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The Magic Gopher


Click on the link and see what happens.
This will drive you crazy!!


http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/games/ma ... entral.swf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

pretty trivial stuff.

The answer is always x*9 where x is: floor(num/10) (which is simple integer division) This is just a simple modular math "trick". Each number within the same "ten" (i.e all from 10 to 19, all from 20 to 29), will generate the same end result. What is happening is as the number gets one higher, you subtract one more.

So:

00 -> 0
01 -> 0
02 -> 0
03 -> 0
04 -> 0
05 -> 0
06 -> 0
07 -> 0
08 -> 0
09 -> 0
10 -> 9
11 -> 9
12 -> 9
13 -> 9
14 -> 9
15 -> 9
16 -> 9
17 -> 9
18 -> 9
19 -> 9
20 -> 18
21 -> 18
22 -> 18
......

Thus, it is pretty easy to simply put the same symbol on the few numbers (multiples of 9) and then guess that symbol.

It would have been a little more sneaky if whoever wrote that flash had at least mixed up the placement of the numbers. As it stands, each time you run it, the "winners" are all in the same spot (just with a different symbol).

H.

cool explanation but I never would have figured that out on my own.