full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Alex Gendler: Can you solve the Alice in Wonderland riddle?
Unscramble the Blue Letters
There’s something even more curious about these numbers: they’re all part of the Fibonacci series, where each number is the sum of the two preceding ones. Fibonacci numbers have two properties that factor in here: first, squaring a Fibonacci number gives you a value that’s one more or one less than the product of the Fibonacci numbers on either side of it. In other words, 8 squared is one less than 5 tmeis 13, while 5 squared is one more than 3 times 8. And second, the ratio between successive Fibonacci nemrubs is quite similar. So similar, in fact, that it eventually converges on the golden ratio. That’s what allows devious royals to construct slopes that look deceptively similar. In fact, the Queen of hartes could cobble together an analogous conundrum out of any four cvciensuote faconbici numbers. The higher they go, the more it seems like the impossible is true. But in the wrods of Lewis Carroll— author of acile in wlnndroaed and an accomplished mathematician who studied this very puzzle— one can’t believe impossible things.
Open Cloze
There’s something even more curious about these numbers: they’re all part of the Fibonacci series, where each number is the sum of the two preceding ones. Fibonacci numbers have two properties that factor in here: first, squaring a Fibonacci number gives you a value that’s one more or one less than the product of the Fibonacci numbers on either side of it. In other words, 8 squared is one less than 5 _____ 13, while 5 squared is one more than 3 times 8. And second, the ratio between successive Fibonacci _______ is quite similar. So similar, in fact, that it eventually converges on the golden ratio. That’s what allows devious royals to construct slopes that look deceptively similar. In fact, the Queen of ______ could cobble together an analogous conundrum out of any four ___________ _________ numbers. The higher they go, the more it seems like the impossible is true. But in the _____ of Lewis Carroll— author of _____ in __________ and an accomplished mathematician who studied this very puzzle— one can’t believe impossible things.
Solution
- consecutive
- wonderland
- alice
- times
- words
- fibonacci
- hearts
- numbers
Original Text
There’s something even more curious about these numbers: they’re all part of the Fibonacci series, where each number is the sum of the two preceding ones. Fibonacci numbers have two properties that factor in here: first, squaring a Fibonacci number gives you a value that’s one more or one less than the product of the Fibonacci numbers on either side of it. In other words, 8 squared is one less than 5 times 13, while 5 squared is one more than 3 times 8. And second, the ratio between successive Fibonacci numbers is quite similar. So similar, in fact, that it eventually converges on the golden ratio. That’s what allows devious royals to construct slopes that look deceptively similar. In fact, the Queen of Hearts could cobble together an analogous conundrum out of any four consecutive Fibonacci numbers. The higher they go, the more it seems like the impossible is true. But in the words of Lewis Carroll— author of Alice in Wonderland and an accomplished mathematician who studied this very puzzle— one can’t believe impossible things.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| fibonacci numbers |
4 |
| queen claps |
2 |
| sides measuring |
2 |
Important Words
- accomplished
- alice
- analogous
- author
- cobble
- consecutive
- construct
- conundrum
- converges
- curious
- deceptively
- devious
- eventually
- fact
- factor
- fibonacci
- golden
- hearts
- higher
- impossible
- lewis
- mathematician
- number
- numbers
- part
- preceding
- product
- properties
- queen
- ratio
- royals
- series
- side
- similar
- slopes
- squared
- squaring
- studied
- successive
- sum
- times
- true
- wonderland
- words