Riddler - Solutions to "Pick A Number, Any Number": low_numbers.csv
Data license: CC Attribution 4.0 License · Data source: fivethirtyeight/data on GitHub · About: simonw/fivethirtyeight-datasette
3,660 rows sorted by Show Your Work
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Link | rowid | Your Number | Show Your Work ▼ |
---|---|---|---|
2675 | 2675 | 110 | 110 Is thought to be a uniquely unpopular number, not sure if it is a little high for this purpose... |
2676 | 2676 | 110 | 111-1 |
3520 | 3520 | 1112 | 1111 + 1 |
3052 | 3052 | 171 | 112 |
2802 | 2802 | 121 | 11^2 |
635 | 635 | 12 | 12 |
666 | 666 | 12 | 12 is an ugly number. |
671 | 671 | 12 | 12 is so ordinary i think it might be missed. When people think unique they tend to prime numbers, and 12 is pretty much the complete opposite of a prime number |
2798 | 2798 | 120 | 12*10 |
2809 | 2809 | 122 | 122 doesn't appeal to me as an answer, so it may not to others as well |
2845 | 2845 | 127 | 127 |
2846 | 2846 | 127 | 127 = (Harry Kane)*(Eric Dier) - Christian Eriksen |
681 | 681 | 13 | 13 |
3537 | 3537 | 1313 | 13 is a bad luck number, so I guess less people will pick it. Still, a bare 13 has too many chances to be picked. 666 was also an option. |
701 | 701 | 13 | 13 needs some love. |
707 | 707 | 13 | 13 seems low, and I think there might be a psychological barrier to picking an "unlucky" number. |
765 | 765 | 14 | 13 seems too low. 15 is way too high. |
1271 | 1271 | 26 | 13*2 |
2836 | 2836 | 126 | 1382 readers submitted a response to The Battle For Riddler Nation. This gives a rough estimate for the number of individuals likely to respond to this riddle. Applying Zipf's law, a possible distribution of guesses for each number can be estimated. From this distribution, we can select the smallest number likely to be unique. This number can be adjusted slightly to increase likelihood of uniqueness (128->126 powers of two might be common guesses). |
720 | 720 | 14 | 14 |
786 | 786 | 14 | 14 is an unassuming number. |
730 | 730 | 14 | 14 is lower than numbers higher than it, but also higher than numbers lower than it. That is very common for numbers. |
2956 | 2956 | 143 | 143, I was going to choose 43 because it was 42 +1, but I thought someone would have chosen it already, so I added a one to the front |
2969 | 2969 | 147 | 146 seemed too low |
2961 | 2961 | 146 | 146 will be the average points per game for the Knicks once Porzingoat starts flourishing and Kyrie comes home |
2973 | 2973 | 148 | 148 |
3200 | 3200 | 237 | 15 k followers I estimate the number will be 3 digits |
2745 | 2745 | 116 | 16 is my favorite number, so why not add 100 to it and hope for the best! |
3227 | 3227 | 256 | 16 is my lucky number so I squared it |
869 | 869 | 17 | 16+1=17 |
3023 | 3023 | 162 | 163-1 |
864 | 864 | 17 | 17 |
928 | 928 | 18 | 17 is prime, so I thought some might choose that. Otherwise, just random - I'm probably too low. |
899 | 899 | 17 | 17! |
1005 | 1005 | 19 | 18 seemed to low, 20 seemed to high... |
3637 | 3637 | 193419 | 19 and 34 were my jersey numbers when I played sports |
972 | 972 | 19 | 19 is the lowest number that cannot be the score of a hand in cribbage. |
199 | 199 | 2 | 2 |
207 | 207 | 2 | 2 is an integer |
184 | 184 | 2 | 2 is too low, there's no way it could end up being unique, therefore no one will bother guessing it, so maybe it actually will end up being unique. |
839 | 839 | 16 | 2*2*2*2 |
3231 | 3231 | 258 | 2+5=7, 8-7 = 1. i am number 1 |
2458 | 2458 | 81 | 2-digit # has better chance. 80s might get overlooked, if I'm lucky. 80 is too obvious. |
1354 | 1354 | 29 | 2. 9. |
1259 | 1259 | 26 | 20 + 6 |
1041 | 1041 | 20 | 20 is a very unassuming number. Low enough to win and enough factors to not be chosen. |
1040 | 1040 | 20 | 20 is typically the least chosen number if a group of humans is asked to pick a random integer between 1 and 20, which seems like a somewhat related problem. |
1299 | 1299 | 27 | 20+7 |
3135 | 3135 | 203 | 203 is the 7th Bell number. |
1089 | 1089 | 22 | 22 |
1091 | 1091 | 22 | 22 is my favorite number |
3181 | 3181 | 223 | 223 decimal is DF in hexadecimal, and also my initials. |
1188 | 1188 | 23 | 23 |
125 | 125 | 1 | 23-22=1 (joke) |
3204 | 3204 | 239 | 239 is prime, which might be less thought of in comparison to others. All the numbers from 1 to 200 are probably guessed (putting my faith in chance) 239 also does not repeat any numbers. |
3224 | 3224 | 254 | 254 is a candidate for the lowest boring number (see the interesting number paradox) because it is the lowest number to not have its own Wikipedia entry. The number's inherit boringness raises its odds of being unique, and among this set of boring numbers, it has the lowest value. |
1249 | 1249 | 26 | 26 |
1252 | 1252 | 26 | 26 is the only integer that is one greater than a square (52 + 1) and one less than a cube (33 − 1). In base ten, 26 is the smallest number that is not a palindrome to have a square (262 = 676) that is a palindrome. ...Yeah, I just picked a relatively bland smallish number. |
698 | 698 | 13 | 27 |
1303 | 1303 | 27 | 27 is my go-to number |
1345 | 1345 | 28 | 28 is a "perfect number" (no other reason) :) |
1332 | 1332 | 28 | 28 is a pretty boring number |
1365 | 1365 | 29 | 29 |
409 | 409 | 6 | 2nd composite number |
1503 | 1503 | 34 | 2x 17... not a real reason, I know. |
239 | 239 | 3 | 3 |
1653 | 1653 | 37 | 3 and 7 are uncommon |
3639 | 3639 | 696969 | 3 are better than 1 |
2616 | 2616 | 103 | 3 is a number I use for lots of things, but 3 and 33 seem too low, and are easy targets for repetition. |
252 | 252 | 3 | 3 is an integer |
829 | 829 | 16 | 3 is apparently pretty common for people to pick, but I didn't want to go too high. So I generated a random number between 4 and 30 (inclusive) |
1724 | 1724 | 39 | 3 less than 42 |
2012 | 2012 | 51 | 3*17, figured it'd be worth a shot |
1499 | 1499 | 33 | 33 is a positive integer, 30+3=33, 1+2+4+5+6+7+8=33, 1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1=33, 66/2=33, 33*1=33, 11*3=33, cos(20)*cos(40)*cos(80)*264=33, 33^0*33=33 |
1505 | 1505 | 34 | 34 |
1571 | 1571 | 36 | 36 is my lucky number. Also, based on the assumption that 1500 people will answer (like the coffee problem), and assuming a Poisson distribution with a lambda of 20 (I think most people will guess around 20), it's at around 36 where there is likely to be be few enough guesses that I might get lucky. |
1572 | 1572 | 36 | 36 is seems high enough. IDK |
1643 | 1643 | 37 | 37 |
1705 | 1705 | 38 | 37 is a commonly selected seemingly random number, reducing the odds of a 38 |
1680 | 1680 | 37 | 37 is my favorite prime |
3657 | 3657 | no | 37, rng |
3550 | 3550 | 1593 | 3M users a day, half of whom will select 1-100, half again between 101-200 and so on. 1593 feels low and lucky enough. |
3551 | 3551 | 1609 | 4 digits in a weird order on keyboard. |
284 | 284 | 4 | 4 is a good number. |
296 | 296 | 4 | 4 is a pretty unassuming number. I figure 1 to 3 will get a fair number of picks, and beyond that random selections of larger numbers. |
295 | 295 | 4 | 4 is an integer |
337 | 337 | 4 | 4 is the magic number |
493 | 493 | 9 | 4+5=9 |
1788 | 1788 | 41 | 41 |
1808 | 1808 | 41 | 41 |
1796 | 1796 | 41 | 41 is one below the meaning of life, which I imagine many people will pick. |
3342 | 3342 | 416 | 416 |
2523 | 2523 | 88 | 42 |
3595 | 3595 | 4,214 | 42 is Jackie Robinson's number, 14 is Larry Doby's number |
1784 | 1784 | 41 | 42 is the answer but everyone knows that |
1880 | 1880 | 44 | 42 is the answer to life the universe and everything from the hitchhiker guide, 43 and numbers that end in 3 or 7 are most likely to be picked as random numbers, so 44 seems like a good choice. |
1869 | 1869 | 43 | 42 is the answer to life, the universe and everything and I knew some people would pick that so I went one higher |
1841 | 1841 | 43 | 42 is the meaning of life. |
3331 | 3331 | 387 | 42 is too obvious, even though it's the answer to life, the universe and everything; anything else under around 300 seems highly unlikely to be unique; 387 has a good feeling about it. In other words, it's a random unsubstantiated guess... |
1870 | 1870 | 43 | 42+1 |
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CREATE TABLE "riddler-pick-lowest/low_numbers" ( "Your Number" TEXT, "Show Your Work" TEXT );