Please Teach me ...

[Romain672]

I am sorry to ask, but this is seriously melting my brain - how exactly would I know Yellow is not 1?
What if Yellow is 1 in the code; and I set it to 1; and the computer is testing for yellow?
The question I would pose by coding 1 for Yellow is: "Is Yellows NOT greater than 1?" correct? And the computer would then say "true"?
Arg, I feel like this is where I go wrong, but I can't really grasp it. Appreachiate any help!!

One of those 6 possibilities is true:
1) b=1 and the verificator test if b=1 [144/244]
2) b>1 and the verificator test if b>1 [144/244]
3) y=1 and the verificator test if y=1 [414/424]
4) y>1 and the verificator test if y>1 [414/424]
5) p=1 and the verificator test if p=1 [441/442]
6) p>1 and the verificator test if p>1 [441/442]

By testing the two possibilities under brackets you will know if the verificator is testing that part or not. By using 6 whole turns, you can know for sure which one it is (even if you can be much more effecient).


Now for your question: "What if Yellow is 1 in the code; and I set it to 1; and the computer is testing for yellow?" => you can't decide what the computer will test. He is already set to answer from one of the six possibilities above.
So if you test 212, and the verificator tell it's true, that mean the verificator test for either 2 (b>1), 3 (y=1), or 6 (p>1).
You can't know more than that at this point.
If then you test 111 and it's false, that mean the verificator test for 2 (b>1), 4 (y>1), or 6 (p>1)
And so it's either 2 (b>1) or 6 (p>1).

[Sunfall]

I am sorry to ask, but this is seriously melting my brain - how exactly would I know Yellow is not 1?
What if Yellow is 1 in the code; and I set it to 1; and the computer is testing for yellow?
The question I would pose by coding 1 for Yellow is: "Is Yellows NOT greater than 1?" correct? And the computer would then say "true"?
Arg, I feel like this is where I go wrong, but I can't really grasp it. Appreachiate any help!!

No, it's good to ask, because understanding this is absolutely key to being able to do the harder puzzles in Turing Machine.

As a reminder, because I did a bunch of snipping, the criteria card in question is #31:

• Blue is greater than 1

• Yellow is greater than 1

• Purple is greater than 1

The key thing to understand is that the validator only tests the thing it tests. That sounds like a truism, or pointless, but it's really not. If the validator is testing "Yellow is greater than 1", then it never looks at Blue or Purple. They could be 1. They could be greater than 1. They could be a banana. Well, no, not a banana, because that's not allowed by the rules of the game, but the validator doesn't care. It doesn't look at them at all.

If the secret code has 1 for Yellow, then this validator cannot possibly be testing "Yellow is greater than 1", because the secret code must pass all of the validators. But it could be testing for either Blue or Purple, and that has no influence over what value Yellow is, because Yellow isn't being checked in any way, shape or form by the validator.

You can't change the criteria the validator is testing, and one of the criteria must be true, because the secret code passes all of the validators. So the moment that criteria card #31 is in the game, you can eliminate 1-1-1 as a possible code, because it would fail all three criteria it possibly references. In that code, Blue is not greater than 1, Yellow is not greater than 1, and Purple is not greater than 1... but one of those three things must be true in the secret code, because the presence of that criteria card in the puzzle means that the secret code must meet at least one criteria on the card (specifically: the one the validator is checking). The code could be 2-1-1, or 1-2-1, or 1-1-2 (or a bunch of others with two 1s), because all the validator is saying is that this one specific color is greater than 1. You probably have to query the validator with sample codes to figure out which one it is, though. And because a code like 2-3-4 will pass all three possible criteria, you should test it with codes like 1-1-2 or the like, because that helps eliminate possibilities.

(Edit: Clarified the wording, as I was sloppy with my usage of "validator" to mean both the actual validator you check and the criteria card that tells you the possibilities of the associated validator. Thanks, Jellby.)

P

[Jellby]

Don't confuse verification cards (the cards with red X's and green ticks) with criteria cards (the cards with conditions). The code is given by the verification cards, it's the unique code that gives a green tick in all verification cards. The problem is you don't know which verification cards are in the machine, you can only "test" them with a code. The criteria cards are just hints that tell you which verification card could be there: it's one that gives green ticks for one of the conditions listed in the card. You cannot decide which one, that's predefined by the settings, and there's nothing magic with the criteria card, any card that includes the particular verification card among its choices could be substituted for it and the challenge would still work; it may be easier or harder, but it would still have the same solution, because that's given by the verification cards.

So, if the criteria card that says B>1 | Y>1 | P>1, it's telling you that the associated verification card is either one than gives green for any code with B>1 (regardless of Y and P), or one that gives green for any code with Y>1 (regardless of B and P), or one that gives green for any code with P>1 (regardless of B and Y). You don't know which one, but it's one of those, and it's always the same one in this challenge (in another challenge with the same criteria card, it may be a different one). You can test it, or you can deduce what could or could not be from the other criteria, but if you test it with 234 you'll learn nothing because that gives green with all three of them.

EDIT: validator -> verifier -> verification card