Do these two sentences have exactly the same meaning?

Question

Sentence 1:

That's what I was hoping to use this machine to find out.

Sentence 2:

That's what I was hoping to find out by using this machine.

Sentence 1 seems extremely strange to me. I thought of it for like half an hour but couldn't get the meaning. Maybe that's because I am not a native speaker. Do these two have exactly the same meaning?

Answer 1

The two sentences do have the same meaning; it is the construction of the first sentence that makes it confusing. The second sentence is clear in its meaning. And, of course, the reading of either sentence is impacted by what comes before.