5 ms·

For those unfamiliar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjOZtWZ56lc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjOZtWZ56lc

by maxjus 13y ago

minimax 13y ago
It makes slightly more sense when you understand the context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfa3MHLLSWI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfa3MHLLSWI
- aidos 13y ago
  Carol Vordaman is just brilliant. To tie back full circle [1], if anyone hasn't seen it there's a great UK show called Only Connect. It may appeal to people on here as it's a fiendishly difficult pattern matching game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AB31ymF8zA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AB31ymF8zA [1] The hostess (Victoria Coren) recently married David Mitchell - the co-creator of the numberwang sketch
  - dagurp 13y ago
    Victoria Coren Mitchell now. She's amazing and Only Connect is brilliant.
  - ZeroGravitas 13y ago
    Flash-based online game version of Only Connect: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lskhg/features/quiz http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lskhg/features/quiz edit: which they've massively expanded since I last looked, I think they only had about 14 boards, now they have hundreds and seem to allow you to submit your own.
- mistercow 13y ago
  I'm really interested to know what his process was, since he didn't seem to actually know the product he was subtracting 50 from.
  - lclarkmichalek 13y ago
    Well it seems that he was always going for 4 from the top row, which reliably gives him 25, 50, 75 and 100 (I think). He then uses the ability to divide by 25 to treat these as an additional 2, 3 and 4. So once he has 318, he does (318 * 3) - 2 to get his 952, except via the 25s; ((318 * 75) - 50)/25. It's a hack; increasing the set of available numbers by guaranteeing the presence of a common divisor.
    - pgl 13y ago
      And that's Numberwang!
    - chris_wot 13y ago
      Well, obviously.
  - Timothee 13y ago
    I'd think of the thought process a bit differently than lclarkmichalek, though of course with the same result. To get close to 952, you can quickly think of 106x9. 106 is easy to obtain and you have a 3. You can get another 3 from 75/25. You're now at 954 with only a 50 left. If you could divide by 25, that would give you the 2 you're missing but you already used the 25, unless you were to divide later. So instead of doing 106x3x(75/25), you do (106x3x75-50)/25. He could have certainly thought of it another way but based on how players typically play that game, that would be a somewhat logical progression.
    - malvim 13y ago
      I was wondering how he thought of that. Even though we don't know, this explanation is beautiful and makes a lot of sense. Thanks!
    - judofyr 13y ago
      Another way to think about it: He had the numbers 100, 3, 6, 25, 50, 75. 25, 50 and 75 are big and difficult to work with, but 50/25=2 and 75/25=3 are far easier. He could either do it right away, but that gives him either (2 and 75) or (3 and 25) and there's still a large number. (75x ± 50y)/25 on the other hand equals (3x ± 2y) and he's down to nice small numbers.
- daliusd 13y ago
  Now someone make 2048 where in addition to numbers you get math operations and should achieve some number. Game could even get more complicated during gameplay as new operations appear.
- networked 13y ago
  Is there a general name for the kind of problem the contestants try to solve in that round of the show? I've encountered variants of it "in the wild" in a game we played at university. People would challenge each other to place arithmetic operators and parentheses between the digits of the serial number printed on bus tickets to get the number 100, with some variations. Despite playing this game for quite a bit I never learned any name for it or the problem it used; I asked other people who played it and nobody knew one, either. Googling around finds the exact question on Programmers SE (https://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/213924/name-of-the-countdown-numbers-round-problem-and-algorithmic-solutions https://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/213924/name-...) but no answer.
  - mhaymo 13y ago
    Any problem with the Countdown Numbers Game as a name? Any variations on it could simply be called Modified Countdown Numbers Game.
    - networked 13y ago
      I'm glad there's an established name to attach to this problem but when I searched for them I didn't find variations of "Countdown numbers round problem/game" mentioned in books on mathematics/theoretical CS or in research articles. The idea behind the basic problem seems obvious and must have occurred to many people, so the lack of such mentions makes me suspect it may have a different canonical name as a specific type of combinatorial optimization problem. If there isn't one then "Countdown numbers (round) problem" will do just fine (I'd say "problem" is better than "game" because looked at like this it is not a game with players in a game-theoretical sense).
JohnTHaller 13y ago
Here's the playlist. Mitchell and Webb. Good stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJDu5D_IXbc&list=RDqjOZtWZ56lc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJDu5D_IXbc&list=RDqjOZtWZ56...

For those unfamiliar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjOZtWZ56lc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjOZtWZ56lc

by maxjus 13y ago

For those unfamiliar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjOZtWZ56lc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjOZtWZ56lc

It makes slightly more sense when you understand the context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfa3MHLLSWI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfa3MHLLSWI

aidos 13y ago
Carol Vordaman is just brilliant. To tie back full circle [1], if anyone hasn't seen it there's a great UK show called Only Connect. It may appeal to people on here as it's a fiendishly difficult pattern matching game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AB31ymF8zA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AB31ymF8zA [1] The hostess (Victoria Coren) recently married David Mitchell - the co-creator of the numberwang sketch
- dagurp 13y ago
  Victoria Coren Mitchell now. She's amazing and Only Connect is brilliant.
- ZeroGravitas 13y ago
  Flash-based online game version of Only Connect: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lskhg/features/quiz http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lskhg/features/quiz edit: which they've massively expanded since I last looked, I think they only had about 14 boards, now they have hundreds and seem to allow you to submit your own.
mistercow 13y ago
I'm really interested to know what his process was, since he didn't seem to actually know the product he was subtracting 50 from.
- lclarkmichalek 13y ago
  Well it seems that he was always going for 4 from the top row, which reliably gives him 25, 50, 75 and 100 (I think). He then uses the ability to divide by 25 to treat these as an additional 2, 3 and 4. So once he has 318, he does (318 * 3) - 2 to get his 952, except via the 25s; ((318 * 75) - 50)/25. It's a hack; increasing the set of available numbers by guaranteeing the presence of a common divisor.
  - pgl 13y ago
    And that's Numberwang!
  - chris_wot 13y ago
    Well, obviously.
- Timothee 13y ago
  I'd think of the thought process a bit differently than lclarkmichalek, though of course with the same result. To get close to 952, you can quickly think of 106x9. 106 is easy to obtain and you have a 3. You can get another 3 from 75/25. You're now at 954 with only a 50 left. If you could divide by 25, that would give you the 2 you're missing but you already used the 25, unless you were to divide later. So instead of doing 106x3x(75/25), you do (106x3x75-50)/25. He could have certainly thought of it another way but based on how players typically play that game, that would be a somewhat logical progression.
  - malvim 13y ago
    I was wondering how he thought of that. Even though we don't know, this explanation is beautiful and makes a lot of sense. Thanks!
  - judofyr 13y ago
    Another way to think about it: He had the numbers 100, 3, 6, 25, 50, 75. 25, 50 and 75 are big and difficult to work with, but 50/25=2 and 75/25=3 are far easier. He could either do it right away, but that gives him either (2 and 75) or (3 and 25) and there's still a large number. (75x ± 50y)/25 on the other hand equals (3x ± 2y) and he's down to nice small numbers.
daliusd 13y ago
Now someone make 2048 where in addition to numbers you get math operations and should achieve some number. Game could even get more complicated during gameplay as new operations appear.
networked 13y ago
Is there a general name for the kind of problem the contestants try to solve in that round of the show? I've encountered variants of it "in the wild" in a game we played at university. People would challenge each other to place arithmetic operators and parentheses between the digits of the serial number printed on bus tickets to get the number 100, with some variations. Despite playing this game for quite a bit I never learned any name for it or the problem it used; I asked other people who played it and nobody knew one, either. Googling around finds the exact question on Programmers SE (https://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/213924/name-of-the-countdown-numbers-round-problem-and-algorithmic-solutions https://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/213924/name-...) but no answer.
- mhaymo 13y ago
  Any problem with the Countdown Numbers Game as a name? Any variations on it could simply be called Modified Countdown Numbers Game.
  - networked 13y ago
    I'm glad there's an established name to attach to this problem but when I searched for them I didn't find variations of "Countdown numbers round problem/game" mentioned in books on mathematics/theoretical CS or in research articles. The idea behind the basic problem seems obvious and must have occurred to many people, so the lack of such mentions makes me suspect it may have a different canonical name as a specific type of combinatorial optimization problem. If there isn't one then "Countdown numbers (round) problem" will do just fine (I'd say "problem" is better than "game" because looked at like this it is not a game with players in a game-theoretical sense).

JohnTHaller 13y ago

Here's the playlist. Mitchell and Webb. Good stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJDu5D_IXbc&list=RDqjOZtWZ56lc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJDu5D_IXbc&list=RDqjOZtWZ56...