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Two mathematicians Fred and Fran were having a baby girl, their first child! They sought the perfect name, a name that would simultaneously reflect togetherness, relationships, and individuality in their burgeoning family. Day and night they debated, rejecting name after name. Finally, they had it! The perfect name!
They named her Erin.
Why?
[Yootleoffer: 1 Yootle for first correct response.]
2008/06/18 Addendum: Fred and Fran both study set theory.
so each name has exactly two
letters in common with each other:
FRed - FRan
fRaN - eRiN
ERin - fREd
I should add an important detail to my answer:
all the names have the same number of letters(4)!
This suggests a natural sense of ‘clustering’ of the names.
Okay, the second letter “r” in Erin is there to represent the “togetherness” of their family, since both Fred and Fran have a second letter of r.
The “E” represents Fr”e”ds individuality, while the “N” represents Fra”n”s individuality.
Finally, the “i” comes in because it is the next vowel in the alphabet after “a” and “e”, which are in the third position of Fran and Fred.
Additionally, the “E” could also represent that the mathematicians are putting the family ahead of any individual parts, since e is the letter before F in the alphabet, and both of their names start with F.
I’m confused at to what exactly a Yootle is, but all I seek is gratification if I am right. Fun riddle.
One possible answer, too easy, is the following:
FRED
+FRAN
—–
ERIN
Which has 20 solutions in base 10 according to http://www.tkcs-collins.com/truman/alphamet/alpha_solve.shtml
One example:
2950 A=6 D=0 E=5 F=2 I=1 N=3 R=9
+2963
—–
5913
There are three names with four letters.
For any one of the names, all of the following are true:
1. There is one letter that does not appear in either of the other names.
2. There is one letter that appears in both.
3. There is one letter that appears in one of the other two names.
4. The last letter appears in the other of the the other two names.
How do you formalize this?
Also, if they have another daughter, should they name her Ida?
Umm … one letter from “Fred” only (E), one letter from “Fran” only (n), one letter from both (r), and one letter from neither (i) –> “Erin”.
Relations, togetherness, individuality.
So … what can my new Yootle buy me these days? …
This is driving me insane. Is there a hint?
Because they were about to adopt a child and Erin was already her name?
Every nonempty subset of family members has a unique letter associated with it:
Erin, Fran, Fred: r
Erin, Fran: n
Erin, Fred: e
Erin: i
Fran, Fred: f
Fran: a
Fred: d