TMT Institute of Technology

Thursday December 29, 2011 12:00AM

Dear TMT Members,

After tonight's Theorem, I'll be going on sabbatical for the foreseeable future. And, I should say, that's not some clue for tonight's puzzle.

You've been great. For the most part. Except for those of you who disobey me (and it's a surprising number). I'm actually being entirely sincere when I say I'll be sad when the music stops.

In particular, I'm ready to unveil two of my most faithful lackeys, known to you as N and P. I owe them a special thanks for keeping TMT afloat.

N is actually Allison Kade, who's been a Senior Member of The Master Theorem since her time at Columbia. Nowadays, she's a professional writer and editor. Her fiction writing has appeared in the literary magazines Annalemma, Underground Voices, Fractured West and 322 Review. By day, she's the Deputy Editor at LearnVest, the leading lifestyle and personal finance website for women. Her nonfiction has appeared in publications like Real Simple, TheStreet, The Huffington Post, SeattlePI, Savvy Sugar and Credit Karma. Not too surprisingly, her favorite Theorems are my whodunits—the ones that tell stories. To contact her directly, you can email allison@themastertheorem.com.

P is actually Shaun Salzberg, who also helped me run TMT during his time at Columbia. After graduating with a computer science degree, Shaun joined the startup world in New York, becoming an early employee at the file-sharing service, drop.io. After drop.io was purchased by Facebook in 2010, Shaun became part of the founding team behind QLabs, a startup incubator tasked with the mission of launching a new startup every six weeks. Nowadays he can be found building weird stuff at the MIT Media Lab. In his free time, he focuses on personal projects, which range from designing puzzles and games to voice-activating his apartment. When not programming, Shaun might be found SCUBA diving, rock climbing, or fencing. You can contact him at shaun@themastertheorem.com.

I'd also like to thank all the individual Members who have helped out over time, from submitting their own Theorems for consideration (and even publication!) to user testing each and every one of the Theorems before we put it out.

As for me, you'll probably never know my real identity. And I'd rather keep it that way, since I've been called up (I can't say by whom) for a special mission (I can't say what) somewhere far away (I can't say where).

Although this will be the last weekly Theorem for the foreseeable future, this website will remain up. To put some fuel on the fire, I've just released ten new puzzle Seals (see them here) for you to work on. Although an archived version of the current scoreboard will be saved for perpetuity, the new scoreboard will keep track of TMT's "elite," those who have conquered every Theorem and Seal.

So have at it, and I hope you enjoy. In the end, it's not about points (or even a scarlet letter next to your name on the scoreboard). It's about the solving problems and learning something new. Thank you for your time, for waking up at midnight and, in the case of one Member, for letting TMT be part of your marriage proposal.

Tonight's Theorem is a bit of closure; you've been through my "program" and unique brand of education, so tonight you graduate.

This is today, tomorrow and always,
M

Chain Reaction

Thursday December 22, 2011 12:00AM

Between conducting groundbreaking research projects, creating mural-sized oil paintings and training for ultra-marathons, I tend to watch TV. I especially like game shows, particularly word games and trivia shows.

One of my big faves is Chain Reaction, where you have to connect one word with the next word to create a common phrase. Then, you connect the second word to the third in its own phrase, and so on. For example, to connect the word "electric" to the word "show," you could do: electric car show, since electric car and car show are both common phrases.

So, I've made my own ode to great game shows. It's not quite a life-sized recreation of Michelangelo's Last Judgment … but close.

This is today,
M

Goldeneye

Thursday December 15, 2011 12:00AM

My favorite ice cream? Chocolate chip cookie dough.

My favorite fictional role model? James Bond.

Both of those, choices, I'm sure, are self-evident. Because they're the best of the best. So I'm sure you can understand why some of my best memories are of eating cookie dough ice cream while I play 007 on Nintendo 64 with my cryptographer friends.

The key to doing well against my friends is sneakiness. Cryptographers never play fair, so you can always find them stashed away on a roof somewhere with a sniper rifle, or hogging the sole spot where the rocket launcher re-spawns.

These sneaky guys prefer to kill off the useless chaff from a distance rather than jump headfirst into the action. That's why my absolute favorite mode to battle them with is ...

This is today,
M

All That Jazz

Thursday December 08, 2011 12:00AM

So far, I’ve greatly enjoyed M’s whodunit series, so today I bring you my own personal version … with a jazz spin.

Our story begins in a small, smoky jazz club on the cross side of town. A band plays on a tiny stage while a sultry female singer belts out a few bars.

Her name is Lotta Green, and she’s a regular on the Philly jazz scene. Although she’s got plenty of fans in town, this show on the other side of the rails isn’t her usual game. It’s angled more toward the rough-shaven, gruff type of characters, the kinds of guys who, with only a little drink in them, jaw off until you let ‘em call the shots. You can tell that she’s a little uncomfortable; she’s more used to a diamonds and pearls kind of audience.

Despite the weird vibe, the band has been swingin’ hard all night, playing everything from Armstrong to Coltrane, every note tight and every hit on cue.

During a 10-minute break, Lotta Green mumbles to the guitarist, “I’m snookered.”

He nonchalantly drops his hands into his pockets and shrugs. “Go take a break in your dressing room, then. Just don’t drop the ball like last time.”

A look passes between them, in which we can decipher a long history of closeness that has since frozen over. Lotta hesitates as though considering giving him a kiss, but instead turns around and goes to her dressing room to powder her nose.

But then, right at the stroke of midnight, everyone hears a scream.

Upon entering, they find her slumped over her dressing table, the victim of a foul stroke of luck. The only clues to her apparent murder were visible scratch marks on the back of her neck and what seemed to be the list of colorful songs she had planned to perform in her next set.

Finally, when the cops come to investigate, one said to another, "I just know it was the guitarist. I can feel it, but I need you to help me prove it. How do you think he pulled it off?"

This is today,
H

Scrabble

Thursday December 01, 2011 12:00AM

There are lots of games and puzzles that I'm into, but Scrabble tops the list of challenging ways for me to show off my hardcore anagramming skills. And what better thing to be known for?

I've spent hours plotting and scheming to get the very best words in the perfect spots so I can knock out my lexical opponents. My favorite way to earn points is to layer word upon word so that each of my moves actually creates a couple words at once.

Again, I'm pretty good. How do you think you would fare against me?

You might not want to invite me to a game of Words with Friends quite yet.

This is today,
M

The Art of the Written Word

Thursday November 17, 2011 12:00AM

I’ve told you about my love of words time and again, and you know that I have written mystery novels to celebrate the fine art of storytelling.

I get some of my best writing done when I'm away from home, where I can clear my head. I've taken my writing projects with me all over the world—I outlined my best ideas for my mystery books when I was visiting an old friend in Memphis. There I was, sitting on one of the most historic streets of that town in Tennessee, sipping my coffee and churning out words and pages.

Books are a big part of my life. They're a source of knowledge and entertainment, and also intrigue. And I'm sure you could guess that any books I touch probably have some sort of subtle subtext.

From books I'm reading to books I'm writing, there's really a lot to be said for the written word.

This is today,
M

Legos

Thursday November 10, 2011 12:00AM

Legos: the building blocks of life. Kind of.

Whenever I'm hanging in my decked-out basement, I'm usually doing one of a few things:

• Writing puzzles
• Listening to music
• Playing with Legos

Turing Test

Thursday November 03, 2011 12:00AM

More and more, I've been thinking about the singularity, which is the idea that humans may create technology so advanced that it progresses even beyond our own intelligences.

One eerie way to think about machines taking on human intelligences is to run a Turing Test, which is a test designed by Alan Turing in 1950 to test a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior.

Here's how it works: there's a human interrogator in one room and two subjects in another room, one human and one computer. They all communicate via text so sound of voice doesn't interfere. The interrogator asks questions and the subjects respond—the interrogator's goal is to use those responses to decide which is a human and which is a computer. If the interrogator can't figure it out, the computer passes the test and is said to exhibit intelligent behavior.

I've made a slightly modified version of the Turing Test for you. In this version, there's one interrogator and ten subjects, six of whom are human and four of whom are computers. Thing is, computer guy though I am, I've never fully trusted computers. So in this example, I know for a fact that humans always tell the truth and computers always lie.

Take a look. Which of the following are actually humans?

This is today,
M

No Regular Check-in

Thursday October 27, 2011 12:00AM

Since the excitement of last week's Theorem, I've been thinking about how much personal info I'm willing to share with the internet. Like, I don't mind telling you what I'm going to be for Halloween (I'm gonna be a ROT13 cipher) ... but I'm not sure I want to tell you about, say, my first kiss.

I guess I do like to keep my private life private, but we live in the age of social media. So, I'll confess that I've used the social check-in service Foursuare now and again (though presently the only ones who can follow me are those who know my actual identity).

Of course, I don't do much like most people, and I can't stop at simply using Foursuare, either. So here's my new thing: leaving encrypted suggestions at venues. On Foursquare, users can leave suggestions when they check in somewhere, like "try the garlic knots!" at a pizzeria. But not at my pizzeria—I'm going to be encrypting the tips that I leave.

I think the trend could really take off. In fact, I don't plan to stop trying to make it a thing until you can search for the keywords "Foursquare ciphers" on Google and find thousands of encrypted tips from people all over the globe. I'm thinking of contacting my friends at Foursquare to see if they'll officialize my idea and make it a badge. As you see here, I've designed one they could use for the occasion.

This is today,
Z

Apropos

Thursday October 20, 2011 12:00AM

Tonight's Theorem comes from a TMT Member who wishes to remain anonymous. Here's what he had to say:

I'm a huge fan of puzzles. I love the kind of puzzles we all come here to solve, but I also love those that ask bigger questions—like unraveling the foibles of what makes people tick. What makes them angry? What makes them sad? What makes them appreciate being alive? Perhaps most intriguingly, what makes people fall in love?

Popular culture would answer this question by saying that everyone has another person somewhere in the world without whom they wouldn't be complete. Now I don't know if I believe that's true, but I do think there are a lucky few who find a perfect match among the masses.

Even then, it's not always easy. What makes perfect relationships work?

I think I've finally nailed down the secret. The key isn't so much what people have in common, but rather, their differences—the ways they challenge each other, teach each other new things—that really prove they're meant to be together.

What do you think? Would you know what to say if you saw your match across a crowded room?

Well, would you?

This is today,
M