Saturday, May 17, 2014

Happy Birthday, Craig!

While hiking last weekend, I initiated a game. "Craig, I have the number 3888. You have 20 questions to figure out how I got that number." After a few questions and much deliberation, Craig learned that I multiplied 2 numbers together. He eventually arrived at 54x72. "So you just chose 2 random numbers and multiplied them?!" he asked in an exasperated tone.

"Yep! Now it's your turn."
After a long pause, Craig came up with his number. "One hundred sixty eight... THOUSAND... two hundred fifteen." At this point I was sure he didn't like my new game and was getting revenge on me with a huge, impossible number. I was determined, however. I asked a few questions and learned that he multiplied THREE numbers together: a one-digit number, a two-digit number, and a four-digit number. Through questioning I also determined that the two-digit number was between 10 and 20. Then I hiked silently while doing lots of division and multiplication. I figured out the answer. You have 20 questions to guess the 3 numbers.


3 comments:

  1. Challenge accepted.
    Is the one digit number prime?
    Is the two digit number prime?
    Is the four digit number prime?

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  2. Hey Mr. Bacon. Somehow I didn't see these comments until now. The answers are Yes. Yes. Yes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mr. Bacon is putting quite a bit of thought into this, I am impressed by that alone.

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