Dorky Poll: Rorschach Numbers

It's been a really long time since I've done a Dorky Poll here, but I'm pretty fried at the moment, so here's a kind of mathematical personality test: two numbers that do not uniquely define a sequence, but suggest some possibilities that reveal your innate character type and/or appropriate career path:

Feel free to offer arguments for your chosen answer in the comments, and/or to speculate about what the hidden meanings of the options are. I'll explain the logic some other time.

(This might be too abstract for a really great Dorky Poll, but I'm just punchy enough to find it amusing, so what the hell...)

More like this

Each of the four options are possible, but keeping the razor, 1001 seems to be the next element of the "simplest" sequence.

By featheredfrog (not verified) on 17 Jul 2013 #permalink

of course that should have been... what? ;D

By featheredfrog (not verified) on 17 Jul 2013 #permalink

People here are heavily arithmetical! I would have thought geometrical & arithmetical would be split evenly, roughly.

By Evan Berkowitz (not verified) on 17 Jul 2013 #permalink

@Evan: Sequence 1 is quasi-geometrical: A_n = 10^(n+1) + 1. Unless you are talking about counting zeroes: the second sequence is A_n = 10^(2^(n-1)) + 1.

The third and fourth are arithmetical, but if you choose option 4, you might be a frustrated computer scientist.

By Eric Lund (not verified) on 17 Jul 2013 #permalink

What does it say about me that I understood the rationale behind the fourth option (add 4 in binary) before I understood the third option (add 900 in decimal)?

By the way, I used to hate (still do) those "spot the pattern" puzzles in math class. Basically for the very reason this poll points out - the "correct" answer often depended on what the person putting them together was thinking. And don't get me started on those asinine "If 3+4 equalled 9, what would 6+2 equal?" problems.

There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

Where's my 10101 option?

The next number is 1000000001.
101 is prime. 1001 has three prime factors. 1000000001 has five prime factors.

By Jim Roberts (not verified) on 17 Jul 2013 #permalink

Eric - Your second formula doesn't give 1001.

I also vote for the missing 10101 option.

By quasihumanist (not verified) on 17 Jul 2013 #permalink

I tried figuring it out this way...

ε > √T(d,α,J)P/P
α⊗Ο×ς+W = w(Χ,Γ)
(T³) = ℸ+⅘⁻¹-ℏ-T
0ςΧ(ζ) = P
D(∑Χ×T²) ≋ ∇×JK+P-J
(PL)²⊠Χr = ∫cζdΝ
v = ∫vdJ⊎ς!2
σ∑D ⊅ α(η(P)⁻¹)
ζ(x) = Pr[o]ζj
ς(-Q(1),η+Χ,θ!ω) ≪ ζτ×√P⊘0
η(J+¾,∫ℬdl) = d⊍∑D1
α-ζℏ = ℴ⊕η(η)
P-D ∝ √η(⅗D)
d(P,w)+D×v⁻¹ ≫ Χ-⅘⊙1θ
w-D+Χ-ζ = ςt(P)²
-T⦻Ω+√(∑ℍ)⁻¹ ∝ ℐ×(∇×℘)
∛Χ(⅔T,⅛+d) = log(Χ)-Jζ
φ(ζ(μ,d),ζ+η) ⋘ ζ(θ+d)
η(d)∓1∖ς ⋘ D-ℭ1
0-ζ = p∩-T+ς
W(D(ο),❖) = θ(∑Χ-J,cd,℘⋇Χ)
r(D,J)²+∇∙h+ς⁷ ≻ (wv)
θ = vθ+(〈η|D〉)
⅓⦾R∕Ω(V) ≈ (ⅉ+Δ)
φ(Ρ+H) ≫ ∑T+Ⅎ+γ-h
D+ΗΧ = g(μ,(ζ(Ζ)))
Zηζμ ≠ ∏∇×ι(1)-Χ⦾P
Εj+Χ(θ,Ο) < ∏J+hη
M(ℏ/Z) ⋘ ỹ(ℳ)÷1+Ο
-Τ-ℐ⨕vdθ = ∇∙h+o∖μ
v(η+m) ∈ ν(ⅇ)
ζ(χ)⊙d = S⦾κ+6
(Ο+ℏ) ≛ ζ
∏h+ο-D(Q) = I(D)²ηΒ²
μℏℒ!v = v(HΦ,LP,(J(P)))
P(hζ) ⋙ ξ⦿θℳθ

... but I think I did something wrong. Can you fix it?

By Explosive Antelope (not verified) on 17 Jul 2013 #permalink

I picked 10001 principally because I am a boring old codger with no joy left in my life. This poll has made me grumpy!

I choose to treat these as non-objective, geometric patterns. As such, the most correct choice should have been 101. Since that was not provided as a possible answer, I chose 1001 as the next-best choice to represent a printing error.

Explosive Antelope - You went wrong in the second line. The comma between w and big gamma should be a semicolon. Otherwise it is correct.

Assuming this the fibonnacci sequence in written in binary, the next number should be 1101.

I wonder if there is some bias in selecting a specific answer due to the ordering of the possible answers.