Thursday 31 December 2015

an elementary problem

It has not escaped my notice that nobody submitted the correct answer to the puzzle that I posted on New Year’s Eve last year, so I’ve decided to set a much easier problem this year:
What do the following have in common?
Alabama • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Georgia • Indiana • Louisiana • Minnesota • Missouri • Nebraska • Pennsylvania • South Carolina
By the way, I may have neglected to mention it, but this list is complete.

spoiler alert
Despite an error in the original puzzle, since corrected, Siegfried has submitted the correct solution (below).
Posted by Dennis Hodgson at 4:39 pm
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2 comments:

  1. UnknownThursday, 31 December, 2015

    I thought I had the answer to this, that these are the only US states whose standard two-letter postal abbreviation is also a chemical element symbol, i.e. Alabama=Al=Aluminium, Arkansas=Ar=Argon, California=Ca=Calcium, Colorado=Co=Cobalt, Georgia=Ga=Gallium, Indiana=In=Indium, Louisiana=La=Lanthanum, Minnesota=Mn=Manganese, Missouri=Mo=Molybdenum, Pennsylvania=Pa=Proctactinium, South Carolina=Sc=Scandium.

    However Nevada doesn't fit the theory, because Nevada=Nv doesn't match any element. Nebraska=Ne=Neon would fit, which has me wondering if this is an error in the question since all the other items fit my theory. Or am I barking up the wrong tree entirely?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dennis HodgsonFriday, 01 January, 2016

    Correct solution submitted by Siegfried Hodgson.

    ReplyDelete

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