LU stations by three letters

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DrainBrain
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LU stations by three letters

Post by DrainBrain »

Here's a fun little diversion that isn't as easy as it seems:

http://www.sporcle.com/games/Thryduulf/ ... -3-letters

Also, for a little kudos, explain why the total possible score is 268.
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Re: LU stations by three letters

Post by hopeful traveller »

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Re: LU stations by three letters

Post by RJSRdg »

DrainBrain wrote:Here's a fun little diversion that isn't as easy as it seems:

http://www.sporcle.com/games/Thryduulf/ ... -3-letters

Also, for a little kudos, explain why the total possible score is 268.
I'm guessing because Paddington and Edgware Road are only counted once?
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Re: LU stations by three letters

Post by DrainBrain »

RJSRdg wrote:I'm guessing because Paddington and Edgware Road are only counted once?
That's partly it, but Hammersmith is also only counted once. There's something else...
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Re: LU stations by three letters

Post by moley »

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Re: LU stations by three letters

Post by GuyBarry »

I managed to get to 268 at the fourth attempt. Of course, it's easy to improve one's score by recording all the combinations one used last time and then adding in the combinations required to get the remaining ones.

Here's an interesting question: what's the smallest number of three-letter combinations required to get all 268?
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DrainBrain
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Re: LU stations by three letters

Post by DrainBrain »

moley wrote:
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Yup, that. Very strange. Very wrong.
GuyBarry wrote:Here's an interesting question: what's the smallest number of three-letter combinations required to get all 268?
Hmm, looks equivalent to a set packing problem. Seems like fun...
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Re: LU stations by three letters

Post by DrainBrain »

Using a greedy algorithm I came up with the following 54 item sequence:

TON,ARK,REE,HAM,ING,TER,ILL,ENT,NOR,OAD,
OOD,AST,DEN,ANE,BRI,BUR,OUT,BRO,EST,ALE,
ANS,ATE,BAR,CHA,ELL,FOR,RCH,ARS,ARY,AUL,
BOR,DON,EEN,MON,SCO,WAR,AIR,AIS,ALL,ALO,
ANG,ANK,ANM,ARN,BUS,CIT,CRO,CTO,EMP,ICO,
INN,ISL,NEY,OVA

"Greedy algorithm" means it uses the three letters that will match the most remaining stations each time. This isn't guaranteed to be the best solution.
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Re: LU stations by three letters

Post by GuyBarry »

Interesting - and surprising how few of them match the ones I came up with using pure guesswork. I had 73, so there's clearly some scope for improvement!
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Re: LU stations by three letters

Post by geofftech »

The quiz i find most evil is this one:

http://www.sporcle.com/games/pecheneg/l ... ound_words

The most common words on a tube map, I've never been able to complete it within the time limit allowed.
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Re: LU stations by three letters

Post by The Orange One »

http://www.sporcle.com/games/therealdjc ... ground-a-z

Oh my god. This one. I got through the Piccadilly and had about 3 minutes left, thinking "I can do this!" Tramlink. What the flip starts with F (I now know what it is)? Skipped to the Viccy, did that and the W&C, came back.

Also, it failed to accept Battersea Park for LO and I wasted about 30 seconds trying to think of something else. Thank you tractakid.

Ended up having one second to type in Reeves Corner and failing. Oops.
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Re: LU stations by three letters

Post by A Challenge »

http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/londontubecentral

I got all of them correct and then looked at the results (percent got correct overall) and Victoria was the most and Lambeth North the Least!

How well can you do with the game?
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Re: LU stations by three letters

Post by Tube Geek »

geofftech wrote: The most common words on a tube map, I've never been able to complete it within the time limit allowed.
I have! No maps used, either. I only got 'Quay(s)' in the last 10 seconds, though!
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