Another Number Puzzle
January 28th, 2009 by SplineGuy
I know some of you who read this blog also read 360 but the sequence posted there today was too good to not pass along:
Puzzle: Identify the next term in the sequence
1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, 312211, 13112221, . . .
[HINT: Read the digits aloud. The sequence is aural/visual and not numeric.]
I’ll post the answer tomorrow or the next day.
That was fun…Are we allowed to post the answer?
First come, first serve, but make sure you explain it.
Clever.
It’s shorthand/IMspeak for describing the previous term…
Start with “one” = 1
Then describe it: “one one” = 11
Then describe that: “two one(s)” = 21
Then describe that: “one two, one one” = 1211
and so on.
You can change it any way you like, just start with a new first number.
Much simpler than I would have explained it…but how I would have explained it would have been for my amusement alone…
1211–>”one one, one two, two one”=111221
111221–>”three one, two two, one one”=312211
…
13112221–>”one one, one three, two one, three two, one one”=1113213211!
And so on and so forth…