Cover Image: April 2002 Scientific American Magazine See Inside

A Fairy Tale [Preview]















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Fairy Tale

Image: SARA CHEN

In a mythical land, fairies visit children at night and leave them pearls. But each fairy is attracted only to a particular color. Suppose, for example, that a fairy named Liane is attracted to the color aqua. While making her nightly visitations, she will leave a pearl on a child's bedside table for each aqua star she sees above the child's head. If a fairy named Ariana, who is attracted to crimson, flies with Liane and sees a child with a crimson star, she will leave a pearl on the child's table. So a child having both crimson and aqua stars would receive two pearls. Your task is to find out which fairy is attracted to which color.

Here is what you know:


This article was originally published with the title A Fairy Tale.



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