[Retros] Re: protocol

Noam Elkies elkies at math.harvard.edu
Sat Apr 6 15:36:02 EST 2002


Dan Meinking writes:


> Continue to distribute problems as you are doing,

> without solution(s) but add the solutions after your signature.



>[...]



> This should keep everyone happy. Any objections?


Better yet, send the solution(s) in a separate message,
lest an accidentally wandering eye notice an unwelcome clue
such as "0-0-0!".

Another amendment: a curious aspect of proof games is that
the solution automatically determines the diagram. Often
it's more convenient to actually give the diagram this way;
while this reveals the solution, in some cases that may also
be desirable, for instance when the solution is obvious
and the position is of interest for a reason other than
as a solving challenge. An extreme example: surely
there can be no objection to

The simplest PG's with unique solutions of three different lengths
are the 64 of the form 1 x4 y5 = 1 x3 y5 2 x4 = 1 x3 y6 2 x4 y5
(with x,y independently chosen from {a,b,...,h}).

NDE




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