Feedback thread gm5

[_H_]

I need some help on 100 Switches, first of all, regarding the hint:

Can it be summed up with: either use trial and error or solve the puzzle?

No, in no way there is any trial and error involved.

What you have to do, is described in the hint:

STEP ON EVERY SWITCH, AND THEN STEP ON EVERY OTHER SWITCH, AND THEN STEP ON EVERY THIRD AND SO ON

but you have to step on a lot of switches if you follow these instructions.

All that matters is the state in which the switches are left after you are done, and finding out which ones are on and which are off is the puzzle.

Or is the hint part of the clue to the puzzle? If so, I still don't understand it; even after reading your hint in your above post. The only thing I can think of is some commonly known number theory involving 100 numbers (or items) that I don't know about. I don't know where to begin.

Are there audio or visual clues that happen after so may switches are pressed? (I tried but heard none) Do I need to press a whole lot of switches before something happens? [i don't see what can happen and you can't go up and check to see if the door is open and return].

There is no number theory needed to solve the puzzle, and there is nothing special about the number 100 in this context.

There are no audio or visual clues that happen. You have to either do what the instructions say or solve the puzzle.

Perhaps some more clues towards the puzzle:

[Click to Show Content]

Initially all switches are off.

Now think step by step:

What happens if you step on all switches once?

Now you are stepping on every second switch (2,4,6,...) - in which state are the switches now?

After stepping on the every third switch (3,6,9,12,...) which ones are on or off now?

Now you step on number 4,8,12,16,...

The mathematics:

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The switches will be on in the end if and only if the number of steps onto them will be odd, that means the number has an odd number of divisors.

The question is, which numbers have an odd number of divisors.

Almost the full solution:

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If you know, what prime factor are, the answer should be obvious (simple combinatorics), if not, it's still pretty simple, make yourself clear that if d is a divisor of n then n/d is as well a divisor of n...