A rather curious one this week via Mike P.
What rule has been used to create the following number sequence:
8 5 4 9 1 7 6 3 2 0
As ever, please do NOT post your answers, but do say if you think you have solved it and how long it took. Answer on Monday!
This was the easy one just had a look and figured it out..
Wow, Synchronicity! I blogged about my morning Numerical Analysis of a sequence I found just the other day… What a co-ink-ie-dink!
Can read my analysis technique @ http://protobytes.wordpress.com
@ProtoBytes
Yes, got it.
Just luck, I suppose, or maybe I’ve seen it before.
very easy. ahaha. just one look and boom.
Oooh, got it. Took a few minutes though. The category helped
Took a few minutes, started off looking for the wrong kind of pattern!
It’s my credit card number!! :-O
Nah, I can’t see it yet.
Might come back later
Nice one – at first glance didn’t manage it, had a quick look at the comments, other people had done it quickly, went back and did it in seconds – is that the competitive spirit, or just knowing it can be done?
Got it. But weirdly, it’s also my phone number. US. No joke, unlike the credit card comment above. Call me and I’ll verify. Crazy, huh?
That’s really your phone number? That is crazy!
I got it after a bit. I sensed where it was going, so I actually wrote it down properly, then walked away. When I looked at it when I got back it hit me immediately.
Nah don’t believe that. Chance 1 out of 10.000.000.000
No way.
First thought “How can all these people have got it?”, then I got it! Took ages to verify with sleepy morning brain, though. Total from first reading to completing verification: 5 mins .
Took three seconds.
Instant (the idea; checking it took longer), but only because I’m sure you’ve posted something very similar before.
(Wonder when Mark P submitted it. Trying to gauge when Richard might get to my own submission, because I have a big long blog post about it in my drafts folder just waiting for the right time to be published…)
Sorry, Mike.
Nice and quick this week. Redeemed myself after last week.
I think you’re all lying!
I can’t figure it out, but then again, I’ve never had much of a head for numbers…
Don’t remember having seen this before. About 30 seconds. Got it once I wrote it down.
first Friday puzzle that I got! Took 30 seconds.
Very quick today one of my fastest solvings completed before finished reading the question
Yeah! That was fun for 30 secs or so until I had it figured out. I’ve seen similar before, but not exactly the same as this. Thanks.
bah, like last weeks puzzle my maths head distracted me for a while, got there in the end though
A000052
Damn straight. OEIS is the only way to fly.
No idea. Everything I try, math based or language based, fails halfway through.
Do not try math based solution.
Language based didn’t seem to work either. And rearranging them in order 0-9 doesn’t produce a clear pattern as far as I can see :/
@Berber …. I’m right there with ya…..I guess I can’t see it for the trees….seems sometimes it’s right there but then……gone…
it was like abc to me
mico ruined it for me.
My first stupid theory didn’t pan out. but then noticed it was only numbers naught to nine and it clicked.
surely you mean numbers zero to nine?
I didn’t put zero because I thought it might give something away.
I think I got it although slowly. It might be that people in Switzerland just have slower brains or maybe some other thing related to my origin
20 seconds, I guess.
A classic. As I’ve seen it before, it took no time at all to get the answer.
my brain is fuzzy and that math thing has hit me…..like is there some dead guys name for this rule or something? looked then came to read hmm I’ll look again when my brain stops being fuzzy…..maybe some sleep it be 4:45am here…lol…lap top doing security scan and dragging…soooo slooooww…..maybe write it down and see….double check since dyslexic with numbers…..or try calling that number and see if mervulon is still up….LOL……let’s see if I can come up with one more reason why I can’t answer this one yet…lol….maybe stop this post and try to work the puzzle now…hehe….
Oh my God, I actually worked a numbers one out!
Okay, after ten minutes of vacant staring, I think I got it. Numbers and I are not friends…
Got it straight away. I recognised the pattern from the past, rather than solving afresh.
I think I’m addicted now to easy puzzles. My best guess is, this must be solved by some simple permutation rule, applied several times to 0123456789… but I have no idea which.
@Joao Pedro Welcome to my world! I got an extra paddle if you want to join my boat it’s headed up the creek…lol….
I was slow to solve this one too, JPA. Being of mathematical background is a disadvantage on this one.
@Lila, any time…
@Ivan, what is depressing to me is the speed how so many apparently found the answer. Of course, only those who found it, will post they found it and if I’m correct in my suspicions that this are of that kind where too much thinking might be an hindrance, then it is only natural to see comments with fast time solutions, kind of, they did fast or they didn’t at all. But… but… I even tried to align solar system planets, at my trials!!!…
But shouldn’t be any of this. What means a comment like “very easy. ahaha. just one look and boom.”? Something which must be recognized, not reasoned, hmmm… I think next Monday I’m going to learn something new!… that’s always a motive to commemorate
[Do not think by this that I'm implying it is rare to find things I don't know... it only means I commemorate a lot... Party Time!!!]
Aha.sorted it out just right.
About a minute
.
Got it in about 15 secs. Really only a couple of options which could produce such a strange sequence.
Been looking at it for about 25 minutes now. I’ll take a break, maybe it will make sense when I look at it again.
I must have seen this before, because I got it very quickly. Hint: don’t think numbers.
I knew this one already, although I had seen it presented as “What property does the number 8549176320 have that no other ten digit number does?” And that last digit: it’s a zero, not a naught, right?
I had the answer there (a must see)
http://www.research.att.com/~njas/sequences/index.html
Because i’m french it wasn’t obvious !
OK, 2 Minutes
Probably seen this before, as it took about 2 seconds
It took me about two seconds… then another three to validate.
thought for 30 seconds, then tried wolfram alpha, that didn’t help, then i tried google and found it. kinda cheating i guess but i couldn’t bother to think longer. and it’s pretty sneaky i don’t know for how long i would have needed to be thinking without cheating.
trop facile ! même pour moi !
About 30 secs. Wasted most of that time working out the differences between the numbers, then it hit me.
ah! lucked out on this one… Car Talk had this as a puzzler not long ago… and i actually remembered!
About 30 seconds. I got off on the wrong foot and thought that each number described how many letters were in the number to the left. That ended at “1″.
3 min… I feel stupid
Looking at the comments, 90% of the populate figured this out in less than 5 seconds. I’m thinking I’m borderline mentally ill since it took me about 5 minutes.
[...] It’s the Friday Puzzle! A rather curious one this week via Mike P. What rule has been used to create the following number sequence: 8 5 4 9 1 7 [...] [...]
Well, I’m glad it’s nothing mathematical.
OK I think I now have it….only been thinking about it off and on since it was posted….so who feel dumb now? OK ME! Dang blasted math phobia kept me from seeing the forest for the trees…yeah right there in front of me……
Does that mean you finally threw me off the boat?
After googling the answer, I can say that I couldn’t do it because of an obvious reason for those who did it :”>
@Cosmin wouldn’t have gotten it either except for a clue from one post and my number dyslexia I stumbled on the answer.
Got this one after thinking through about a dozen or so alternative rules, finally stumbled upon it. Happy now.
I quickly found an answer but I hope it isn’t right because if it is, this puzzle is stupid.
I hope for my sake the puzzle is stupid, I’ve been at this since yesterday and I still don’t get it! I feel a bit thick.
Easily figured it out, thirty seconds of thought at most. However, without spoiling, this isn’t an answer that will be readily obvious to all readers.
tjis is unbelievable. I couldný figure it out and used xcel to make another ridle for you. I GOT THE SAME ROW. HAHAHA
About 30 seconds, using about half that to confirm my guess.