[FRC Blog] 2014 Game Hint

[Mr. N]

Happy Boxing Day!


(Apologies if I'm duplicating ideas from earlier posts...)

Let's assume the hint is not an alphanumeric cipher, but rather refers to three "things". Personally, I do not believe these are coordinates (in physical space or colour space), since the inclusion of the "/" is an odd way to represent a coordinate.

I think each "thing" is a geometric object (game piece or field element), and the "Large Number/Small Number" defines the shape somehow. The relative magnitude of the numbers suggests (at least to me) "Volume/Area".

I had a look at the volume and area formulas for various solids (source: Engineering Toolbox/Volume and Surfaces of Common Solids). At first, I tried to match up Volume to Surface Area without much luck. However, when I instead looked at Cross-Sectional Area (or some representative planar area), things started jumping out.

Now, since absolute values are given for both Volume and Area, they are expressed in terms of some "unit" which is not explicitly defined. I think mm are too small, so the most likely "unit" is either inch or cm.

Here is a summary of the solids corresponding to each number group (all dimensions expressed in rounded "units")

• 8234/57 = tall cylinder (8.6 dia x 146) OR toroid (8.5 minor dia. x 46 major dia.)
  
• 61126/1963 = sphere (49 dia) -- minus a little bit, suggesting a cut-out or cavity
  
• 62326/15806 = shallow square pyramid (126 x 126 x 12 tall) OR shallow square platform (126 x 126 x 4 tall)

I drew these shapes to scale and put some of them into an assembly (based on pure speculation). Please see attachment.