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Anagram Competition

P50

TMF Expert
Joined
Jul 20, 2003
Messages
506
Points
0
A couple of us have enjoyed some highly disorganized bantering with respect to anagrams. I suggested that it might be a fun and useful element to have an anagram competition along the same (but not identical) lines and rules as the weekly trivia game.

Question #1:

Is there enough (meaning four or five people) interest to formalize some rules and have an organized weekly or monthly competition ?


Question #2:

If so, what should the rules look like ?


Question #3:

What other questions should be asked at this stage of development ?
 
i think its a great idea and would love to host or co-host the event
we can talk about the rules in a seporate room in the chatroom if anyones intrested.
 
What I would like to avoid is a circumstance where one member, who is more skilled and gifted in this area, takes the winnings more than 75% of the time.

I would also like to have at least two different levels of competition; three or four would be even better.

If a person takes first place in a given division/level for so many times in a row, then that person is automatically bumped up to the next level of competition for X-number of rounds.

A person who is repeatedly comining in dead last (in a given division/level) should be free to request admission to the next lesser stringent level of competition.

By the way, who's going to be the host(s) all these competitions ?
 
The internet is chock full of software anagram generators.
Don't mean to be a wet blanket, but you need a rule that says 'no peekie on internet'.
 
you have a point, but if true anagramists were playing then the ones who are looking on the internet would probably take too long before finding the answer.......
Tho this cant be avoided .....cheating will useually take place if it can.......i bet the same can and does go on in sunday trivia too....its a shame but it happens.

any more ideas cause i have pretty much fort out the whole thing.....taking everything.

can any chatroom users please give some feedback......would you like it done in a seprorate room or in the main room(if it goes ahead).

any input would be great and feel free to ask me or P50 in the chatroom if you see us....thnaks alot.
 
The presence of anagram generators is well known among anagramists. It is an excellent computer science project for a collegiate level course; frequently in a team environment.


I posit that TkPervert's suggested rule is largely unenforceable, and perhaps not even desirable. How are we going to tell if somebody peeks or not ? (Answer: we can't, with our current connections and anonymity.) Since anyone can peek and get away with it, then let's level the entire playing field and let everyone peek equally. No need to pretend that we can control something we can't

Duckie's observation is pretty much in line with mine. Using today's connection and speeds and available software, the true anagramists will most probably be able to beat the peekers. (I reserve the right to renege on that last statement at any time in the future; for obvious reasons.)

So, I say using anagram software should be okay for all players, and not just those who cheat.

Ideas ?
 
Damn, thought I'd made a brilliant discovery, but you guys are light-years ahead of me. Glad you're aware of these generators.

BTW, no possible way will a non-peeker be able to beat an internet peeker in response time for a solution to an anagram.

It just ain't gonna happen.
 
if it has to come down to a test of speed on a anagram soving peice of software if people feel the need to cheat then so be it......the competition will be to work out the anagrams .....whatever way suits the competiters best ....but i cant see a genuine sense of achivement coming out of it if they do cheat.i truly believe that a competant and experienced anagramist is capable of beating a peice of software because the cheater would have to first read the question, then carefully type the correct letters on the software and then find the answer and type it in....this will take time especially seeing as people are more likely to cheat on the long anagrams........using software iv never been able to beat P50(an experienced and talented anagramist) up to 6 letters so i cant see cheaters beeing to much trouble....................catch my drift???? 😀
 
TKpervert wrote...

<I>BTW, no possible way... to beat an internet peeker...

It just ain't gonna happen. </I>


(Straining to hide the Smirk)
 
TkPervert,
(and others reading)

Yes indeed, almost any microprocessor can beat almost any human at purified logical reduction processes. (That is exactly what computers were designed to do from the days when they used vacuum tubes and complete floors of air conditioners to keep them from overheating, and in tiny chips today.)

Concepts like...

<B>"If this, then that, else the other and then so on....
</B>

...are indeed the mirth and moxie of computer science, and anagrams fit this model quite well.

Understand, however, that we aren't going to be doing ONLY simple anagrams. I'm envisioning about 4 levels of competition; e.g.,,,

-- Fun and easy
-- Fun with some difficulty
-- Major brain strains
-- All out open competition with wild ones

Single letter anagrams are, ipso facto, not anagrams; and I believe they are limited to the two words "I" and "A" (somebody correct me).

Two letter anagrams are defacto palindromic inversions of the original word, and as a result are approximately solved as soon as they are created.

Starting at three letters, real anagrams begin; although they are usually very easy to solve. At four letters, you get into interesting observations.

Indeed, many three letter words and four letter words are already anagrams of other words.

e.g.

Opts
Post
Pots
Spot
Stop
Tops

At five letters and above, the anagrams become more difficult for the human and much more easily solved by the machine.

Now, here's where it gets really interesting; Mutliple word anagrams.

HERE IS A ROD
OH, A RESIDER
OH SIR, A DEER
HOAR DESIRE
I.E. HAS ORDER

Those were just some of the examples that an anagram generator produced in response to the input string,,,,

"RIDE A HORSE"

Similarly,,,

"IF RINSED, I'LL CHEER"

,,,is an anagram of,,,

"CHINESE FIRE DRILL"

I just plugged the phrase into an internet anagram generator and received more than fifty thousand possible responses. ("CHINESE FIRE DRILL" is a well-known standard for anagram generators; there must be a zillion of them; or at least fifty thousand.)

Even the phrase "Hamburger Bun" can produce over two thousand responses.

Anyway, with single word anagrams of more than 5 letters, yes, the peekers might have an advantage; but when we get into the advanced stuff, the human brain probably still has an advantage.

Anyway; so much for academics. Let's put some workable rules down in writing before we attempt any organized competitions.

Anybody got any ideas ?
 
i say we go ahead and do it and see what happens and then return here to disscuss the problems and also what went well.....we wont come to any conclusions with out proper research involving at least one proper orginised session.

any ideas on dates and times?

i can do sunday 9 o`clock onwards until trivia of course (GMT)
 
P50 said:
TKpervert wrote...

<I>BTW, no possible way... to beat an internet peeker...

It just ain't gonna happen. </I>

(Straining to hide the Smirk)

P50, I've read that the human brain operates at one million gigaflops. Pretty impressive except that very few of those flops are focused on single-thread problem solving.
I'm willing to wager 28 cents that an Intel P4 2.4 Ghz can beat the average anagramist to a solution.
grin.gif
 
Yes, the microprocessor can; indeed, the typical '386 from 20 years ago should be able to beat the average anagramist; shucks, it could beat 10 or 20 of them if anybody had ever really written an OS that took advantage of it and had marketed it well.

So yes, the machines are not where the real humans compete for speed.

Here's the trick: Because of the way the chatroom is written in Java [TM], and direct text is not (AFAIK) easily captured and rerouted to another machine, a human will have to type the word into the other window.

Up to about 5 or 6 letters, it will still be quicker (D.O.A.,,, depending on anagram) to solve the anagram and type it in immediately rather than to

-A- type the scrambled version into one window,
-B- submit the scrambled text to the machine on the other end of the internet,
-C- Wait 0.00001 seconds for the machine to solve it,
-D- Get the response back from that window
-E- Switch to the Chatroom window in Java [TM]
-F- Type the solution into that window



It isn't the machine that is slow, it's the communications medium and the keyboard/window logistics associated with the event
 
What are we going to do about spectators and those who like to just have fun and toss out answers ?
 
eh, cut & paste with a cable connection wins every time !! two windows open, flop back and forth with that little white arrow, a multi-gigahertz server at your beck and call....

now don't go getting mad at me... I'm the devil's advocate here.

BTW, that 28 cent wager still stands.
grin.gif
 
Non sequitur: if you like anagrams, check out the recent 87th Precinct novel "Hark!" by Ed McBain. Full of 'em!
 
Did you know that if you swap the M for a T, Saddam Hussein is an anagram of "he's a sad nudist"? 😀
 
ANAGRAMS is itself an anagram of ARS MAGNA, Latin for "The Great Art". Go fig.
 
ok here goes

il be in the chatroom tomorrow at 1.00am GMT uk time zone.....
and il be ready to hold this event
dependeing on who wants to play this may not take place so if you want to join in then be around ....hope this works out
should be fun.
P50 i need your feedback.....can you make it?
 
Okay, I'll try to be in the room at 0100 GMT.

i.e.,,,

8:00 p.m. Eastern time
7:00 p.m. Central time
6:00 p.m. Mountain time
5:00 p.m. Pacific time


Everyone tell your friends ! The THRILL of Anagrams awaits you in the TMF Chat Room
 
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