Chadwick's Choice: Solving the London Telegraph Puzzle

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a puzzle related to the London Telegraph, specifically focusing on a scenario where a number is missing from a list due to a burn hole. Participants explore potential solutions and methods for determining the missing number associated with Bolivia.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Debate/contested, Homework-related, Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that the answer is correct without providing further details.
  • Another participant requests an explanation of the answer, indicating confusion about its derivation.
  • A different participant proposes using a linear system to solve the problem, noting the complexity due to having 18 variables and 8 equations.
  • One participant mentions having encountered a similar problem in the past, hinting at a possible approach to the solution but does not elaborate further.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

There is no consensus on the solution, as participants express confusion and propose different methods without agreement on the correct answer.

Contextual Notes

The discussion includes unresolved mathematical steps and assumptions regarding the relationships between the entries in the list.

LowlyPion
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Chadwick worked as personal secretary to Forbisher. He was given a list to type up that Forbisher was to submit to the London Telegraph puzzle editor within the hour because he was certain he had solved the puzzle. However Chadwick carelessly dropped a cigarette on the paper before he had a chance to transcribe it. A burn hole made the number next to the second entry impossible to recover. With his boss unavailable, his only choice to save his position was to put a number in and submit it in a timely fashion.

What number should Chadwick put in?

Belize - 51
Bolivia - ?
Andorra - 500
Chad - 600
Vietnam - 1006
Mali - 1051
Colombia - 1151
Dominica - 1602
 
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57 ?
 
That would be correct.
 
Can you explain the answer because I don't get from where that
57
comes from
 
I was thinking about putting it into linear system and solving it

but, 18 vars and 8 equations! :shy:
 
Sakha said:
Can you explain the answer because I don't get from where that
57
comes from

The values are derived from the Roman numerals that are contained within the spelling of the names of the country. < I,V,X,L,C,D,M >
I avoided the use of S that might have been taken as 1/2 because I thought its use was more obscure.

Before anyone says "Aww, no fair." I happened across a similar problem some years ago and puzzled over it for some time before realizing the approach to the solution.