Previously, we posted about Katie’s Binary Nail varnish tutorial video, and how you can use glitter (1
) and no glitter (0
) to encode binary messages in your nail varnish. We also posted an accompanying puzzle, stated as:
Suppose I want to paint my nails on one hand differently every day for a month – so I need to use all 31 combinations involving glitter. Assuming that a nail painted with plain varnish can have glitter added, but a nail with glitter needs to be nail-varnish-removed before it can become a plain nail again, what order do I apply the different combinations so that you minimise the amount of nail varnish remover I’ll need to use?
Here’s our take on the solution.