Can you solve the cuddly duddly fuddly wuddly riddle? - Dan Finkel

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Carol Wang

For your son’s sixth birthday,

你兒子六歲生日到了，

you’ve promised to get him the cutest creature in creation:

你答應過他，

要給他最可愛的生物：酷迪。

the cuddly.

It’s hard to believe that it’s a cousin of the terrifying duddly

難以置信的是，

牠的表親是駭人的杜迪 或醜陋的法迪。

or the hideous fuddly.

They’re all members of the Wuddly species,

牠們都是瓦迪種族的成員，

and the process of adopting them is deeply peculiar.

而領養牠們的過程也非常特殊。

It takes 100 eggs to make a single animal in genus Wuddly.

要一百顆蛋才能產生 一隻瓦迪種的動物。

When 100 eggs are placed together in an incubator,

把一百顆蛋放在孵蛋器當中，

they undergo egg fusion, and combine in the following way.

它們會依照下列規則進行蛋融合：

Blue and purple combine to make red eggs.

藍色和紫色會結合成紅色的蛋。

Red and blue combine to make purple eggs,

紅色和藍色會結合成紫色的蛋。

and red and purple combine to make blue eggs.

紅色和紫色會結合成藍色的蛋。

The most plentiful eggs pair up first,

蛋最多的那一堆優先配對，

and if two piles are even,

如果有兩堆蛋數量一樣，

an egg comes from one of them at random.

會隨機從其中一堆取一顆。

They keep combining until there’s just one left.

它們會不斷結合， 直到最後剩下一顆蛋。

If the final egg is blue,

如果最後的蛋是藍色的，

a Cuddly hatches out of it.

就會孵化出酷迪。

Purple eggs give you Duddlies,

紫色的蛋會孵化出杜迪。

and Red eggs give you Fuddlies.

紅色的蛋會孵化出法迪。

The incubator currently has 99 eggs in it.

目前孵蛋器中有 99 顆蛋，

23 are blue, 33 are purple, and 43 are red.

23 顆藍色、33 顆紫色 43 顆紅色。

You can begin the process of egg fusion by adding an egg of any color to the room.

你可以放入任何一顆蛋， 啟動蛋融合的過程。

When all the eggs have combined into a single egg,

當所有的蛋最終結合成一顆，

the creature that hatches will bond with you on sight,

孵化出來的生物 看到你的第一眼就跟定你了，

which is why getting a Cuddly is so important.

這就是為何得到酷迪會如此重要。

After all, you made a promise to your son.

畢竟，你已答應了兒子。

Which color egg should you add to the incubator to get a cuddly?

你應該放入什麼顏色的蛋， 才能得到酷迪呢？

Pause the video to figure it out for yourself.

[如果想自己解題，請按暫停。]

Answer in 3

[答案即將公佈：3]

Answer in 2

[答案即將公佈：2]

Answer in 1

[答案即將公佈：1]

It’s easy to get mixed up with all the cuddlies, duddlies, and fuddlies

不同顏色的蛋孵出 酷迪、杜迪和法迪

很容易把人搞糊塗，

coming from different colored eggs.

If we ignore how many total eggs of each color there are,

如果我們不管每一種 顏色的蛋總共有幾顆，

and just look at the process of egg fusion,

只去看蛋融合的過程，

we might notice something that will make this problem simpler.

我們可能會注意到， 有一種特性能把問題簡化。

When two eggs fuse,

當兩顆蛋融合時，

the number of eggs of each of those colors decreases by one,

兩種顏色的蛋都會少一顆，

and the number of the third color increases by one.

第三種顏色的蛋會多一顆。

That means they all change parity,

意味著它們改變了奇偶性，

即奇數、偶數同時都會改變。

or evenness and oddness, at the same time.

Right now all three piles are odd, but you get to add an egg to one color,

目前，三堆蛋都是奇數， 但若給其中一堆加一顆蛋，

which means that it’ll be even and the other two will be odd.

這堆蛋會變為偶數， 其他兩堆依然是奇數。

Whichever color you choose

不論你選什麼顏色的蛋，

will always be the opposite parity of the other two piles:

其奇偶性一定與另外兩堆相反：

odd when they’re even and even when they’re odd,

另外兩堆是偶數時， 這堆就是奇數，反之亦然，

since every egg fusion flips each pile’s parity simultaneously.

因為每一次蛋融合就會 讓奇偶性同時調換一次。

We want to end with 1 blue, 0 purple, and 0 red eggs, or odd, even, even.

我們想最後得到的蛋是一顆藍色、 零顆紫色和紅色，即奇、偶、偶。

That means we want the blue egg pile to be the opposite parity

也就是說，我們希望在一開始時，

of the other two piles at the start as well.

藍色的和另外兩堆奇偶性相反。

So you add a blue egg into the room,

所以你只要放入一顆藍色的蛋，

and 99 egg fusions later,

經過 99 次融合之後，

only a single blue egg remains.

就只會剩下一顆藍色的蛋。

孵化出的酷迪一定 會令你 6 歲的兒子超級開心。

The Cuddly that hatches is sure to make your 6-year-old as happy as can be.

Just be sure to follow the shopkeeper’s warning,

只是一定要遵循店主的警告，

and never feed it after midnight.

千萬不要在午夜時餵食牠哦。