Google recruits eggheads with billboard

[DanL]

Ugh, I have two college essays that need writing this weekend, so I'm going to force myself to put this down... feel free to take it from where I left off...

First, HHSJosh was right when he said all those numbers have to do with e. An introduction:

Humorous Use of e
In the IPO filing for Google, Inc., in 2004, rather than a typical round-number amount of money, the company announced its intention to raise $2,718,281,828, which is, of course, e billion dollars to the nearest integer

- Euler's Number [wikipedia.org]


Each of those 10 digit numbers is a piece of e.

E to 10,000 place [wikipedia.org]

f(1) is the 10 digits of e begining at the 1st decimal place value of e (e = 2.7182818284590...):

f(1) -> place value 1
f(2) -> place value 5
f(3) -> place value 23
f(4) -> place value 101

This looks like a series of prime numbers, but I'm stuck at figuring out the pattern behind this series.

List of Prime Numbers [wikipedia.org]

Prime numbers are an interesting area of study in mathematics, as I understand it, so I wouldn't be suprised if this holds the answer to the puzzle. Figure out the next prime number in the series 1, 5, 23, 101..., then lookup e and take the 10-digits starting at that number, and I think that'll be your answer.

Of course, technically, 1 is not a prime number, so this may not be the pattern. Perhaps the pattern is the 10-digit numbers are taken from e by digit count from the begining, it which case the pattern would be:

f(1) -> place value 2
f(2) -> place value 6
f(3) -> place value 24
f(4) -> place value 102

in which case you need to figure out the next number in the sequence 2, 6, 24, 102....

but my gut instinct tells me its in the primes sequence.

Anyways, thats seems like about half of this puzzle... if anyone figures the rest out, let me know.


ahaha... I feel like Jodie Foster in Contact...

[rowe]

Originally Posted by SuperDanman

f(1) -> place value 1
f(2) -> place value 5
f(3) -> place value 23
f(4) -> place value 101

correct me if im wrong, but i got f(4) -> 99 places into e .

[DanL]

Originally Posted by rowe

correct me if im wrong, but i got f(4) -> 99 places into e .

er, you're right.... I was just looking at the column number on my program rather than counting it all... guess I forgot to subtract two for the "2." characters...

so the pattern seems to be:

f(1) -> place value 1
f(2) -> place value 5
f(3) -> place value 23
f(4) -> place value 99

There goes my prime number theory... any other ideas? Anyone think the "Bobsyouruncle" part might have anything to do with the puzzle? Bobsyouruncle.com seems to be a gift card company based in Boston... the website says the phrase is a British phrase coined by 1877 Prime Minister Robert Cecil's nephew... anyone know if its some obscure nerd-culture reference?


[Edit]
On a completely irrelavent note, this post ruined that cool "Posts: 666" underneath my name ;(

[Yan Wang]

The final page is this: http://www.google.com/labjobs/index.html

[edit] As in... logging into linux.org with 'bobsyouruncle' and the solution to f(5) redirects you to the above said page. You can PM me for the solution if you really want it... I put a hint in the post below.[/edit]

[Yan Wang]

Oh yeah... add up the digits.

[DanL]

Originally Posted by Yan Wang

Oh yeah... add up the digits.

Oh.

Well thinking there was a pattern to the occurances was going in the wrong direction.

I did that to one of the numbers, but after I couldn't do anything with the answer, I didn't continue doing that to the rest of them. Would have been a lot better if it was 42, though.

[Ryan M.]

Well, I just saw something on TV about this Google recruiting thing. They said (and I came in at the very end, so I may be wrong) that Google has ended the contest/whatever, and that the solution can be found by a search on Google. Don't know what to search for exactly, so I haven't found it yet.

Did anyone have any luck with this?

[Blacknight]

Quite creative
if you got the job without an interview or anything by just being the first 10 to answer it, it would be really cool

[DanL]

Originally Posted by Ryan Morehart

Well, I just saw something on TV about this Google recruiting thing. They said (and I came in at the very end, so I may be wrong) that Google has ended the contest/whatever, and that the solution can be found by a search on Google. Don't know what to search for exactly, so I haven't found it yet.

Did anyone have any luck with this?

hmm... google still has those billboards hung up around here (Boston). There's one about a block from my campus and two in the Harvard Square T-station. Their new tactics include taking out full-color double-page spreads in my campus newspaper with more number puzzles.