 1)1          2)3        3)2        4)4


Question 4:
What is your answer to question 2?
1)4        2)3        3)2        4)1


Guidelines: Give complete strategies used to get the answer that would help our team and your fellow contestants to know the way you thought.

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Regards

Team Techno'13

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The One In "The Drowning City"

The  city of skyscrapers consists of buildings of heights ranging from one to nine arranged in a 6x6 grid. (Rule-1)The number of people living in each building is equal to its height. (Rule-2)Rows 1,2,3 are similar to the rows 4,5,6 respectively and column A is similar to column D, columns B and C are reverse of columns E and F respectively. (Rule-3)Around any building there is no building of the same height. Also there is no building with a height difference of 1 to the right, left, up and down of a building.

It is the rainy season of 2013. the city is flooded and a rescue team headed by Uttej roams (outside the grid) with a boat and a flashlight, (Rule-4)on top of column F, moving anticlockwise, and ending at right of the first row. They light the flash along the row or the column corresponding to their position. (Rule-5)All the people of a building are rescued if that building can be seen, that is, if there is no building of greater or equal height between it and the flash. (Rule-6)The numbers written at top of some rows or beside some columns represents the number of people rescued when flash is lighted from that position.

                                        

Question 1:
How many people will enter the ship when the flash is lighted from the bottom of column B?
1) 4        2) 11        3) 12        4) 20


Question 2:
How many people died in the flood?
1) 18        2) 26        3) 25        4) 24


Question 3:
How many more people would have been saved if the flash were lighted along the diagonals as         well?
1) 9        2) 10        3) 11        4) 12



Guidelines:
Give complete strategies used to get the answer that would help our team and your fellow contestants to know the way you thought.
To give the reason for a particular step, you can use the Rule numbering as per the Question.

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Regards

Team Techno'13

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The One Where 'Techno' Thinks Outside The Box

Hello all!

It was overwhelming to read all of your answers. Some of you really took a very interesting approach towards the question. You all really forced us to follow your pathway and rethink your way.

Good job guys!!

Now it is the time to reveal the most awaited answers...

Box-1:   Sunday

Box-2:   Winter

Box-3:   Hang on (for) a minute

Box-4:   What goes up (must/should) come(s) down

Box-5:   Making up for losses

Box-6:   Backwards

Box-7:   Three degrees below zero

Box-8:   No one is perfect

Box-9:   No excuse(s) for it

Box-10: No time left

However some of the answers given by you all have been taken as alternate solution, and have been added to our final Solution draft. These are: 

Box-1:   Today is Sunday/Sunday Today

Box-2:   'O' fell from the tower

Box-3:   Hangout/ Hangover still in me

Box-4:   What goes comes back

Box-5:   Making up for (the) lost time

Box-6:   -

Box-7:   -

Box-8:   All in one/Jumbled one(s)/No one

Box-9:   Fit for it

Box-10: Time never waits/Time waits for none/Time-out

Continuing the discussion further, tomorrow we will be taking up the comprehension section. In the start, “JUMBLED”, "THE DROWNING CITY” and “FOLLOW THE ARROW” will be discussed. Hope to see you all with the same enthusiasm.

We will also be introducing the chief organizers of Techno'13 in the upcoming days. Stay tuned for more.

Till then this is Team Technothlon signing off for today!

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Regards
Team Techno'13

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The One Where You Think Outside The Box

Section: Think Outside The Box

Interpreting pictures and phrasing it in words is one task but what if you have to transform words into words and phrase it to give a meaning. Here is a group of mystery boxes to test your logic. Best of luck and keep going!!

Guideline to be followed:

• To discuss about the ith box, your comment should be like: 

"Box-i: Your approach and the final answer". 

    

                              

       

                             

The One Where The Tables Turn - Inspire Technothlon

"To be once in doubt, is once to be resolved". So here is the team Technothlon to answer and discuss all your doubts regarding the paper. Basically we would be taking up a few questions each day. We would like you all to have a healthy discussion sharing your answers and approach; comment on our posts with the same; reply if you feel someone is going in a wrong direction. After going through all the discussion we will be posting the final answers on the very same day.

Here’s your chance to get your answers added to the final answer keys. As learning is an open ended phenomenon, there is no limit of imagination and thinking. Technothlon has been inspiring young minds for over a decade, now it’s time for the young minds to inspire Technothlon too by their wits.

So guys buckle up your paddles and get ready for the thrilling Discussions of Technothlon'13 prelims question paper. Best of Luck!

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The One With The Ultimate Paper

When the team techno sat down together to make the questions we were not sure of what the final outcome would be but we were sure of one thing that the hours the students would spent while solving the paper should be completely different from all their past experiences. It was a challenge to test your logic and analytical skills and make the participants enjoy the experience.

Seriously, being on the other side of the table, we Chief Organizers more importantly; students of IIT-G salute our teachers for the effort they put in to inspire us. We tried our best to make this paper of Techno'13 a fun experience for you and now is the time for you to solve and show your innovation.

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Junior Squad Question Paper

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Hauts Squad Question Paper

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The One Where It All Began

It has been many years since Technothlon’s inception – Ten, to be precise. Well, the idea to conduct Technothlon began in 2004. In hindsight, we feel it was a masterstroke. What the creators thought of Technothlon back then, we will never know. In the past ten years, it has have gone from strength to strength. The numbers that it represents, namely participation, centers etc, have seen an almost exponential growth. Technothlon seems to have evolved into an ‘uncommon’ entity! ‘An examination that students appear to love’. We call it an uncommon entity because the words ‘examination’, ‘students’ and ‘love’ are rarely seen together in the same sentence.

This Blog is a means to reach out even further to Technothlon’s numerous fans, enthusiasts and well-wishers who are out there. We will share the many experiences we had with the city representatives, the participants and their escorts provide a sneak peek into what goes on during the meetings and also share the thoughts and feelings of the Technothlon’13 and Techniche organizers.

We have a really good feeling about this! Technothlon has invaded many realms of a student’s life. Besides, it’s time to stamp its digital signature onto the Blogging Arena! 

To know more, keep reading all the posts that we put up.

Credits:  Siddhartha Nambiar, Organizer-Tecnothlon'11

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