The Ralis Conundrum
School is starting up again, and that means it's time to get your brain back in shape!
Every Wednesday, at some varying point of the day, I'll be posting some sort of weekly challenge for you to figure out. Each week brings a new puzzle: it may be a math problem, a riddle or something else entirely. Whatever it may be, you'll have to use a little (or a lot of) brain power to figure it out.
These puzzles may require knowledge outside of Ragnarok! Anyone is capable of finding the answer, but I cannot guarantee you will always know what to do if you have little to no understanding of Ragnarok, computers, math, science, etc.
The competition is open to both servers! Chaos Renewal and Classic Loki players may both enter their answers. It may help you to know, then, that the answer to each challenge will be something that can be found by players of both servers.
Correct answers may win a prize at the end of the week. However, only a certain number of prizes can be given out and all correct answers are entered into the prize pool. Please do not try and use multiple accounts to get better odds! We check IPs and account connections. If you're caught doing this, you will be automatically disqualified from present and future competitions... Including OTHER events on the forums as well.
Please keep in mind that the theme for each week is not always a factor in figuring out the puzzle. This does not mean that it will never have an impact, but rather that you should not assume that you must travel to a location or that the answer must fit the theme given in that week's conundrum.
Please do not post or PM your answers. Use the link below the challenge to submit answers!
You may freely adjust your entry until each week's deadline.
Helpful links:
I don't consider search engines cheating. You will never find the answer directly, but always use your resources!
Please do not ask questions related to this week's challenge on the forums. Questions regarding the competition as a whole are fine, but we want to avoid any hints or answers being posted directly on the forums!
This Week's Challenge
Week 7: Pyramid Scheme [ 10/1 - 10/7 ]
Somewhere in the Morroc Desert is a magical pyramid. Resting atop its peak is a beautiful gemstone, said to be worth billions of zeny. Members of the Rogue Guild have been trying to plunder the artifact for years, but always fall short... For you see, the pyramid grows larger and larger every few days. Through various failed attempts to find an entrance into the pyramid, the Rogue Guild knows that the pyramid is completely solid with no hollow areas or missing brick. The tip of the pyramid has 1 brick, the supporting layer under that has 4 bricks, under that 9, etc.. Eventually, it was discovered that each brick of the four-sided pyramid corresponds to a post on the official WarpPortal forums, and, as adventurers post on the forums and enough bricks are created to form a complete layer, the pyramid rises up from the sand and grows by exactly 45 centimeters. What causes this amazing occurrence? Who in their right mind would use forum posts to create bricks for a magical pyramid? Who cares! There's treasure!
Anyway, the Rogue Guild has commissioned your help in finding out the height of the pyramid so that they can build a ladder to reach the top and steal the gem. Of course, Rogues are also very thrifty people and they don't want to make the ladder any taller than it needs to be.
If the angle between the ground and the pyramid's face is 40°, how tall does the ladder need to be to reach the pyramid's tip if it is leaned against the side of the pyramid? Round to the nearest whole centimeter.
Assume that the ladder will not sink into the sand (even though I bet it totally will) and that the Rogue Guild will be placing the ladder exactly in the middle of one of the four sides of the pyramid.
(Please keep in mind that you may need to edit your answer if that pesky pyramid grows sometime during the course of this week's puzzle)
Disclaimer: Edits for 10/1:
Edited a few lines for clarification: it doesn't matter that the bricks are square / identical, and in fact I guess it makes it more confusing. Instead I gave you the number of bricks in the top three layers of the pyramid: 1, 4 and 9. I also removed the perpendicular to the base part because it's redundant if the ladder is already in the center of one of the four sides.
Here's a (hopefully) helpful diagram for those of you that are still confused by the wording:
Click Here To Submit Your Answer
This week's prize:
Mystical Card Album
The competition ends Tuesday, October 7th at 11:59 PM PST! Good luck!
Edited by Ralis, 01 October 2014 - 09:56 AM.