Solution: Energy Equals MC Squared Answer: BOXOFFICE
Based on "MC" in the title and the flavortext demanding on-campus presence, the puzzle directs solvers to the Mathematics & Computer building. Once inside MC, solvers may recognize the diagrams as abstract representations of various posters and structures within the building.
To help locate the posters/structures, the puzzle orders the diagrams based on floor number; from bottom floor to top.
With the exception of the 7th diagram, each diagram contains a single colored rectangle. The rectangle highlights some text on the poster/structure. As well, the rectangle's color corresponds with exactly one square on the 7th diagram. The 7th diagram represents the William Tutte "Squaring the Square" plaque. Each square on that plaque has an integer side length, which can be used as an index into the highlighted text to extract a letter. (Solvers can find the side lengths of the squares either by measuring the Squaring the Square diagram, or by finding the rectangle online.)
| FLOOR | DESCRIPTION | HIGHLIGHTED TEXT | COLOR | CORRESPONDING "SQUARING THE SQUARE" SIDE LENGTH | INDEXED LETTER |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any | Clock | SIMPLEX | Pink | 7 | X |
| 1 | Set of doors beside a set of buttons | DO NOT | Red | 4 | O |
| 2 | V6.4 Draft Waterloo poster | OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE | Orange | 18 | E |
| 3 | Glass display outside MC Comfy | NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE | Yellow | 15 | C |
| 4 | Academic Advisors mural | DINA DAWOUD | Green | 8 | O |
| 5 | William Tutte display | BHANBHAGTA GURUNG | Cyan | 1 | B |
| 5 | William Tutte "Squaring the Square" plaque | ||||
| 5 | Women of Mathematics poster | HYPATIA OF ALEXANDRIA | Teal | 9 | F |
| 5.1677... | Number line stairwell | VOLUME OF THE UNIT SPHERE IN ℝ6 | Blue | 14 | I |
| 6 | Research poster | PHYSICS INFORMED NEURAL NETWORKS FOR STABILITY ANALYSIS AND CONTROL WITH FORMAL GUARANTEES | Purple | 10 | F |
Reading the extracted letters in order of smallest square to largest gives the answer, BOX OFFICE, which is a loose description of MC.
Author’s Notes
Have you ever seen the trains lab meme window on the third floor of MC? It almost made it into this puzzle.