Today, the internet is full of puzzles that follow a pattern, aimed at chasing a chain of numbers and puzzles. They challenge you to try to find the mathematical rules needed to continue the series. This time, we present you with this simple challenge: 1, 11, 21, 1211,…. What’s the next number?
The solution to this puzzle is obvious!
You do a lot of arithmetic to figure out the next number, but it’s easier than it sounds. There is a pattern in 1, 11, 21, 1211, but the solution is not to try multiple math calculations, but to name the sequence out loud and realize that each number is not the same. So, 1 is “one”, 11 is “two” and 21 is “one two, one”.
But Which number continues the sequence? solution Break down the digits in the sequence by describing each digit aloud, only and exclusively in this way we obtain the following figure. The last number in the sequence is 1211, so if we break it down We get the result “one, one, two, two one”: 111221. This sequence is known as Conway’s constant or audio active decay and is infinite.
Number sequence and chain puzzles are already social media classics. This constant, in particular, was introduced by John Conway. He described the construction of the solution as a play on words describing the aforementioned term:
1 “One”
11 “Two in One”
21 “One Two and One”
1211 “One one, one two and two one”
111221 “Three one, two two and one”
312211 “One three, one, two two and two one”
….
In this constant, only digits 1, 2 and 3 are used. Also, another curious fact is that the results of the following number tend to a constant value, which is Conway’s constant: 1.303577269. On the other hand, Conway showed that from a certain point each term of the sequence can be decomposed into 92 subunits, which are still used today to decompose chemical elements.