rec.puzzles Archive

And what are the next two numbers in this sequence?

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Problem

And what are the next two numbers in this sequence?

3 4 3 3 4 3 7 2 . .

And then:

15 5 4 2 4 3 8 3 3 3 2 2 4 4 6 3 3 4 2 . .

-- Wei-Hwa Huang <whuang@cco.caltech.edu>, October 1994
Show solution
In article <3785pf$m2l@gap.cco.caltech.edu>, whuang@cco.caltech.edu
(Wei-Hwa Huang) writes:
|> frank@guiness.cetia.fr (Frank O'Neil) writes:
|> >And the answer is ... (roll of drums ...)   4 8
|>
|> Congratulations, Frank!!  Care to tell the audience how you did it?
|> Or will this puzzle tip the rest of you off?
|>
|> 15 5 4 2 4 3 8 3 3 3 2 2 4 4 6 3 3 4 2 . .

The answer to this one is ... 3 3
if the 2nd number were a 6, then the answer would be ... 3 4

How did I do it ?

Each number in the series is the number of letters in the coresponding
  4      6   2  3      6   2  3     6    2    7     2  3       12
word of the sentence which precedes it (as shown here)
  4   2  3      8      5       8     2   2   5     4

-- Frank O'Neil <frank@cetia.fr>, October 1994