ECOL320: Genetics

QuantumMinePu

Welcome to QuantumMinePu—the last generation! There are now 3 kinds of gem in the mine: Pb (black), which behaves exactly like the gems in QuantumMine, Hg (blue) and Pu (Green). Hg is different from Pb in that direct hits are reflected rather than absorbed. All other behaviors are identical to Pb. There will never be more than 2 Hg gems in the mine. Pu is ‘radioactive’—if the ray runs into a Pu gem, it is instantly transported to a SECOND Pu gem, while retaining it’s heading. If a ray passes directly adjacent to a Pu, the ray is altered by the radioactivity. This manifests as a color reversal of the destination marker for the ray. Note that a ray passing through a Pu does not reverse color unless it also passes adjacent to a Pu. Since absorbed rays do not emerge, they do not carry information about whether or not they passed by a Pu gem. There will always be either 2 or 0 Pu gems in the mine. The radioactivity of the Pu gems also enforces a 1 gridsquare radius around each Pu gem that is empty of other gems (excepting other Pu gems). Enabling an option does NOT guarantee the presence of a given gem in EVERY mine.

When the game starts, only Pb gems are in the Mine; you control the gems present by clicking on the square in the upper righthand corner; it switches to display the gems present (there are multiple settings)

The graphics now reflect the TYPE of guess—if you guess Pb (one click on an empty gridsquare) you get a black Pb guess, if you click again you get a blue Hg guess, a third click generates a green Pu guess, and another click erases the guess. At “I want the Truth”, you get a frowny face for gems missed or misidentified. The presence or absence of Hg in the game is controlled by the Options button, which displays the CURRENTLY SET option. Click it to change options.

Points to ponder:

• What is the most efficient way to check the entire grid
• are there other hypotheses that explain the data besides yours
• have you checked the entire grid