Last week, Google placed a billboard on highway 101 in the silicon valley (see picture to the right). It read:
{first 10-digit prime found in consecutive digits of e}.com
I was unaware of this until I saw a link on Jason Kottke's site on Monday. The link pointed to http://www.7427466391.com, which itself was the answer to the billboard puzzle. http://www.7427466391.com presented:
Congratulations. You've made it to level 2. Go to www.Linux.org and enter Bobsyouruncle as the login and the answer to this equation as the password.
f(1)= 7182818284
f(2)= 8182845904
f(3)= 8747135266
f(4)= 7427466391
f(5)= __________
I thought the f(1) result looked kind of familiar, so I looked at Pi, Phi, and then found it as the first 10 digits after the 2 in e (2.7182818284...)---then a quick find of "e to the 10,000 digit", and some grep'ing, showed that the other 10 digit sequences were in e too. They are the first 10, then 4 digits in, then 24 in, and finally 99 digits in (I think, I counted these by hand on a print out).
I sat there pondering what they had in common, what the f(x) might be, for several hours. Are they evenly spaced? nope. Are they like e +1/1 or something like that? I tried many simple algorithms, and nope. I didn't think it would be some crazy reverse engineering of a complicated algorithm, but with Google, I wasn't quite sure. Is this something that should be simple and take like 10 minutes to figure out (like the usually simple, but non-obvious questions on an IQ test), or is it some complex thing that they want only 20 people to have the knowledge and skill to figure out? After awhile, I was beginning to wonder, since the pattern wasn't coming to me.
So, I decided to try the tricky stuff.
First, I multiplied the digits, to see if each result had something in common. I thought this was pretty clever, but it didn't work. I tried some failed division of digits in each result. That just made me confused. Then I thought,"oh yes! I bet if you multiply each digit in each group together, you get the next one! nope. I bet if you subtract the first result from the second, you get the third! nope. I bet if you add the two results together, you get the next! Like the fibbonacci sequence! nope. Shit. Fine.Well, if you add the digits up in the first group, you get 49. Nice. Well, try the second one. HMMMMM.49. The third one...yeah! yeah! yeah! that rules!"
So, if you add the digits up, one by one, in each group, you get 49. Like, in the first group, you do this:
7+1+8+2+8+1+8+2+8+4 = 49
and the second one:
8+1+8+2+8+4+5+9+0+4 = 49
the same for the third and fourth ones.
Man, thats weird. And cool. And a pattern. And the answer.
Now, you gotta figure out the 5th one. What is f(5)?
So, you gotta find 10 digit groups, where each digit in the group, when added together, equals 49.
Oh yeah, I later found out, when my program was not outputting what I expected to see, that the 10 digit groups need to be consecutive.
Like, the first group is:7182818284
and then you have to slide your "10 digit group" over to the right in the results of e, like so:
| 7182818284 | 5904523536
7 | 1828182845 | 904523536
71 | 8281828459 | 04523536
718 | 2818284590 | 4523536
7182 | 8182845904 | 523536
each group between the pipes is the 10 digit group you have to check; to see if the individual digits add up to 49. If they do, you're cool. If they don't, you do the Mos Eisley stormtrooper, "move along, move along." Kinda like bitwise operations (where you move one's around in zeros to do binary arithmetic, like 00010 to 00001).
Blah. So anyway, I had to write some php to do this for me, as doing it by hand would cause God to kill a kitten.
Here is the php:
/*take a txt file with the digits of e
start with the first to the tenth digit
check to see if it adds up to 49
if it does, display it
move to 2nd through the 11th digit
then the 3rd through the 12th digit
etc*/
$e=file_get_contents('e.txt'); // 10,000 digits of e (or whatever) after the "2.", one string, no newlines$e_length=strlen($e); // how many digits in e input
for( $r=0; $r<$e_length; $r++) {
$monkey[] .= substr($e,$r,10); // monkey is e string, r is start point (incremented each iteration), groups of 10 digits
}
foreach($monkey as $k){
$i=0; // set iterator to 0
$answer=0; // set answer to 0, later we check if it is equal to 49while($i != 10){
$answer = $answer + $k{$i};
$i++;
}if ($answer==49){
print $answer . "
"; // 10 digit, consecutive groups that equal 49
print $k . "
"; // the actual sequence of digits that equal 49
}
}
and, here is some of the output:
49
7182818284
49
8182845904
49
8747135266
49
7427466391
49
5966290435
49
2952605956
49
0753907774
49
0777449920
49
3069697720
The answer to f(5) is in there somewhere.
Then you go to linux.org, and in the login box, username=bobsyouruncle and password=mystery number in the above output.
Then, you get directed to: http://www.google.com/labjobs/index.html
That's it! Pretty damn cool if you ask me.
THEN
I come to find out that the Market Share Price of the Google IPO is set at:
$2,718,281,828
That should look familiar. How Rad is that?
KMA


haha, someone else did it in php? :-)
Posted by: kennyt | August 19, 2004 at 03:20 PM
Growth and change are the law of all life. Yesterday's answers are inadequate for today's problems--just as the solutions of today will not fill the needs of tomorrow. Do you understand? Do you understand?
Posted by: air jordans | July 25, 2010 at 06:57 PM
Count your age with friends but not with years. Good luck to you!!
Posted by: Jordan 8 | August 06, 2010 at 08:37 PM
Hi, interesting blog. I also get knowledge from your blog. That was a great help to me.
Posted by: Swatch Watches | September 08, 2010 at 08:12 PM
oh so funny!
Posted by: UGG Shoes | November 12, 2010 at 05:03 PM
x7YZ1R zpkxajsvrkso, [url=http://eyqpzifebxpk.com/]eyqpzifebxpk[/url], [link=http://vpinqkhvkpot.com/]vpinqkhvkpot[/link], http://dowvfmisgfvb.com/
Posted by: ivzniestq | November 15, 2010 at 04:32 PM
My Grandmother is over eighty and still doesn't need glasses. Drinks right out of the bottle. Do you agree?
Posted by: Air Jordan | February 18, 2011 at 04:31 PM
So fun article is! I agree the idea!
Posted by: Coach Outlet Online | June 28, 2011 at 05:28 PM
Start blogging by creating a new post. You can edit or delete me by clicking under the comments. You can also customize your sidebar by dragging in elements from the top bar.
Posted by: Cheap Moncler | October 13, 2011 at 11:07 PM
oh, I really like the style of your writing!
Posted by: UGGs | November 01, 2011 at 07:08 PM
O(∩_∩)O I am happy to visit your blog again. This article is also very good. I get a lot
of important information. Thanx. Your sincere follower.
Posted by: Polo Outlet | December 11, 2011 at 11:09 PM
ebtfzhz http://www.cheap-uggs-cheap.com cheap uggs jifnymy new uggs azectxt ugg usa eya
Posted by: Heptrappima | December 12, 2011 at 01:12 AM
npmchyf http://www.hogansitoufficiale-italia.com hogan sito ufficiale wqbwvul hogan hrvmzei spaccio hogan mqhps
Posted by: KifsBifuppy | December 12, 2011 at 01:17 AM
I really like this website , and hope you will write more ,thanks a lot for your information
Posted by: Juicy Couture | January 06, 2012 at 12:20 AM
zAo7yF http://www.titaniumtec.org nike heels for women aKi7cJ jordan high heels bRq0vY jordan heels for women nGi2zK
Posted by: Weavesmeavy | January 13, 2012 at 12:47 AM
No, I dont! It seems to be sort of fokllore. If anyone can figure out where it comes from Id love to know!
Posted by: Fernanda | February 11, 2012 at 12:54 AM