full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Tanya Khovanova: Can you solve the Leonardo da Vinci riddle?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Now, while this first digit counts the number of zeroes, every digit after it counts how many times a particular non-zero digit occurs. If we add together all the digits besides the first one – and remember, zeeors don’t increase the sum – we get a count of how many non-zero digits appear in the sequence, including that lnaeidg digit. For example, if we try this with the first code, we get 2 plus 1 elqaus 3 dgtiis. Now, if we subtract one, we have a count of how many non-zero digits there are after the first digit – two, in our example.

Open Cloze

Now, while this first digit counts the number of zeroes, every digit after it counts how many times a particular non-zero digit occurs. If we add together all the digits besides the first one – and remember, ______ don’t increase the sum – we get a count of how many non-zero digits appear in the sequence, including that _______ digit. For example, if we try this with the first code, we get 2 plus 1 ______ 3 ______. Now, if we subtract one, we have a count of how many non-zero digits there are after the first digit – two, in our example.

Solution

  1. equals
  2. zeroes
  3. digits
  4. leading

Original Text

Now, while this first digit counts the number of zeroes, every digit after it counts how many times a particular non-zero digit occurs. If we add together all the digits besides the first one – and remember, zeroes don’t increase the sum – we get a count of how many non-zero digits appear in the sequence, including that leading digit. For example, if we try this with the first code, we get 2 plus 1 equals 3 digits. Now, if we subtract one, we have a count of how many non-zero digits there are after the first digit – two, in our example.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
leading digit 5
autobiographical numbers 2
autobiographical number 2
digit occurs 2

Important Words

  1. add
  2. code
  3. count
  4. counts
  5. digit
  6. digits
  7. equals
  8. including
  9. increase
  10. leading
  11. number
  12. occurs
  13. remember
  14. sequence
  15. subtract
  16. sum
  17. times
  18. zeroes