[Jaruzel]

It's not really that educational tbh. I am not a bash guru, nor do I wish to be one, so the second question left me cold with no desire to proceed any further.

It's a fun game for those with the skills, but an instructional tool it is not.

[heavenlyblue]

It's an algebra game.

Given a set of operations, can you get to state X?

Usually requires a lot of searching and/or expertise, however the solutions will break pretty easily depending on which shell you're using, etc. So doesn't really teach you anything aside from iterating over a set of all possible operation combinations.

[weare138]

It's also a variation of the classic tech thought experiment/game 'If you only had X and how would you do Y?'. Like 'If all you had was telnet and had to send an email how would you do it?' or some variation of it, was a common one.

[jarv]

If it helps you can click on 'view solutions' to see correct answers if you are stuck.