# "The Riddle of Scheherazade" hardest riddle ever!



## calekewbs (Aug 23, 2009)

ok, so I have this riddle book called the riddle of scheherazade. And I actually went through and figured out all of the riddles in it. but it took me FOREVER. at least like 6 months. and I have to say, this series of 8 took me at least 3 of those 6 months. ok, These are kinda hard to understand at first, but once you get it, it's pretty easy to understand, but still hard to figure out.

I'll just quote the book.

A certain prince Al-Khizir was in love with the sultan's daughter and asked for her hand in marriage.
"My daughter is very choosy," said the sultan, "and wants to marry only someone who shows extraordinary intelligence. So if you want to marry her, you must first pass eight tests."
"What are the tests?" asked the suitor.
"Well, for the first test, you have to write down a number that will be sent to the princess. She will then send back a number to you. If she sends back the very same number that you have sent her, then she will allow you to take the second test. But if her number is different from yours, then you are out."
"Now, how can I possibly know what number to write?" asked the suitor. "How can I guess what number the princess has in mind?"
"Oh, she doesn't have a certain number in mind," said the sultan. "The number she sends back is dependent on the number you send. The number you send completely determines the number she will send back. And if you send the right number, then she will send back the same number."
"Then how can I guess the right number?" asked the suitor.
"It's not a matter of guessing," said the sultan. "You must deduce the correct number from the rules I am about to give you. For any numbers x and y, by xy I mean not x times y but x followed by y. For example, if x is 5079 and y is 863, then by xy I mean 5079863. Now here are the rules:

Rule 1: For any number x, if you write her 1x2 then she will send you back the number x. For example, if you write 13542, she will write back 354.

Rule 2: For any number x, the repeat of x means xx. For example, the repeat of 692 is 692692. And now, the second rule is that is x brings back y, the 3x will bring back the repeat of y. For example, since 15432 brings back 543, then 315432 will bring back 543543. From which it further follows that if you send her 3315432, you will get 543543543543.

Rule 3: The reverse of a number means the number written backwards. For example, the reverse of 62985 is 58926. The third rule is that if x brings back y, then 4x brings back the reverse of y. For example, since 172962 brings back 7296, the number 4172962 brings back 6927. 

Now if we combine the first three rules...
since 316982 brings back 698698, then 4316982 brings back 896896, the reverse of what 316982 brings back.

Rule 4: (The erasure rule) If x brings back y, and if y contains at east two digits, then 5x brings back y with the first digit erased. For example, since 13472 brings back 347, 513472 brings back 47.

Rule 5: (The addition rule(s)) If x brings back y, then 6x brings back 1y and 7x brings back 2y. For example, since 15832 brings back 583, then 615832 brings back 1583 and 715832 brings back 2583.

"Those are the rules," said the sultan, "and from them can be deduced a number x that will bring back the very number x. There are actually an infinite number of solutions, but any single one will suffice for passing the first test."
"Are there any meanings to these numbers?" asked the suitor.
"Ah, that is the princess' secret, but fortunately you don't have to know the meaning in order to pass the first test."

So, can you figure out the number that the prince would have to send that would return itself?

The rest of the tests are as follows, but I don't suggest trying them until you figure out the one before it.

Test 2: For the second test, the suitor had to send the princess a number, x, such that she would send back the repeat of x, (the number xx). What number would work?

Test 3: For the third test, the suitor had to send the princess a number x such that she would send back the reverse of x. What number would work? An extra bonus would be given if the number x contains no more than twelve digits. What number would work?

Test 4: For this test, the suitor had to send a number x such that the princess would send back the number x with its last digit erased. What x would work?

Here is where it gets tricky!

Test 5: For this test, the suitor had to send a number x such that the princess would send back a different number y, which the suitor was to send back to the princess, and she would (hopefully) send back the first number x. What number x would work?

Test 6: The suitor now had to send a number x, get back a number y, return y to the princess, ad get back the reverse of the original number x. What number x would work?

Test 7: The suitor now had to send a number x, get back a number y, return y to the princess, and get back the number x with the first and last digits swapped. What number x would work?

Test 8: For the final test, the suitor was to send a number x, the princess would then send back a number y, the suitor was then to send back the reverse of y, the princess would then send back a number in the form zz (a number z repeated), the suitor was then to break zz in half (so to speak) and send her back z. The princess would then (hopefully) send back the original number x. What number would work?

I love and hate these riddles at the same time because of their complexity and epicness. 

Oh yeah, GOOD LUCK!!!


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## daniel0731ex (Aug 23, 2009)

calekewbs said:


> ok, so I have this riddle book called the riddle of scheherazade. And I actually went through and figured out all of te riddles in it. but it took me FOREVER. at least like 6 months. and I have to say, this series of 7 took me at least 3 of those 6 months. ok, These are kinda hard to understand at first, but once you get it it's pretty easy to understand, but still hard to figure out.
> 
> I'll just quote the book.
> 
> ...









........







i hate reading in english


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## calekewbs (Aug 23, 2009)

lol sorry. I just quoted it straight from the book pretty much. I don't really know any other languages other than english (I know a little bit of french but thats it.)


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## soccerking813 (Aug 23, 2009)

Holy parity. I might look at this tomorrow when I am actually awake.


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## calekewbs (Aug 23, 2009)

lol yeah. you definately should. It's friggin crazy.


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## 4Chan (Aug 23, 2009)

I think Chris Hardwick could do this.
He seems to me a very mathematical person.

Also, on test number 8, he has to "bread zz"?


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## mazei (Aug 23, 2009)

I vote for Stefan Pochmann to pwn this. I'm pretty sure the mathematical people of this forum can do this.


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## calekewbs (Aug 23, 2009)

Cubes=Life said:


> I think Chris Hardwick could do this.
> He seems to me a very mathematical person.
> 
> Also, on test number 8, he has to "bread zz"?



oops. lol i'll go edit that.

yeah i'm pretty sure there are some people on this forum that could do it. lol That's why I posted it. If nobody gets it in like two weeks, i'll post a hint on the first one.


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## calekewbs (Aug 23, 2009)

well, I'm gonna bring this back up for the people that weren't on before. It's a pretty cool riddle and took me a while to figure out. I want everyone to get a shot at it.


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## Carrot (Aug 23, 2009)

Just some thinking.. (I guess I misunderstood the first riddle as it was very straightforward the way I understood it hehe )

spoiler below

Well, If x brings back y, the prince writes x and the daughter writes y... then you just need to send a number that is NOT under one of the rules, so... if the number contains 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 it will get messed with... so My answer would be anything just containing 8, 9 and 0... examble 89080


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## calekewbs (Aug 23, 2009)

Odder said:


> Just some thinking.. (I guess I misunderstood the first riddle as it was very straightforward the way I understood it hehe )
> 
> spoiler below
> 
> Well, If x brings back y, the prince writes x and the daughter writes y... then you just need to send a number that is NOT under one of the rules, so... if the number contains 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 it will get messed with... so My answer would be anything just containing 8, 9 and 0... examble 89080



then you would not get any number back because in order to get a number back you have to use rule 1. lol it's ok, i thought that at first too. at least you're thinking out of the box!


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## mazei (Aug 23, 2009)

What happens if I just send 12?


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## calekewbs (Aug 23, 2009)

then no numbers are returned because there was nothing in between the 1 and 2.

ok, i'll give a slight hint


SPOILER: you have to use every rule in the first test


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## Carrot (Aug 23, 2009)

calekewbs said:


> at least you're thinking out of the box!



That's what I'm best at hehe


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## calekewbs (Aug 23, 2009)

lol well, good luck with these riddles!


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## calekewbs (Aug 23, 2009)

ok, well I'm sure there are at least a couple people working on this. soooooooo tell me what your ideas are, your way of figuring it out, stuff like that.


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## Carrot (Aug 23, 2009)

calekewbs said:


> ok, well I'm sure there are at least a couple people working on this. soooooooo tell me what your ideas are, your way of figuring it out, stuff like that.



well.. I guess it has to end with 2? xD


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## goldencuber (Aug 23, 2009)

Thank you for this post. Would these answers be correct? If they are I'm going to work on 5-8.
Spolier below
I-47453614745362 II-3474536134745362 III-745361745362 IV-53615362


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## calekewbs (Aug 23, 2009)

lol ok, so let me get you started, the number is some form of x2.

Now figure out the FORMAT of what x needs to be.


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## Stefan (Aug 23, 2009)

calekewbs said:


> Odder said:
> 
> 
> > spoiler below
> ...



Neither of you make sense.

And Odder ought to learn the spoiler tag and cale ought to correct all those typos. And goldencuber ought to learn line breaks.


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## calekewbs (Aug 23, 2009)

1 is correct. 
2 is correct.
3 is correct.
and 4 is not. You get the idea though! 
take another shot at number 4 oh, and when you post it, make the text white so as to let other people not see it unless they want to.



StefanPochmann said:


> calekewbs said:
> 
> 
> > Odder said:
> ...



you mixed us up i think. He used the spoiler tag earlier and I didn't know about it. 

basically he was thinking that if you send any number that is not in the rules, such as an eight, then you would get the desired result. I then said that he is thinking in the right way, but he wouldn't actually get any number back. Because here was no 1x2 for x to be returned. sorry for the ambiguity.


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## goldencuber (Aug 23, 2009)

But doesn't 53615362 become 5361536, which is without the last digit of 2? I can't seem to find the mistake, could you point it out?


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## calekewbs (Aug 23, 2009)

oh i'm dumb. lol yeah that works. I used a different method to get it when I did it. that was a lot longer actually good work! now is where it gets pretty tricky though. good luck!


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## Stefan (Aug 23, 2009)

calekewbs said:


> you mixed us up i think.


No I didn't. He used red/white font instead of the spoiler tag. Bad idea because it only works for people who use a white background.



calekewbs said:


> basically he was thinking that if you send any number that is not in the rules, such as an eight, then you would get the desired result. I then said that he is thinking in the right way, but *he wouldn't actually get any number back*.


Wrong. He *would* get some number back (the sultan said so in the introduction). He just doesn't know anything about that number.


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## calekewbs (Aug 23, 2009)

ok. well then I am in the fault too, because I didn't even put the red font to show a spoiler I just put spoiler then put it in white font. is the spoiler tag just [ spoiler ] and [/ spoiler ]?

Ok, and about the second part, i guess you are right there is technically a flaw in the riddle. hmm. It's simple to fix however. just add in that the number he sends might even return a blank sheet! I'll go back and edit that in.


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## Stefan (Aug 23, 2009)

calekewbs said:


> is the spoiler tag just [ spoiler ] and [/ spoiler ]?


Yep. And there's "Preview Post" so you don't have to ask me but can just try it.



calekewbs said:


> i guess you are right there is technically a flaw in the riddle.


Wrong. I can't be right about that if I never said that. It's not a flaw in the riddle at all.



calekewbs said:


> I'll go back and edit that in.


Please don't. Use the time to correct the typos instead.


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## goldencuber (Aug 23, 2009)

By the way, a while ago I came across a puzzle that you might be interested in. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XbrUHMDTg0 It took quite a lot of staring to get.

#5 is definately more diffulcult. Hopefully I'll get it tommorrow...


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## Stefan (Aug 23, 2009)

Congratulations cale, your edit just introduced a contradiction.

When will people learn not to alter riddle or joke wordings unless they really really really know what they're doing?


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## calekewbs (Aug 23, 2009)

ah crap what did i screw up? lol i'm only human!

Edit: ok I see what you're saying. lol I'll just get rid of that sentence. There. better?


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## Namegoeswhere (Aug 24, 2009)

Very interesting puzzle, I have only done 1 so far.


Spoiler



54743615474362


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