Photo:rosemania/flickr (CC)
This week, our geekogropher needed your help finding a capusle that contains the location of a geek community, where it is thought only geek families live and work. Many of you provided correct answers and Robert’s was randomly chosen. He will receive a $50 gift certificate from ThinkGeek!
Puzzle
Our geekogropher, having made it through the jungle thanks to your help, was traveling through a series of villages when she repeatedly heard rumors of a large, hidden community of geeks. She finally dug up the following information:
In a large clearing in the jungle south of here, there are three statues, one of each of the gods: Teteoinan (T), Mixcoatl (M), and Quetzalcoatl (Q). Use Q as your base. Start at Q and count your steps as you travel in a straight line to T, turn to the left one quarter of a circle, and count out the same number of steps. Mark the spot. Go back to your base and count out the straight-line steps to M, turn one quarter of a circle to the right, and count out the same number of steps as between Q and M. Mark the spot. Find the midpoint between the two spots you marked. The stone capsule is buried there.
When she arrived at the site of the statues, our geekogropher found, much to her dismay, that the statue of Quetzalcoatl (Q) was missing, the jungle had taken over, and there was no sign of where the statue had been located. How will she find the capsule without digging up the entire jungle floor?
Solution
Pick any arbitrary point for Q not between T & M.
Follow the directions and mark the midpoint, which is where the capsule is located. In order to check that this solution works, check against multiple arbitrary points for Q to see that all points will lead to the same final location.
That is, the location of the capsule is dependent only on the location of T and M, not Q.
Congratulations to Robert for having his answer chosen! Please return on Monday for a new puzzle!
