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No. 1 The Blind Typist

 

A blind British typist sits down at a computer and carefully types the following string of characters. For this brainteaser establish what the typist intended to enter and give a brief explanation of what went wrong.

 

G W K K I   Q I E K S

 

The solution was of course

 

H E L L O   W O R L D

 

The typist had inadvertently pressed the keys one key to the left from the intended key. Since no character in the intended phrase or the accidental phrase contained the letters 'F' or 'J' (The keys raised to help blind people avoid this problem) the mistake was not noticed.

 

Congratulations go to "Kurt Miller" for sending in the first correct answer. The following section contains every correct answer in the order it was received. Thank you all for taking part.

 

From: Kurt Miller
Subject: teaser

hello world

he/she was one key off (to the left).

From: Jonathan
Subject:

hello world

one key over to the right

From: Mat Noguchi
Subject: answer

He was trying to type "HELLO WORLD". The typist misplaced his fingers by one letter to the right.

From: Jukka Liimatta
Subject: hello world

Trivial, the typist dude was not only blind, but also had numb fingers, and thus missed the "f" and "j", and thus had his fingers one key too much to the right.

String was "hello world"

From: Tobias Johansson
Subject: That's easy

hello world

From: Dustin Russell
Subject: Brain Teaser

He was trying to type "HELLO WORLD" but his fingers were over one key to = the left from were they should have been.

From: Kristoffer Gronlund
Subject: solution?

Hi, Well, what (s)he intended to write was "HELLO WORLD", and the error was placing both the left and the right hand offset=20 one character to the left on the typewriter, so that when the typist thought (s)he pressed H, the key actually pressed was G. (the typist used the standard hand placement on the keyboard).

Nice contest :)

From: Jaap Suter
Subject: Brainteaser.

Solution: Hello world

Nog very difficult this time but for a beginner ok :) Great idea however. Love it!!

Jaap Suter

From: Tom Spilman
Subject: duh

hello world...

Stupid blind person... :) On my keyboard F and J have little marks on them to feel where to place your fingers. All the letters type were one key left of the intended key.

From: Luke Hodorowicz
Subject:

Gwkki Qieks is Hello World one letter to the right on the qwerty = keyboard.

From: Paul-Jan Pauptit
Subject: gwkki qieks.

Well, seems to me like the blind person misplaced his hands on the = keyboard, one character to the left, thus spelling gwkki qieks instead = of the intended "Hello World".

However, this 'mistake' can only be made with a 'symmetrical' keyboard. = On my own keyboard, a mistake like this is not easy to make since you = feel a slight change in relative distance in between the keys when you = mistakenly shift your fingers one key to the left or to the right.=20

Yours truly,

Paul-Jan Pauptit (aka The Watcher^TUHB)

From: Dave Cobb
Subject: Brainteaser

He typed "hello world" His problem was that his hands were shifted one key to the left.

From: Jon Naiman
Subject: solution

Hello World

His fingers where on the keys to the left of the keys he meant to type.

Jon Naiman

From: Jeff DeWall
Subject: Blind Typist

He meant to type 'Hello World' what happened is he hit the key to the left of each key he wanted to hit..

From: Alexander Blach
Subject: Brain Teaser

The blind British typist wanted to write "HELLO WORLD" but he hit the = wrong letters... the letters on the right of the right ones :)

CYA,

ABee

Alexander Blach 3D-Programmer Crytek Studios

From: Jonathan Henry
Subject: First brainteaser

Hello, I may have the solution to your first brain teaser. The typist intended to type the phrase "Hello World", but he pressed the key to the right of each one he intended to press. He simply put his hands on the wrong keys so each time he tried to press a key he pressed the wrong one, and since he was blind he wouldn't very well detect the mistake.

Hope this is at least somewhat right :)

Jon Henry

From: Tom Petchel
Subject: teaser #1

Instead of placing his fingers in the "standard" keyboard position (left fingers on ASDF, right fingers on JKL;), the blind typist mistakingly offset his fingers offset one to the right (left fingers on SDFG, right fingers on KL;'). So when the typist actually meant to type "Hello World", he actually typed "Gwkki Qieks".

From: Mark M
Subject: I Can See

Answer:

Hello World

He was a little off(1 key to the left to be exact).

From: edward cho
Subject: A: 0001

hello world

he set his hands one key to the left of the normal "asdf.jkl;" position hence, g->h, w->e, k->l, i->o, etc.

From: Brian Hansell
Subject: Brainteaster

The correct string of characters would be "Hello World" but unfortunately the blind British typist had his hands 1 key to the left too much.

-Brian

PS: Good idea for a section

From: Doug Miller
Subject: brain teaser...

HELLO WORLD is what i think the answer is. What went wrong is the blind typist was off by one letter (ri rgw kwdr) :)

From: Micheal Gibson
Subject: Brain Teaser

They were trying to type Hello World. They started with their hands to far to the left.

From: Funkymunky
Subject: brainteaser 1

He was trying to type "Hello World" but he unfortunately was one key = off to the left. IE he hit the 'g' instead of the 'h', the 'w' instead = of the 'e'...

From: Warren Marshall
Subject: Brain Teaser

He meant to type "Hello World" ... his fingers are one key over too far to the left. ;)

From: Spencer C
Subject: Brainteaser #1

Hello,

Unfortunately, the British typist hands were shifted to the left one character from standard position (pinky fingers should rest on 'a' and ';'). If the hand were placed properly, the typist would have typed, "Hello World".

From: Brandon Fliflet
Subject: brain teaser

He meant to type "hello world" but had his hands on the wrong keys. His right hand had the index finger on the 'h' key while his left index finger was on the "d" key. Interestingly enough, had he tried to type an 'a' 'q' or 'z' he problably would have detected that he at least had his left hand incorrect as these don't map to a standard typewriter key with his left hand in the wrong position. Thanks for the puzzle,

Brandon Fliflet Sr. Software Engineer Intel Corporation

From: Pontus Wång
Subject: Right answer!

Easy one: Hello world

Jr åtrddrf yjr etpmh lrud! He pressed the wrong keys!

Pontus Wång Sweden

From: Christopher M. Glidden
Subject: british typist

He typed "Hello world" Being blind, he was typing one letter to the right of "gwkki qieks" on his keyboard.

From: Pete McCormick
Subject: Brain Teaser Solution

Hello,

The blind typist meant to say 'Hello World.' His mistake was that he = had his hands positioned one key right of the offset keys (so F became G = and J became K). One other clue that might of given it away was the 'k's = and the 'i's. Having the two 'k's and an 'i', then another 'i' in the = next word kinda gave it away to me that it might be 'Hello World,' which = further investigation revealed it was.

A way to make a teaser like this even more evil is to have him type at = a Dvorak keyboard, and not bother to mention it :)

flip ya on the flip side - pete[psd]

From: Justin Wilder
Subject: Hello World

Fingers left by one. Meant to type 'Hello World'. Not exactly a brain-teaser. Justin.

From: Richard Matthias
Subject:

Hello World?!

You weren't kidding when you said it was easy...

From: Jamie
Subject: Brainteaser

What the typise was supposed to type was:

Hello world

the reason the blind typist did not type this was because they had their fingers placed on the keyboard wrong. The blind typist would have learnt to touch type, and therefore would know where the keys where in relation to the standard hand placement.

Unfortunately, the blind typist had their hands one to many keys to the left, and ended up typing qwkki qieks --

Jamie Love

From: Johan Anderzon
Subject: Solution

Hi, he tried to type "hello world", but he misplaced his fingers by one "step" (character) right ;)

Johan Anderzon, Lead Programmer, Triage Entertainment

"Pigs can fly, the Earth is flat and Nuclear Power is safe" -- Greenpeace

From: Ryan Hodge
Subject: Brain Teaser Solution

The blind typer meant to type hello world but his fingers were one key over

From: coberr
Subject: Exaflop British Typist Brain Teaser #1

His hand was one key to the left..... he wanted to type "Hello World"

From: Tyler Lund
Subject: Brain Teaser

She intended to type "Hello World," but had the keyboard moved one key too far to the right.

From: Phil McDonnell
Subject: answer

He meant to type "hello world" but his fingers were all off to the left by one key.

From: Jeffrey House
Subject: Hello World

Well the blind typist had his hands shifted to the left. G=H, W=E, K=L, K=L, I=O. This spells hello. H did manage to hit the space bar(its not hard to miss). Now Q=W, I=O, E=R, K=L, and S=D. This spells world. together they make hello world.

From: Andrew Perrine
Subject: The Blind Typist

The typist was trying to type "HELLO WORLD," but he placed his hands one key to the right by mistake. I guess he still managed the caps lock, though.

From: Ian Thomson
Subject: Hello world

The blind typist had their fingers djogyrf one key to the right.

ian

From: Greg Allen
Subject: Answer to Brain teaser

The blind typist meant to type:

Hello World

The blind typist took 1 key to the right of the intended key on a Qwerty keyboard due to incorrect hands position.

From: Mike Shoener
Subject: Blind Typist

The typist was trying to type HELLO WORLD The typist had his/her fingers one key to the left, meaning the left pinky finger was on the Caps Lock key and the right index finger was on the H key.

From: Zpeed
Subject: Brainteaser

The answer is "Hello world". He pressed the keys to the right of the keys he was looking for.

From: David Taylor
Subject: BT 001

He wanted to type in "hello world", but his fingers were offset by one character to the left...

Rgds David Taylor

From: Anton Korolkov
Subject: #1 answer

Greetings!

Answer : Hello World Expl. : 1st word typed with << (shift left) on the keyboard, so the h==g; e==w; l==k; o==i; 2nd word typed with >>, so the w==q; o==i; r==e; l==k; d==s;

see ya, way//

From: Jeffrey Kistler
Subject: Answer

Hello World His typing was shifted left by one key

Come up with something a bit more challenging next time ;D

From: dinotrack
Subject: No. 1 The Blind Typist

That's just too easy!

He meant to type: hello world

He simply started off with his fingers on the wrong home keys(G and K instead of F and J), therefore every subsequent key he typed was off by one to the right. (i.e. G=H, W=E, K=L, etc.)

I tend to do that sometimes myself, and I'm not even blind!

-Jonathan Black

From: James Gilbertson
Subject: Answer to Brainteaser #1

Hi there,

The typist meant to type this: Hello World.

Where he went wrong was in typing the key one to thr right of the key he meant to type, as in 'g' instead of 'h' or 'w' instead of 'e'

Cheerio, James Gilbertson

From: Eunseok Yi
Subject: hello world

He(or she) intended to enter "hello world", but he(or she) failed to find correct key position. So he(or she) typed every right-side key. Correct Answer? :)

BTW, every computer keyboard has some tactile 'dot' on 'F' and 'J' key. Blinds are very touch-sensitive people. They wouldn't fail the find correct key. :)

From: Richard Bradley
Subject: No. 1 The Blind Typist

Every typist should be able to answer this one. 'GWKKI QIEKS' is an attempt to type 'HELLO WORLD' with the hand's home position moved one key to the right.

From: -= GDT =- Subject: N;omf Ntoyodj Yu[ody

Explantion is in the subject header. Hello World! :^)

From: Michael Wilson
Subject: Typewriter question

Someone moved his typewriter a half-inch to the left?

Oh, yeah he was typing "hello world"

From: David Wright
Subject: competition

Hello World

This was so obvious I worked it out instantly.

I hope I get the fame and glory!

From: Alistair Phillips
Subject: Brain Teaser

The solution is...

hello world

The reason being...

I'm not 100% certain but it probably has to do the where the little bumps appear on the two keys on the keyboard. On some keyboards the bumnps are on the d & k keys and on other they are on the f & j keys.

Alistair

From: Sam Jessup
Subject: Brain Teaser No. 1

Too easy! I think he intended to type "Hello World", and he was given a (mac?) keyboard with bumps on the wrong letters.

- Sam.

From: Matt Cawley
Subject:

The typist intended to type "HELLO WORLD", but was one key too far to the left when typing. Each letter entered is situated to the left of the intended letter on a QWERTY keyboard.

From: AceEx
Subject Brainteaser

He intended to print Hello World but he put his fingers one step to the left.

Johnny Hällström

From: Sebastian Gerlach
Subject: Brainteaser 1

He tried to type "HELLO WORLD" and hit the keys to the left of those he wanted. This would not happen to a blind typist normally, since there are usually (at least on all keyboards I have seen) nice bumps on the 'F' and 'J' keys allowing you to find them even without seeing the keyboard.

Seb

From: Blomgren, Henrik
Subject: brainteaser

hello world

From: Peter Hall
Subject: The Blind Typist

The typist meant to type 'hello world' but they started with their hands one key to the right, not being able to see the keyboard. If you hit the keys one to the left but still type the same string, you will type 'gwkki qieks'; the space will be the same because the space bar is wide enough that one characted doesn't make a difference.

From: Seet Wykeen
Subject: Answer to brain teaser 1

Hi, I think I know the answer. He was supposed to type "Hello World" but he misplaced his fingers one key to the left on the keyboard.

Yours sincerely, Wykeen

From: Gorm David Lai
Subject: BrainTeaser

the typist intended to write Hello World. Unfortunately the person hit the key to the right of the one he/she intenended to.

http://www.daimi.aau.dk/~pharao/

From: Shane Gleeson
Subject: gwkki qieks

The typist meant to type hello world but his hands were aone character too far left.

Byedeebye Shane

From: Marco Koegler Subject: GWKKI QIEKS

He wanted to type

Hello World

Apparently his fingers were one key to the left, resulting in the wrong letters being pressed.

Bye,

From: David Sharman
Subject: Answer

HELLO WORLD

All keys hit one key to the left due to additional keys on keyboard compared to typewriter keyboard?

D Sharman

From: bernhard glueck
Subject:

He wanted to type "Hello world" but he did not hit the right keys, but = those which were one key besides the intended ones.

From: Khrob Subject:
Subject:

Hello world.

He was one key to the right.

Poor blind pom!

debugging would suck if you were blind....

Khrob Edmonds Chris Edmonds

Whichever you prefer....

From: Erik Dreyer
Subject: teaser 1

Answer: Hello World

From: Miki Gabel
Subject: Brainteaser #1 Answer

Well, obviously the typist wanted to enter "hello world" but he intead of pushing the correct keys on the keyboard he pushed one key left of the original key he inteneded to type. "H" becomes "G", "E" becomes "W" and so on...

From: Markus Lindblom
Subject: Blind britt...

Seems like he moved his finger setting one step to the left..... he was typing: Hello World

From: Peter Mackay
Subject: Brainteaser 1

The answer is... "Hello World"

From: Matthew Reeves
Subject: brain teaser #1 answer

the typist has his hands shifted one set of keys to the left of the proper home position and has attempted to type HELLO WORLD

From: Naku^dOh!
Subject:

easy.. he typed "hello world" but he typed one key to the right... i've made a few .bat under dos to avoid this: for DIR you have "FOT.BAT", "CKF.BAT", "SUE.BAT", etc... :)

From: J Blomgren
Subject: Solution

Solution: HELLO WORLD Description: The blind typist put her fingers wrong. One key to the left wrong on the keyboard. So to "decrypt" the wrongly message, exchange every characters with the key to the right.

So a G becomes a H, W becomes E, and so on...

Cheers. Johan Blomgren "JBL"

From: Chad Austin
Subject: No. 1 The Blind Typist

Hello World

From: James Perry
Subject: BrainTeaser Answer

The blind typist mean to type "Hello World"

From: RSte
Subject: Brainteaser

Hello everyone! I think this is the solution:

"HELLO WORLD"

The typist put his hands on the keyboard, but since he was blind he didn't notice that his hands were shifted of one key to the left.

I hope there'll be another brainteaser soon!

Ciao!

RSte

From: Jari Komppa
Subject: Hello World

one shift to the right on a qwerty keyboard. too easy.

From: Maurice Termeer
Subject: solution #1

he tried to type "hello world".. both his hands were left one key.

From: Shane
Subject: Brain teaser - Typist

Hey guys ... the answer of course is hello world ... the typist though = blind knew how to touch type and simply aligned with the keyboard one = key to the left of where he should have been.

Shane Lowry

From: Kory Ball
Subject: British Typist brainteaser

They meant to type "Hello World"

From: Romesh Prakashpalan
Subject: Solution

"Hello World" is what the typist meant to type :). He had his fingers on one key to the left :).

Romesh