Forum fun time!

That is very good!! Now it starts to get interesting... Firstly write down on a piece of paper what you think would happen if you carried on with this procedure. Then carry on with the procedure!

Harrier, I think I've worked it out are the next two 212223 114213 If I'm on the right lines I'll carry on

Well done Old Lincolnian. Carry on to see what happens ... but also jot down beforehand what you think will happen

End game 21322314 I thought it would continue...........!

Me too Johnnie, I even checked it three times to make sure I hadn't made a mistake - there's probably some mathematical proof as to why it ends there

If the answer is now revealed, perhaps some explanation might be forthcoming?

Yes please - I've still not managed to work this one out!

With [pleasure but there is a lot more to come if interested.... SOLUTION:- 1 I have one number 1 which becomes the second line 1 1 1 1 I have two number 1s which becomes the third line 2 1 2 1 I have one number 1 and one number 2 which becomes the fourth line 1 1 1 2 and so on .... continue with this procedure ..... BUT when you get to the last line p 2 1 3 2 2 3 1 4 .... to go further strip out 1, 2, 3, 4 (the numbers you are counting up and you are left with 2 3 2 1 Now start with this and do the same pattern. Think about what you might expect this time .... What fun!!! Now what you could do is start with 3 instead of 1 That is 3 1 3 1 1 1 3.... what do you expect?????? The corona virus is expect to go on for some time, AND SO DOES THIS. You must by now be desperate to try 4 ...... Health warning .... if you try others take care as a whole set of family members is out there ready to pounce. I WILL DO OTHER THINGS WITH THIS SHORTLY???

1 11 The first line is a number '1', so all you have got in that line is a single number I Which you write in the next line as 1 1, that is "you only have got one figure 1" To get to the third line you look at the second line [1 1] and see that there are only two figure ones ... that is, you now have two 1s for the second line, the first number one is telling you how many number '1s' you have got; in other words you have got two figure ones so the third line becomes 2 figure 1's that is "2 1" because all you have is two number ones. 1 11 21 You now have one of number 1 and one of number 2 so the next line becomes 1 1 1 2. I am using numbers in print and numbers in figures to help explain what we are doing but we write them all down as figures when we write the next line. Hope this helps??

Thank you so much - I totally get it now. I started off on the right lines - but I was looking at the number of 1's in previous rows! I wonder if it's just coincidence that the last line ends up repeating???

No Rob, it is much more interesting than that .... well at least it is to me!!!

I think I get it - but shouldn't the 4th line be 1 2 1 1 ?

You would have thought so as these are often called a Look-and-Say sequence. However, for this one the rule appears to require the numbers to be processed in numerical order i.e. 1, 2, 3 etc so for the 4th line you read line 3 as one 1 (11) and one 2 (12) hence: 1112.

Time for an easier one. What is the next character in the series: O T T F F S S... ?

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