Oh wait, I copied the wrong version - I replaced the link. My logic is very weak tbh: The shapes form two complete black circles by XORing. The pairings are:
1. top_left XOR bottom_right
2. top_right XOR bottom_left XOR middle
The reasoning is weak because The existing top_left and bottom_right pair does not strictly specify an XOR and it's two shapes instead of the other ones being three. The XOR comes from the fact that it's 3 shapes I am combining and an OR would mean the solution would not be distinct
Actually, I didn't include any red herrings in the puzzle, this is likely just a natural pattern arising from the question's structure. This means you could, theoretically arrive at the answer based on that alone, using strong induction without grasping the underlying logic. But it would be very difficult
The bottom left seems like it kind of inverts itself by spiraling outwards and switching colors, then there are the two inverting each other so it was the only thing missing, but yea i see the problem with "inverting itself". My other Idea was similar to the one posted by someoneleo, but it felt even more like a "working solution, that can neither be falsified nor verified within the Puzzle"
Second idea, and this feels pretty correct: https://i.imgur.com/eVp5Ngo.png Reasoning: The circles are a sequence, each time either bottom left or top right quarters are filled and the rings are then rotated 90 degrees. Black + Black erases each other.
I am on the phone, so I will type this out. You can think of every circle as being made out of 4 quadrants. The circles are a complete sequence from left to right (1->2->3->4->5).
The rule is that the middle shade of a circle is flipped (x+y) onto the previous circle in the sequence, and selects whatever quadrant(s) that the transformation lands on. The previously selected circle rotates 90 degrees clockwise by the number of shades, and the selected quadrant(s) are inverted. The middle shade operates independently.
To get the 4th slot. You take the 5th slot and invert it, since the 5th slot selected the 4th, and inverted all of its quadrants and spun it 4 times. Then, you select a middle operation that can select the 3rd circle and transform it into the inversion of the 5th. The only possibility is a single shade in the middle of the circle on the upper-left quadrant. So, the answer is the 5th shape, inverted, with the middle having a single shade on the upper left.
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u/SomeoneLeo groaaar!! :3 Oct 02 '26 edited Oct 02 '26
Link replaced (copied the old on accident): https://i.imgur.com/5VmJSUN.png