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Aussie Rules (Posted on 2007-02-16) Difficulty: 3 of 5
In Australian Rules football a score can be worth either 6 points or 1 point. The cheerleaders wave their pompoms each time their team scores, with the number of waves equaling the number of points that their team has scored thus far. So if a score of 1 point was followed by a score of 6 points, there would be one occasion for waving the pompoms once, and a second occasion, on which the pompoms would be waved 7 times (the total score at that point).

In a recent match, the team didn't do so well: the total number of waves that the cheerleaders gave was fewer than 50.

If I told you what that total number of waves was, you'd be able to deduce that the number of occasions on which they waved could be any of three different possibilities. Even if I then told you on how many occasions they waved, you could still find three different orders of 6's and 1's scored that would have led to that total number of waves.

On how many occasions did they wave, and what was the total number of waves?

  Submitted by Charlie    
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Solution: (Hide)
A table of all possible number of waves under 50 is:

 occasions  waves       sequence
         0   0         
         1   1          1 
         2   3          1  1 
         1   6          6 
         3   6          1  1  1 
         2   8          1  6 
         4  10          1  1  1  1 
         3  11          1  1  6 
         2  13          6  1 
         4  15          1  1  1  6 
         5  15          1  1  1  1  1 
         3  16          1  6  1 
         2  18          6  6 
         4  20          1  1  6  1 
         5  20          1  1  1  1  6 
         3  21          6  1  1 
         3  21          1  6  6 
         6  21          1  1  1  1  1  1 
         4  25          1  1  6  6 
         4  25          1  6  1  1 
         5  25          1  1  1  6  1 
         3  26          6  1  6 
         6  26          1  1  1  1  1  6 
         7  28          1  1  1  1  1  1  1 
         4  30          6  1  1  1 
         4  30          1  6  1  6 
         5  30          1  1  6  1  1 
         5  30          1  1  1  6  6 
         3  31          6  6  1 
         6  31          1  1  1  1  6  1 
         7  33          1  1  1  1  1  1  6 
         4  35          6  1  1  6 
         4  35          1  6  6  1 
         5  35          1  6  1  1  1 
         5  35          1  1  6  1  6 
         3  36          6  6  6 
         6  36          1  1  1  6  1  1 
         6  36          1  1  1  1  6  6 
         8  36          1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1 
         7  38          1  1  1  1  1  6  1 
         4  40          1  6  6  6 
         4  40          6  1  6  1 
         5  40          6  1  1  1  1 
         5  40          1  6  1  1  6 
         5  40          1  1  6  6  1 
         6  41          1  1  1  6  1  6 
         6  41          1  1  6  1  1  1 
         8  41          1  1  1  1  1  1  1  6 
         7  43          1  1  1  1  1  6  6 
         7  43          1  1  1  1  6  1  1 
         4  45          6  6  1  1 
         4  45          6  1  6  6 
         5  45          6  1  1  1  6 
         5  45          1  6  1  6  1 
         5  45          1  1  6  6  6 
         9  45          1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1 
         6  46          1  6  1  1  1  1 
         6  46          1  1  6  1  1  6 
         6  46          1  1  1  6  6  1 
         8  46          1  1  1  1  1  1  6  1 
         7  48          1  1  1  1  6  1  6 
         7  48          1  1  1  6  1  1  1 

Both 36 and 45 total waves have three possible numbers of occasions that would produce that total: in the case of 36: 3, 6 and 8; in the case of 45: 4, 5 and 9. But only in the latter case can one of the numbers of occasions be reached in three different ways: 5 occurrences.

So They waved the pompoms 5 times (the team scored 5 times), and the total number of waves was 45.

The above table was produced by sorting the output of this program, by waves major and occasions minor:

DECLARE SUB try ()
OPEN "aussie.txt" FOR OUTPUT AS #2

DIM SHARED h(10), num, tot, score

try

CLOSE

SUB try
IF tot < 50 THEN FOR i = 1 TO num
PRINT #2, h(i);
NEXT
PRINT #2,
END IF
IF tot < 49 THEN score = score + 1
tot = tot + score
h(num) = 1

try

tot = tot - score
score = score - 1
num = num - 1
END IF
IF tot < 44 THEN score = score + 6
tot = tot + score
h(num) = 6

try

tot = tot - score
score = score - 6
num = num - 1
END IF
END SUB

Puzzle from Enigma No. 1424 by Richard England, New Scientist 6 January 2007.

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
SolutionsolutionArt M2007-02-17 19:58:40
SolutionanswerArt M2007-02-16 14:57:19
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