Can you solve the secret sauce riddle? - Alex Gendler

翻译人员: Carol Wang 校对人员: Heze Ma

One of the top chefs from Pasta Palace

意粉宫餐厅的顶级厨师之一

has been kidnapped by operatives from Burger Bazaar

被汉堡殿餐厅工作人员绑架，

hoping to learn the location of their secret sauce recipe.

他们想获知其秘制酱汁配方藏在哪里。

Little do they know that a third party—

他们有所不知，

第三方餐厅热狗城

Sausage Saloon—

has sent you to take advantage of the situation.

也派他们的最高间谍， 也就是你，前来打探。

As their top spy, your skills range from infiltration and subterfuge,

作为他们的顶级间谍，

你精通卧底、诡计、 开保险箱和读心术。

to safecracking and reading faces for signs of deception.

You’ve tracked the captors to where they’re holding the chef prisoner.

你跟踪到他们关押厨师的地方，

From your hiding spot, you can see him on the other side of the glass,

从你的藏身之处， 能看到玻璃另一边的厨师，

while in front of you an interrogator wearing headphones

而在你的面前，

戴耳机的审讯者正对着麦克风说话。

speaks into a microphone.

“We already know the recipe is on the 13th floor of the bank vault,

“我们得知配方在银行金库 13 楼，

in a safe deposit box numbered between 13 and 1300.

在编号 13 到 1300 间的保险箱里。

Now tell us… Is the number less than 500?”

现在告诉我们， 这个数字小于 500 吗？”

You can’t hear the chef’s answer, but you can see that he’s lying.

你听不到厨师的回答， 但你可以看出他在撒谎，

The interrogator, however, falls for it.

但审讯者相信了厨师的话。

He follows up by asking, “Is it a perfect square?”

他接着问道： “这个数是完全平方吗？”

Again you can’t hear the answer but can tell the chef is lying,

你听不见答案， 但能看出厨师又撒谎了，

while the interrogator takes him at his word.

而审讯者相信了他的话。

He then asks, “Is it a perfect cube?”

然后他问：“它是完全立方吗？”

This time the chef answers truthfully.

这一次，厨师如实回答了。

The interrogator thinks for a minute and says,

审讯者想了一会儿，说道：

“Good. Now if you just tell me whether or not the number’s second digit is a one,

“好。 现在只要你告诉我 第二位数字是不是 1 ，

we’ll be done here.”

你就没事了。”

But as the chef starts to answer,

但当厨师开始回答时，

the interrogator stands up, blocking your view.

审讯者站起来，挡住了你的视线。

Within moments he rushes out of the room,

不一会儿，他就冲出了房间，

announcing that he’s got the answer and is sending agents to retrieve the recipe.

宣布他得到了答案，并派人去取配方。

You know that the Burger Bazaar people have the wrong box number.

你知道汉堡殿餐厅的人 得到的箱号是错的，

But can you figure out the right one and retrieve the recipe yourself?

但你能想出正确的号码 并拿到配方吗？

Pause the video to figure it out for yourself.

[ 若想自己解题，请暂停播放 ]

Answer in 3

[ 答案公布：3 ]

Answer in 2

[ 答案公布：2 ]

Answer in 1

[ 答案公布：1 ]

The key here is to work backwards.

解题的关键是倒推。

We don’t know what the chef answers to the final question

我们不知道最后问题的回答，

or whether he answers truthfully.

以及厨师是否撒谎了，

But we do know that by the time the interrogator asks it,

但我们确实知道，当审讯者提问时，

he’s narrowed the options down to two numbers–

他将范围缩小到两个数——

one where the second digit is 1, and one where it isn’t.

一个数的第二位为 1，而另一个不是。

Our goal, then, is to find answers to the previous questions

那么，我们的目标

是找出导致仅 2 个数的 先前问题的答案。

that lead to just two possibilities.

Of the three constraints offered,

在提问的三个问题中，

the one that narrows our options the most is if the number is a perfect cube.

最能缩小我们选项的， 是该数是否为完全立方，

That leaves us with only eight answers between 13 and 1300.

而 13 到 1300 之间 只有 8 个数符合要求。

So let’s assume the answer to the third question was a truthful YES.

假设第三个问题的答案是真的，

Now, let’s look at the second question.

接着看第二个问题。

If the chef answered YES to the number being a perfect square,

如果厨师回答说它是完全平方，

it would narrow the interrogator’s options to just 64 and 729–

那么审讯者的选项 缩小为 64 和 729——

the only numbers in our range that are both a square and a cube.

只有这两个数 同时是完全平方完全立方。

But neither of these has a 1 as the second digit.

但这两个数的第二位都不是 1，

So the given answer to the second question must’ve been NO.

所以，第二个问题的答案 肯定是否定的，

And that also means we can eliminate these two squares from the interrogator's list,

也就是说，可以把这两个数 从审讯者的选项中删掉，

leaving only six numbers.

这样，只剩下六个数字。

Now for the first question, which allows us to divide this list.

现在回到第一个问题， 可以把候选答案一分为二。

If the chef answered YES to the number being less than 500,

数字是否小于 500 的问题， 如果厨师回答“是”，

we’d have four options, which is too many.

我们有四个选项，太多了。

But a NO leaves us with two numbers greater than 500,

若厨师的回答是“否”的话， 则只有两个数字大于 500，

one of which does have a 1 as its second digit.

其中一个数的第二位是 1。

We don’t know which of these numbers the interrogator thinks is correct.

我们不知道审讯者选了哪个数，

But that doesn’t matter–

但没关系——

remember, his conclusion was based on lies.

记住，他的结论是基于谎言得出的，

You, on the other hand, are now in a position to reconstruct the truth.

也就是说，你现在可以得出正确结论。

First, the chef said the number was greater than 500 but lied,

首先，厨师谎称数字大于 500，

meaning it’s actually less than 500.

这意味着它实际上小于 500；

Second, the chef said it wasn’t a perfect square but lied again,

其次，厨师谎称它不是完全平方，

meaning the number is indeed a square.

而实际上它是完全平方；

And finally, he truthfully confirmed that it was also a cube.

最后，他承认它完全立方。

And as we’ve already seen,

正如我们已经看到的那样，

the only number under 500 that’s both a square and a cube is 64.

小于 500 的数中，只有 64 同时完全平方和完全立方。

You find the secret recipe and are gone before anyone’s the wiser.

在其他人弄明白前， 你成功拿到秘方后离开了。

Corporate espionage is not an easy game—

企业间谍活动并非易事 ——

but sometimes, that’s just how the sausage is made.

但有时，就是仅为得到香肠配方。