by Hobbsicle » Thu Apr 20, 2017 12:00 am
Did the numbers appear in the order you listed them? If so, was the top segment of the display permanently on? and the real digits being displayed were 5,4,3,2, and 1? All correct, well done.
*************SPOILER**************
I work on the road half the time, and one day I was heating up my lunch in a convenience store microwave. I set it to maybe a minute and a half or so, and didn't pay it much attention until towards the end, when I saw the right-most seconds display on the microwave appear to jump around erratically in the order listed in the puzzle statement above. At first, I was a little concerned that the microwave had a serious malfunction, and that it might be heating my food indefinitely, until I watched closer, and it became clear that the top-most line segment of the digital display was stuck on, turning a 4 into a 9, and a 1 into a 7. Only those digits are affected.
Thanks for playing, and congrats to Biograd for the solve. In case you're bored, here's some additional points to ponder. There is one other line segment that would have produced the same effect, also affecting only two digits, and turning them into other digits. Furthermore, there is a line segment that if stuck on, would only affect one digit, though it wouldn't turn it into another digit.