{"id":1524,"date":"2025-12-09T08:01:49","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T07:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/control-advent.com\/?p=1524"},"modified":"2025-12-09T08:01:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T07:01:49","slug":"09-will-the-grand-elf-light-show-go-smoothly-or-end-in-a-tangled-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/control-advent.com\/?p=1524","title":{"rendered":"09 &#8211; Will the Grand Elf Light Show go smoothly\u2014or end in a tangled disaster?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the annual Grand Elf Light Show, five elves are tasked with walking around the courtyard (see the map) while each holding the end of a light chain, with which they dramatically wave around in time to the music. The other end of each light chain is plugged into a socket placed at the center of the courtyard (marked on the map).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each elf follows their individual path, with all paths marked in different colors. The goal is for all elves to meet at the center for the grand finale of the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, there\u2019s a tricky old picket in the courtyard. If any light chain wraps around it, the grant finale could end in chaos!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"773\" src=\"https:\/\/control-advent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-1-1024x773.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/control-advent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-1-1024x773.png 1024w, https:\/\/control-advent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-1-300x227.png 300w, https:\/\/control-advent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-1-768x580.png 768w, https:\/\/control-advent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-1-1536x1160.png 1536w, https:\/\/control-advent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-1-24x18.png 24w, https:\/\/control-advent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-1-36x27.png 36w, https:\/\/control-advent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-1-48x36.png 48w, https:\/\/control-advent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-1.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To ensure that no light chain is wrapped around the picket at the end of the show, which elf needs to adjust their path?<br><br>a. \ud83e\udddd\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\ud83d\udd35\u2728 Adele<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">b. \ud83e\udddd\u200d\u2642\ufe0f\ud83d\udfe0\ud83c\udf81 Bea<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">c. \ud83e\udddd\ud83d\udfe1\ud83d\udca1 Celina<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">d. \ud83e\udddd\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\ud83d\udfe3\u2744\ufe0f Donna<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">e. \ud83e\udddd\u200d\u2642\ufe0f\ud83d\udfe2\ud83c\udf84 Elli<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"yop-poll yop-poll-container\" data-template=\"classic\" data-yop-poll-id=\"46\" data-yop-state=\"ballot\" data-yop-tracking=\"https:\/\/control-advent.com\" data-yop-page-id=\"0\" data-yop-msg-auth-failed=\"Sign-in failed. Please try again.\" data-yop-msg-no-provider=\"That sign-in method is unavailable.\" data-yop-msg-not-started=\"This poll is not accepting votes yet\" data-yop-msg-ended=\"This poll is no longer accepting votes\" data-yop-perm=\"wordpress\" style=\"background:#b70004;border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:#b70004;border-radius:0px;padding-top:10px;padding-bottom:10px;padding-left:10px;padding-right:10px;--yop-radio-color:black;--yop-ans-ts:14px;--yop-ans-tw:normal;--yop-ans-tc:#ffffff;--yop-ans-pt:0px;--yop-ans-pb:0px;--yop-ans-pl:0px;--yop-ans-pr:0px;--yop-poll-bg:#b70004;--yop-msg-bcs:#008000;--yop-msg-bce:#ff0000;--yop-msg-blw:10px;--yop-msg-pt:0px;--yop-msg-pb:0px;--yop-msg-pl:10px;--yop-msg-pr:10px;--yop-msg-tc:#000000;--yop-msg-ts:14px;--yop-msg-tw:normal;--yop-msg-br:0px;--yop-btn-bg:#ffffff;--yop-btn-tc:#000000;--yop-btn-bw:1px;--yop-btn-bs:solid;--yop-btn-bc:#000000;--yop-btn-br:0px;--yop-btn-pt:5px;--yop-btn-pb:5px;--yop-btn-pl:10px;--yop-btn-pr:10px;--yop-btn-ts:14px;--yop-btn-tw:normal;--yop-el-pt:10px;--yop-el-pb:10px;--yop-el-pl:0px;--yop-el-pr:0px;--yop-el-ta:center;--yop-q-tc:#ffffff;--yop-q-ts:14px;--yop-q-tw:normal\"><div class=\"yop-poll-decoy\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"website\" tabindex=\"-1\" autocomplete=\"off\" value=\"\" \/><\/div><div class=\"yop-poll-message\" data-yop-message role=\"status\" aria-live=\"polite\"><\/div><div class=\"yop-poll-ballot\" data-yop-page=\"0\"><div class=\"yop-poll-element\" data-element-type=\"question-text\" data-yop-el=\"46\" data-yop-required=\"1\" data-yop-msg-required=\"No answer selected\"><fieldset class=\"yop-poll-fieldset\"><legend id=\"yop-poll-46-46-label\" class=\"yop-poll-question\">Choose an option:<\/legend><div class=\"yop-poll-answers yop-poll-answers--horizontal\"><div class=\"yop-poll-answer-row\"><label class=\"yop-poll-answer\"><input type=\"radio\" name=\"yop-poll-46-46\" value=\"395\" data-yop-sub=\"395\" \/><span class=\"yop-poll-answer-text\"><span>a<\/span><\/span><\/label><\/div><div class=\"yop-poll-answer-row\"><label class=\"yop-poll-answer\"><input type=\"radio\" name=\"yop-poll-46-46\" value=\"396\" data-yop-sub=\"396\" \/><span class=\"yop-poll-answer-text\"><span>b<\/span><\/span><\/label><\/div><div class=\"yop-poll-answer-row\"><label class=\"yop-poll-answer\"><input type=\"radio\" name=\"yop-poll-46-46\" value=\"397\" data-yop-sub=\"397\" \/><span class=\"yop-poll-answer-text\"><span>c<\/span><\/span><\/label><\/div><div class=\"yop-poll-answer-row\"><label class=\"yop-poll-answer\"><input type=\"radio\" name=\"yop-poll-46-46\" value=\"401\" data-yop-sub=\"401\" \/><span class=\"yop-poll-answer-text\"><span>d<\/span><\/span><\/label><\/div><div class=\"yop-poll-answer-row\"><label class=\"yop-poll-answer\"><input type=\"radio\" name=\"yop-poll-46-46\" value=\"402\" data-yop-sub=\"402\" \/><span class=\"yop-poll-answer-text\"><span>e<\/span><\/span><\/label><\/div><\/div><\/fieldset><\/div><div class=\"yop-poll-footer yop-poll-footer--center\"><div class=\"yop-poll-actions\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"yop-poll-vote-button has-background has-text-color\" data-yop-vote data-yop-perm=\"wordpress\" data-yop-signed-in-label=\"\u2192\">Sign in with WordPress<\/button><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><p class=\"yop-poll-noscript\">Voting in this poll requires JavaScript.<\/p><\/noscript><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Related control topic: Nyquist stability criterion<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the annual Grand Elf Light Show, five elves are tasked with walking around the courtyard (see the map) while each holding the end of a light chain, with which they dramatically wave around in time to the music. The &hellip; <span class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/control-advent.com\/?p=1524\" class=\"readmore\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">09 &#8211; Will the Grand Elf Light Show go smoothly\u2014or end in a tangled disaster?<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[111],"class_list":["post-1524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","tag-2025-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/control-advent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/control-advent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/control-advent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/control-advent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/control-advent.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1524"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/control-advent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1531,"href":"https:\/\/control-advent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1524\/revisions\/1531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/control-advent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/control-advent.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/control-advent.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/control-advent.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}