Question

I'm not sure if this counts as a math question but here it goes. I will post a picture of what I am asking.

Answer 1

Describe an algorithm to solve the following problem.

You are the technical consultant on the script for a science fiction film about Earth’s first encounter with intelligent life from a planet in another solar system. The visitors are traveling to Earth in a tiny spaceship only recently detected by NASA’s extraterrestrial monitoring facility. The spaceship is only days away from Earth and has begun sending a series of messages that the hero of the movie, a computer scientist, must decode to determine if the visitors’ intentions are good or evil. Shortly, the spaceship will be within range of the Laser Shield Defense System, a series of geostationary satellites secretly operated by the militaries of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, and originally designed to disintegrate rogue asteroids that could impact Earth. Unless the hero can decode the message in time, General Brasher is going to order the destruction of the spaceship.

As the plot thickens, noisy video transmitted by the spaceship reveals that the occupants appear to anatomically resemble insects on Earth. (Consequently, General Brasher refers to the extraterrestrials as Buggarians.) At this point in the script, the hero is supposed to decipher the message, but filming has come to standstill. A program to decode the message was written by the previous technical consultant, who quit last week in a dispute about ownership of the 3-D fractal holographic special effects engine written for the video game version of the movie. The scene with the Buggarian’s coded message has already been shot and can’t be redone due to legal dispute about the 3-D software. Perhaps coincidentally, the props department seems to have lost the laptop that contained the program to decode the message! The last message received (but actually programmed by the former technical consultant) from the extraterrestrial visitors is as follows.




The director doesn’t want to continue shooting without knowing what the coded message says, in case it is inappropriate. So, as the new technical consultant, your job is to save the script and determine if the message can be decoded. The good news is that you don’t have to actually write the program because the director knows the hardest part of the task is developing the algorithm, not writing the code. The bad news is that you and your team have just 24 hours to suggest an algorithm that could decipher the message, or the studio funding the picture will cancel production. If you can make a reasonable suggestion about how to decode the message, the studio will grant more time to actually write the program. Are you up to the challenge? There are many, many ways to approach this problem, so solutions will vary. Earth also needs to send a response back to the Buggarians. What message should your team recommend as the outgoing message to the extraterrestrials?

Expected Output:

Remember, your task is not to actually decode the message (although you may try). Programmers are faced with unusual problems all the time and their primary task is to think and develop a plan before actually writing any code. In this assessment you are in the same situation; focus on a solution, not the answer. Start by making a list of the clues you find and the assumptions you have. Submit a word processed document that describes how you would go about unraveling the mysterious message from the Buggarians. The format (paragraph, pseudocode, outline, flowchart, etc.) is up to you. Be sure to include your suggested response to the extraterrestrials (in English, for now).

Answer 2

Here is the message they are talking about.

220 241 255 245 052 313
311 052 312 303 052 312
252 245 052 205 241 251
253 243 052 203 253 302
251 244 303 301 053

Answer 3

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090914142448AA3iTtZ

Answer 4

All I did was google that first linie of numbers.
Google "220 241 255 245 052 313"

Answer 5

Thank you, I don't get what they are asking.

Answer 6

Pretend like you didn't find that answer in writing your solution.
Just say something about how you would try converting the numbers to decimal by assuming they are written down in a different base other than decimal. you then might try to see if the numbers refer to some type of conversion that converts the numbers into letters.

Answer 7

a conversion table...i meant to say in that last sentence

Answer 8

Thanks, helped me out alot. I've been stumped for the last day.

Answer 9

yeah...its amazing whats out there. even obscure series of numbers like that will give you google results!