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Correct! You're the second person to find the answer (the first was not on HN). Now for the extra credit part: What's the connection between this solution and

Correct! You're the second person to find the answer (the first was not on HN). Now for the extra credit part: What's the connection between this solution and string theory?

dvt 10y ago
This was a neat brain-teaser (I took an information theory class years ago so it was a nice refresh), but the answer ended up being a lot less interesting than I had hoped :P
- cperciva 10y ago
  I said it was cute, not that it was interesting. :-) (And while asrp's answer is correct, it would have been nice if he had stated what the code is rather than merely citing the fact that it exists.)
asrp 10y ago
Sadly, I can only give the Google answer to this one: > Working on a branch of physics called supersymmetry, Dr. James Gates Jr., discovered what he describes as the presence of what appear to resemble a form of computer code, called error correcting codes, embedded within, or resulting from, the equations of supersymmetry that describe fundamental particles.
- sp332 10y ago
  I don't remember the details, but the possible transitions between particles have the same pattern as the valid codes in a Reed-Solomon code. So any particle is possible, but the transitions seem to have been error-corrected? I remember thinking it was a little flimsy at the time.
rudrigu 10y ago
> What's the connection between this solution and string theory? Which string theory? The one in physics or the one in computer science?
curveship 10y ago
I can see how this proves that 20 is possible, but not that 20 is the largest possible, which is what the question asks. How would that be proven?
JoachimSchipper 10y ago
This is clever! Expanding on this, though, you can improve the average result against an arbitrarily-powerful test-writer by first XOR'ing the test answers with a pre-shared value (key); the resulting value is random (even to very powerful test-writers), so e.g. encoding possible answers into the unused values improves your expected result (i.e. data rate.)

Correct! You're the second person to find the answer (the first was not on HN). Now for the extra credit part: What's the connection between this solution and string theory?

dvt 10y ago

This was a neat brain-teaser (I took an information theory class years ago so it was a nice refresh), but the answer ended up being a lot less interesting than I had hoped :P

cperciva 10y ago
I said it was cute, not that it was interesting. :-) (And while asrp's answer is correct, it would have been nice if he had stated what the code is rather than merely citing the fact that it exists.)

asrp 10y ago

Sadly, I can only give the Google answer to this one: > Working on a branch of physics called supersymmetry, Dr. James Gates Jr., discovered what he describes as the presence of what appear to resemble a form of computer code, called error correcting codes, embedded within, or resulting from, the equations of supersymmetry that describe fundamental particles.

sp332 10y ago
I don't remember the details, but the possible transitions between particles have the same pattern as the valid codes in a Reed-Solomon code. So any particle is possible, but the transitions seem to have been error-corrected? I remember thinking it was a little flimsy at the time.

rudrigu 10y ago

> What's the connection between this solution and string theory? Which string theory? The one in physics or the one in computer science?

curveship 10y ago

I can see how this proves that 20 is possible, but not that 20 is the largest possible, which is what the question asks. How would that be proven?

JoachimSchipper 10y ago

This is clever! Expanding on this, though, you can improve the average result against an arbitrarily-powerful test-writer by first XOR'ing the test answers with a pre-shared value (key); the resulting value is random (even to very powerful test-writers), so e.g. encoding possible answers into the unused values improves your expected result (i.e. data rate.)