Many Christmas songs have lyrics in which a word or phrase is repeated. Several repetitive lyrics have been extracted from a number of holiday favorites. Each algebraic expression below represents a song, where each word is represented by its first letter and exponents show the number of repetitions. If two or more words are repeated as a group, they appear in parentheses. For example, (JB)2 is short for "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells."
Can you identify all the songs below?
- (JB)3R
- P(RP3)3
- FL8
- (SIHP)2
- N4
- (WWYAMC)3
- (OCT)2
- OTO(CAJ)2OTOCAJ
- (GIED)2
- (OCLUAH)2
- (H3WWG)2
- (LIS)3
- (FN)3
- (SB)2
- (HCSC)2
- (RTSJ)2 R2TSJ
- (OC)2E
Extra Credit: A61
Solution to the Problem:
- "Jingle Bell Rock" ("Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock")
- "The Little Drummer Boy" ("Pa Rum Pum Pum Pum, Rum Pum Pum Pum, Rum Pum Pum Pum")
- "Deck the Halls" ("Fa La La La La La La La La")
- "Silent Night" ("Sleep in Heavenly Peace, Sleep in Heavenly Peace")
- "The First Noel" ("Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel")
- "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" ("We Wish You A Merry Christmas, We Wish You A Merry Christmas, We Wish You A Merry Christmas")
- "O Christmas Tree" ("O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree")
- "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" ("O Tidings Of Comfort And Joy, Comfort And Joy, O Tidings Of Comfort And Joy")
- "Angels We Have Heard On High" ("Gloria in Excelsis Deo, Gloria in Excelsis Deo")
- "O Come, All Ye Faithful" ("O Come, Let Us Adore Him, O Come, Let Us Adore Him")
- "Up On The Housrtop" ("Ho, Ho, Ho, Who Wouldn't Go? Ho, Ho, Ho, Who Wouldn't Go?")
- "Let It Snow" ("Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow")
- "Feliz Navidad" ("Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad")
- "Silver Bells" ("Silver Bells, Silver Bells")
- "Here Comes Santa Claus" ("Here Comes Santa Claus, Here Comes Santa Claus")
- "Joy To The World" ("Repeat The Sounding Joy, Repeat The Sounding Joy, Repeat, Repeat The Sounding Joy")
- "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" ("O Come, O Come Emmanuel")
Extra Credit: "Jingle Bells" sung by the barking dogs ("Arf, Arf, Arf, Arf, Arf, Arf, ...")
(Most everyone sent in the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah, but those are H's!).
Correctly solved by:
1. Erin Fennacy | Fresno, California |
2. Bill Funk | San Antonio, Texas |
3. John Funk | Ventura, California |
4. Walt Arrison | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
5. Andrew Montoya | Winchester, Virginia |
6. Lauren Ko | Winchester, Virginia |
7. Joanne, Justin, Google, and Riaz | New York City, New York |
8. Samantha Stevens | ---------- |
9. Daniel Carlton | Winchester, Virginia |
10. Jeffey Gaither | University of Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia |
11. Jeff McKenzie | Winchester, Virginia |
12. Elizabeth Carlson | Winchester, Virginia |
13. Emily Powell | Winchester, Virginia |
14. Arin Smith | University of Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia |
15. Jacquelyn Heltz | ---------- |
16. Amber Micheli | ---------- |
17. Morgan Vercimak | ---------- |
18. Mandy Maxfield | ---------- |
19. Heather Brown | Winchester, Virginia |
20. Kelley Kolar | Winchester, Virginia |
21. Jessica Irick | Mountain View, Wyoming |
22. Jamie Ciminelli | ---------- |
23. Dana Moats | Ft. Eustis, Virginia |
24. Kelly Blend | Winchester, Virginia |
25. Julianne Harris | Winchester, Virginia |
26. David McKinney | Winchester, Virginia |
27. Charles Washington | Winchester, Virginia |
28. Erin Bender | Winchester, Virginia |
29. Anne Bryant | Winchester, Virginia |
30. Va Lynne Stoddard | ---------- |
31. Olivia Quach | Harrisonburg, Virginia |
32. Maggie Morrison | Winchester, Virginia |