All cash vans are equipped with state of the art tracking system and security. There is one such cash van in which the password-hint button of the van vault is hidden in the black box of the van in case of emergency. The password-hint button can only be viewed at the time of emergency, as at a time only one security guard knows the password. So if something happened to that guard then other security guard can guess the password from that hint button. A security company keeps changing the password button & security guards every day.
Now one day, during the transportation of money, the guy who knew the password got sudden cardiac arrest and was dead. So, other security guy broke the black box and saw the password-hint button. The images of password-hint button and lock system of van are provided next. Now password is 5 characters long. Each lock represents 1 character. You have to rotate the each lock in such a way that down arrow symbol can point to one letter at a time. What are the possible passwords and which is the best suitable among them?
[This puzzle was originally published in my book “Out of Box Computational Thinking Puzzles”. Find more interesting puzzles (including from that book) on this link. Also, don’t forget to check my puzzle books “Computational Puzzles To Flex Your Brain: 50 original puzzles to sharpen computing mind and mathematical skills” and “Brain Teasers with Coding For Data Scientist 2: 9 New Computational Puzzles” and “Puzzles with Coding: Puzzles for Everyone” at Amazon. For purchasing my books or related queries, feel free to contact me. Even in coding puzzle books, you will find interesting puzzles those are suitable for coders as well as non-coders. Coding solutions are also provided with Python code. So, grab a copy of those books and jump into the world of fascinating and exciting puzzles.]
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
B
Y
T
E
–
M
A
N
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Solution:
Five possible passwords will be:
⦁ QUEUE
⦁ LOGOF
⦁ ROUND
⦁ VAULT
⦁ LOCKS
But, ‘QUEUE’ has the highest probability being a password. As you rotate the password hint button at 180 degree, it resembles ‘Q’ alphabet.
