READER CHALLENGE

Are Chaotic Not Random readers smart or dumb? Let's find out!

Below you'll find two puzzles. You have one week to email both correct answers to call_me_kilgore@yahoo.com and receive a cornucopia of valuable prizes, including... well... recognition here on my blog, for one thing, and... uh... if you're brave enough to include your address, I'll send you some McDonald's gift certificates. I am totally serious. Mere days from now you could be enjoying a Big Mac and World Famous Fries on me.

PUZZLE A

1. Choose any number.
   
2. Multiply by 3.
   
3. Multiply the result by itself.
   
4. Add all the digits together, then add the digits of that number together until you end up with a one-digit number. (Example: 561 >> 12 >> 3)
   
5. If the number is less than 6, then add 6. Otherwise subtract 6.
   
6. Multiply by 2.
   
7. Subtract 4.
   
8. Find the letter associated with this number. (A=1, B=2, C=3, etc.)
   
9. Think of a fruit beginning with that letter.
   
10. Pick the third letter in that fruit's name, and think of a fruit starting with that letter.
    
11. You are thinking of bananas and nectarines!

Amazing, right? Not really -- but how does it work? Note: The correct answer is not, "I tried it a bunch of times and it always came out the same way." Correct answers must include some level of mathematical rigor. There is a difference between noticing a pattern and explaining that pattern.


PUZZLE B

1. You are playing a game against a single opponent. The game starts with a pile of stones. The number of stones in the pile is a random number greater than 10. Both you and your opponent know how many stones are in the pile at all times.
   
2. You and your opponent take turns removing 1, 2, or 3 stones from the pile. No other moves are possible except for removing 1, 2, or 3 stones.
   
3. The player who removes the last stone loses.
   
4. You go first.

Is there a way to play this game so that you will always win? If so, how?

Good luck!

+posted by Lawrence @ 11/07/2003 04:04:00 PM