Training Puzzle: Whoa--I Know Shoe-Buckling!

by Denis Moskowitz

The questions and answers in the first section are simple arithmetic. The glossary of the language, briefly, is:

• Zero: pos
• One: ho(n)
• Two: ga(n)
• Three: zi(n)
• Four: wi(n)
• Five: se(n)
• Six: ye(n)
• Seven: ra(n)
• Eight: co(n)
• Nine: du(n)
• Tens: -it
• Hundreds:
• Negative: re-
• Plus: fot
• Minus: pag
• Times: vep
• Divided by: bic
• To the power of: hud

Questions are formed by prefixing the sentence with luf. Syntax is roughly VOS, or Verb Object Subject; mathematically, that means "+ 2 3" means "3 + 2" and "/ 7 21" means "21 / 7".

A more complete description of the language is available.

The translation of the text is:

The Fibonacci Sequence:
luf fot hon hon? gan. 1 + 1? 2
luf fot hon gan? zin. 2 + 1? 3
luf fot gan zin? sen. 3 + 2? 5
luf fot zin sen? con. 5 + 3? 8
luf fot sen con? zinhoit. 8 + 5? 13

Powers of Two:
luf vep gan gan? win. 2 * 2? 4
luf vep gan win? con. 4 * 2? 8
luf vep gan con? yenhoit. 8 * 2? 16
luf vep gan yenhoit? ganzimit. 16 * 2? 32

Subtracting by 11:
luf pag honhoit dunzimit? congait. 39 - 11? 28
luf pag honhoit congait? ranhoit. 28 - 11? 17
luf pag honhoit ranhoit? yen. 17 - 11? 6
luf pag honhoit yen? resen. 6 - 11? -5

Exponents:
luf hud gan resen? sengait. -5²? 25
luf hud zin reganhoit? recongaitranaloer. -12³? -1728

Division:
luf bic gan zimiconal? senhoitwial. 830 / 2? 415
luf bic hongait zinyemitzialyemer? zinzial. 6363 / 21? 303

Grouping:

luf vep zin fot win hoer? ganhoitzimer.
* (3, + (4, 100))? = (100 + 4) * 3? 312.

luf hud vep sen gan gan? wingaitoer.
^ ( * (5, 2), 2) = 2^10? 1024

luf pag vep gangaiganal bic gan hud gan zin dunduidual? pos.
999 - (222 * (32 / 2))? 0

The Questions:

luf bic fot zin ran pag hud gan yenhoit yensemitwial?
     /   +   3   7   -   ^   2    16       456

(456 - (16^2)) / (3 + 7) = 20

luf vep bic ran hongait fot pag ranhoit hongait gan?
     *   /   7    21     +   -    17      21     2

((21 - 17) + 2) * (21 / 7) = 18

luf hud pos fot zingait vep gan bic honal sealgaer?
     ^   0   +    23     *   2   /   100    2500

(2500 ^ 0) = 1

luf pag vep zin win pag hon hud zin zin?
     -   *   3   4   -  1    ^   3   3

((3^3) - 1) - (3 * 4) = 14

luf bic vep fot fot gan gan vep gan gan hud gan gan conyeal?
     /   *   +   +   2   2   *   2   2   ^   2   2    608

608 / (  (  (2+2) + (2*2)  )  * 2^2) = 19

luf fot bic ganhoit yemit fot pos pag ran winhoit?
     +   /    12     60    +   0   -   7    14

((14-7) + 0) + (60/12)  = 12

luf pag pag vep hoit con rancoit bic honrait conyemitseal?
     -   -   *   10   8    87     /    71         568

(568/71) - (87-(8*10)) = 1

luf bic pag senwimit dunrait coityeal?
     /   -     45      79      680

680 / (79 - 45) = 20

luf hud bic ganraitwimer yenzimitgaer pag gan bic gansemitzial winsealdumer?
     ^   /     4072         2036       -   2   /     352           9504

((9504 / 352) - 2) ^ (2036 / 4072) = 5