English Chess Forum

Ian Thompson wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:07 am

-101250000, -1728000, -4900, 360, 675, 200, ?, ...
As this is a chess forum, I think you should have chosen the chess puzzles from the same set of questions:

Isn't Google wonderful : if you can't solve a puzzle look-it up!

The chess equivalent of using an engine I suppose.

John Upham wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 12, 2021 10:20 am

Ian Thompson wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:07 am

-101250000, -1728000, -4900, 360, 675, 200, ?, ...
As this is a chess forum, I think you should have chosen the chess puzzles from the same set of questions:

Isn't Google wonderful : if you can't solve a puzzle look-it up!

The chess equivalent of using an engine I suppose.

Perhaps not unreasonable when the opening paragraph to the solutions says:

Many people worked in virtual teams over various web forums to tackle many of the questions together, with some syndicates developing small computer programmes to test possible mathematical combinations and reach a solution more quickly.

This one can definitely be solved by a human brain!

What's the next number in this sequence:

149, 162, 536, 496, 481,???

564

I think you may have gone off the square there Matt. Of course, as the Romans would say, I might be all at 'sea' with my answer.

I think Alex has it, but curious to know how Matt got to his answer.... there may be bonus points for other logical solutions!

Kevin,
If the number is a b c I saw that b squared formed part of the next number in the sequence. I then slightly took a punt with 564. Alex's clue isn't helping that much

Matthew Turner wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 12, 2021 4:05 pm

Kevin,
If the number is a b c I saw that b squared formed part of the next number in the sequence. I then slightly took a punt with 564. Alex's clue isn't helping that much

That's very clever and you are on the right lines but you may be over-thinking it. The pertinent bits in Alex's clue are square and Roman 'sea'

E Michael White wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 12, 2021 12:47 am

.... all those IQ tests we were forced to do as kids were all flawed on this type of question.

English humorist Paul Jennings once made a similar point, citing this question from H J Eysenck's Know Your Own IQ:

2 7 24 77 ?

Jennings reasoned "24 = 2x12; 77 = 7x11; so the next ought to be 24x10, or 240".

The actual "correct" answer is 238. I'll let readers figure out how.

David Sedgwick wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:07 am

Matthew Turner wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:19 pm

John Clarke wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 10, 2021 10:00 pm

Home. (Pronounced "Hume", as in the 14th Earl of Home, who became prime minister as Sir Alec Douglas-Home.)

That is another really clever answer.

Indeed it is, but "Hume" is not the universal pronunciation of "Home" as a proper noun.

Home House is an upmarket private members' club in Marylebone which was mentioned as a victim of alleged fraud emanating from the Braingames World Championship Match in 2000. (No such fraud was ever proved.)

When I first heard of it, I called it "Hume House", only to be told immediately that it was "Home House".

Indeed, a partial refutation!

Let's try another Scottish one: scone/Scone.

Kevin Williamson wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 12, 2021 12:20 pm

This one can definitely be solved by a human brain!

What's the next number in this sequence:

149, 162, 536, 496, 481,???

Ha! Got it. Almost at light-speed.

John Clarke wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 12, 2021 8:43 pm

E Michael White wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 12, 2021 12:47 am

.... all those IQ tests we were forced to do as kids were all flawed on this type of question.

English humorist Paul Jennings once made a similar point, citing this question from H J Eysenck's Know Your Own IQ:

2 7 24 77 ?

Jennings reasoned "24 = 2x12; 77 = 7x11; so the next ought to be 24x10, or 240".

The actual "correct" answer is 238. I'll let readers figure out how.

723 up next?

John Clarke wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 12, 2021 8:43 pm

English humorist Paul Jennings once made a similar point, citing this question from H J Eysenck's Know Your Own IQ:

Was that from a piece called "I do not like you IQ" by any chance?

I remember being in hysterics reading that on a District Line train between Ravenscourt Park and Richmond at some point in the 60s. Good to know I'm not the only one with fond memories of reading Paul Jennings' Oddly books.

I also, coincidentally, remember doing Eysenck's political test, also on the District Line between the same two stations. His grandson would later join Richmond Junior Chess Club.

Each die of a pair of non-identical dice has six faces, but some numbers are missing, others are duplicated, and some faces may have more than six spots.

The dice can roll every number from 2 to 12.

What is the largest possible probability of rolling a 7?

That puzzle is a bit of a tease because the creator was a professor of pure maths and won a prize for it. If you occasionally struggle against GMs around the ELO 2700 mark, by this I mean you normally can't finish them off in the opening, then it might not be a good idea to attempt to solve this. You will need the whole weekend most likely... .