Wikipedia:Wikifun/Round 8/Answers/Question 11

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I couldn't find anything on Wikipedia confirming this, but at a guess (based on my knowledge of the Sherlock Holmes stories), this would be the Andaman Islands. --Marnen Laibow-Koser (talk) 15:06, 2 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

What the...? Andaman Islands is indeed the correct answer. Now if you can find this on Wikipedia (or its sister projects), you'll get the points. Eugene van der Pijll 16:23, 2 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Arthur Conan Doyle → Science fiction → Anthropology → Andaman Islands. Alternatively, Sherlock Holmes → British Empire → New Zealand → Maori → Andaman Islands. I can't actually find anything in these to confirm that the Andaman Islands were mentioned in the Holmes stories, so credit to Marnen Laibow-Koser. Alphax τεχ 11:42, 5 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]
You are probably all looking in nthe wrong place... Eugene van der Pijll 23:26, 6 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not going to answer this... but to anyone's who's interested in checking out The Stock-broker's Clerk, The 'Gloria Scott' and A Case of Identity on Wikisource and compare that to The Sign of the Four... - fiveless 02:47, May 7, 2005 (UTC)

Ok, from wikisource:The_Sign_of_the_Four, search for "Andaman islands". The text "Andaman" appears 13 times. wikisource:The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez, "andaman" appears once. wikisource:A Case of Identity has New Zealand once; wikisource:The Stock-broker's Clerk has New Zealand once; wikisource:The 'Gloria Scott' has New Zealand once. Conclusion: the question is wrong! The Andaman islands are mentioned in only 1 third the number of Holmes stories that New Zealand is. However, actual mentions (ie. "Andaman" appears) are almost 5 times more frequent. Alphax τεχ 17:28, 7 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  • I'm not sure "Andaman Islander" counts as a reference to the islands does it? - fiveless 15:03, May 8, 2005 (UTC)

Andaman Islands is indeed the correct answer[edit]

A google search for 

"islands" "sherlock holmes" "arthur conan doyle"

gave me 7740 results, among which

  1. "...and a dwarf from Tonga islands..." in www.classicreader.com/author.php/aut.19/
  2. "...Turks & Caicos Islands..." in title of www.trussel.com/detfic/turks.htm
  3. "...COMORO ISLANDS 1980..." in www.trussel.com/detfic/comoro.htm
  4. "...Andaman Islands..." in www.online-literature.com/doyle/sign_four/

Then a search for

  • "tonga islands" "sherlock holmes" "arthur conan doyle" gave 20 hits,
  • "andaman islands" "sherlock holmes" "arthur conan doyle" gave 339 hits.

(I didn't check the others, giving priority to the "literature" sites above.)

Then

  • I clicked on this link (answer question 11),
  • I clicked on "project page"
  • I saw the first answer and reply: "...is indeed the correct answer"

This proved I found the "right answer", which is, in situations like the present one, by definition what the author of the question considers to be "right answer" (I learned this somehow painfully in my earlier life, when I once gave a logically better answer in spite of knowing what my examinator would have liked to hear - I hit myself afterwards for doing such a stupid thing!) - although I also checked that neither "sherlock" nor "holmes" is mentioned on Andaman Islands).

So, once again, to be precise and in order to comply with: 

Now if you can find this on Wikipedia (or its sister projects), you'll get the points.

It can be found on Wikipedia that 

Andaman Islands is indeed the correct answer.

by clicking on this project page's link,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikifun/Round_8/Answers/Question_11 .

— MFH: Talk 16:16, 13 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

PS: due to a problem with my internet connecion, I couldn't post this before midnight - of course, now its Friday 13th... — MFH: Talk 16:16, 13 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! Finally a correct answer, congratulations! Unfortunately, the contest closed on Tuesday (see Wikipedia:Wikifun/Round_8, while I was out with a cold...
I've been thinking over what to do with this question, and here it is:
I found the answer for this question on Wiktionary: wiktionary:Appendix:Words From Sherlock Holmes A and wiktionary:Appendix:Words From Sherlock Holmes Z. The word "Andaman" is used 9 times in the complete Sherlock Holmes; the word "Zealand" is used 3 times. Unfortunately, I did not notice the word "Andamans", which is used 5 times, resulting in 14 hits together, as Alphax stated.
As Alphax was the first one to really count the occurrences, and therefore the only one who has proven that he looked at those stories, I'm going to award the four points to Alphax. Which is a bit unfair on Marnen and Fiveless, who were close, and not unfair at all to MFH ;-)
If I had known that the complete text of the Sherlock Holmes stories was on wikisource, I would not have chosen this question. Eugene van der Pijll 17:02, 13 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, and P.S.: the unofficial rule (perhaps only known by me; tough luck) was always that the answer has to be on wikipedia at the beginning of the contest.
May I summarize:
  • "Thank you! Finally a correct answer, congratulations!" concerned mine.
  • My answer (Andaman islands) was on WP at the beginning of the contest.
  • You didn't know the correct answer (9 vs 14), neither that it was directly on WP, and in addition would not have posed this question if you had known.
  • the question was "which islands ... three times more often as New Zealand", and the result is "14 hits together" (which is not a multiple of 3 or 4)
  • the winner of the contest was not clear ("I've been thinking over what to do..."), so 4 points (more than any other question) were awarded for counting the words (which was not asked in the question)
(while, in view of the page they're on, this does not at all prove that finding this count implies having looked at any of Doyle's stories whatsoever)
  • there were unofficial rules, perhaps only known by you (as stated by yourself)
  • 'Round 8 is closed' appeared on Friday 13 at 17:07 on the page. My answer was posted about 1 hour earlier. Up to then, the page read
    ...18 of the 20 questions have been answered correctly....
    ...If the answers are not found by Tuesday night (UTC), I will close the contest...
and, the answer was found before Tuesday night (no modification had been made to this page since May 8), so the contest was not closed ; while, as I said, I had a problem with my internet connection (having at present a stay in an eastern country, where there was a complete breakdown of the internet connection for over 12 hours, for at least the whole city).

Closing this interesting summary, which I think does not need to be commented, I just want to remark (so that nobody would get me wrong) that I considered this assembly of remarkable facts just as an intellectual challenge (with some non-explicit subtile logic reasoning involved), and I don't envy Alphax being on the top of the current highscore, as he has certainly deserved this in an absolutely objective manner! (together with those who share the "hall of fame" with him).

Congratulations to the winners, thanks to all participants, and last not least, to the creator of this interesting contest !! — MFH: Talk 18:47, 13 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

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