Solution: [META] Elementary Math
Answer: CHEERS, MATES
The ten feeder puzzles solve into a short phrase of 2-4 words each.
| Puzzle | Answer |
|---|---|
| Read Between The Lines | SEPARATION DEGREES |
| Close Words | FACED LOVERS |
| Standard Code | LOVE AND LETTER |
| Second Link | SQUARE CORNERS |
| Alright, Proceed. | PILOT BAND |
| Flip | ANSWER TO EVERYTHING |
| Derivatives | SECONDS IN ONE MINUTE |
| Encryptic | CHRISTMAS DAY |
| Elder Puzzles | ONE LESS THAN A DOZEN |
| Forks | SNEAKY'S CLOUD |
The puzzle presents itself as a series of equations (with the exceptions of the first two). Within the equations, there are ten square brackets labeled 1-10 accordingly, which matches the number of feeder puzzles we have. This suggests that the answer phrases each refer to a number that can be substituted into the equations.
The following explains how each number is derived from its answer phrase
| Answer | Number | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| SEPARATION DEGREES | 6 | Refers to the "Six degrees of separation" theory |
| FACED LOVERS | 2 | Refers to the song "Two-faced Lovers" by wowaka, one of the most notable Vocaloid songs |
| LOVE AND LETTER | 17 | Refers to the album "Love & Letter" by the Korean boy band "SEVENTEEN" |
| SQUARE CORNERS | 4 | Squares have four corners |
| PILOT BAND | 21 | Refers to the band "twenty one pilots" |
| ANSWER TO EVERYTHING | 42 | Refers to the number 42 being the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything," in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy |
| SECONDS IN ONE MINUTE | 60 | There are 60 seconds in a minute |
| CHRISTMAS DAY | 25 | Christmas is mostly celebrated on the 25th of December |
| ONE LESS THAN A DOZEN | 11 | A dozen is 12, one less than that is 11 |
| SNEAKY'S CLOUD | 9 | Refers to professional League of Legends player Zach Scuderi, or Sneaky. His current associated team is Cloud9. |
Now that we have the numbers, we can plug those numbers into the equations and get our results.
| Equation | Equation (with numbers) | Result |
|---|---|---|
| [1] | 6 | 6 |
| [2] | 2 | 2 |
| [3] x [4] | 17 x 4 | 68 |
| [5] + [6] - 1 | 21 + 42 - 1 | 62 |
| [7] + [8] | 60 + 25 | 85 |
| [9] x [10] | 11 x 9 | 99 |
The title of the puzzle, along with the flavour text saying that this is something you learns in school, hints to what the results of the equations are --- atomic numbers of an element on the Periodic Table of Elements. The chemical symbols of those given elements spells out the final answer phrase.
| Atomic Number | Element | Chemical Symbol |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Carbon | C |
| 2 | Helium | He |
| 68 | Erbium | Er |
| 62 | Samarium | Sm |
| 85 | Astatine | At |
| 99 | Einstienium | Es |
The answer is CHEERS, MATES.
Author's Note
Because I was working with such a tight time restriction, the META I came up with ended up being pretty simple, and arguably a bit anticlimatic comparing to some of the feeders. However, now that the time was no longer a problem, after debating whether I should rewrite it or not, I decided that I would rather keep a simple META, than try to rewrite it and potentially rendering all the works I've done prior useless. Oh well, I hope you had fun with the main puzzles at least.