Tag Archives: Sequence

Introducing a new sequence challenge

OK, so today I’m unveiling a new maths puzzle that, all being well, will run every day until someone discovers the solution. There is even a (very modest) ‘mystery prize’, which I will send to the winner (provided that they do not live somewhere so remote that the postage charges would be ridiculous).

The puzzle is a simple sequence, to which one term will be added each day. Your challenge is simply to determine the mathematical rule behind the sequence.

Click here to see the sequence

I am not really sure how difficult this will be (quite challenging, I think), so we could be here for a long, long time… or equally, it could all be over in a couple of days. Or maybe there will be no guesses at all and we will have to quietly forget all about it. Whichever, it’s all good.

The number that just won’t go away…

The 82000 sequence is still generating interest.

Here’s a great Numberphile video about the sequence from mathematician James Grime:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNS1fabDkeA]

The sequence has also made it into the Online Encyclopaedia of Integer Sequences, as A258107!

I have also found an early mention of the special properties of 82000, in this exchange on a French puzzle forum, from October 2008. Continue reading

A Challenge

Maths Challenge.001

Feel free to have a guess via the comments. I will give the answer next week.

This is not a trick question; the sequence is based on a genuine mathematical rule. A word of warning though, although it does not require any complex mathematical knowledge the solution is pretty obscure.

SOLUTION NOW AVAILABLE: CLICK HERE