Math Puzzle: Find the Secret System
The numbers in this triangle are arranged according to a certain system. What would the next row be?
In each row n of the triangle, the integers from 1 to n are in alphabetical order. In the next row the number 8 would be added, and because “eight” comes before “five” in alphabetical order, it must be at the beginning of the row, giving us this sequence:
8 5 4 1 7 6 3 2
(Note that Scientific American’s editors had to adjust the order on this one from the original German.)
We’d love to hear from you! E-mail us at [email protected] to share your experience.
This puzzle originally appeared in Spektrum der Wissenschaft and was reproduced with permission.
