I blogged about this 12 months ago, it’s still a nice puzzler to throw at people. Take dice to your next poker game and when you lose frustrate people with this. Sweet revenge.

I was introduced to “Petals Around the Rose” by Dr. Richard Duke at the University of Michigan . Dr. Duke used to begin each of his gaming/simulation courses with this exercise. While some students would solve the problem right away, others would struggle all semester. It had taken Dr. Duke well over a year himself, and he would always explain that the smarter you were, the longer it took to figure it out.

The game is quite simple. Only a basic understanding of math is required and an open and creative mind. The game can be used as an example of how different people look at the world differently, and how these different ways of looking can yield different answers. In “Petals Around the Rose” there is always one correct answer. The problem is how we define the problem.

Can you solve it? How long did it take? I have to admit it took me a couple hours before I got it, It’s nothing to do with how smart you are, I think it is to do with the way your mind works, how you see a problem. Don’t Google for a solution, you’ll ruin it.

Bill Gates doggedly solved it, but it took a while:

Seven or so people watched without too much trouble. Rich Weiland caught on after another half hour. Paul Allen’s neck got stiff fairly soon and he gave up to read his book. Mark McDonald and Bill Gates hung on grimly.

Funny thing about Bill, he began to get answers right, but not consistently. He admitted that he was remembering throws he’d seen before, along with the answers, but had no plausible theory to account for answers. Remembering?

“Oh, sure,” said the rememberer. “Like this throw…

Roll #14.
The answer is six.

… it’s just like a roll we saw earlier (Roll #9), except that the six this time was a two last time. I don’t know why the answer is the same, but it is.”

The rotten kid must have had two dozen rolls, with answers, committed to memory by the time this discussion came up.

“I think I’d better use a piece of paper,” said Bill, who was by this time the only active player who had still failed to divine the secret.

“Aha,” said he after about an hour and a half of this foolishness. “The answer is four on this roll.”

Roll #15.

“Yes.”

Roll #16.

“And the answer to this is ten.”

He was right again, and he rattled off the next dozen answers without a quiver, declaring that he wasn’t just remembering history now but knew what was going on. Like the others he didn’t feel cheated by the game, but was satisfied that his effort paid off.

Link to flash version fo the game, the text blocks are from Llyod Borrett.

Trackback to my post of a year ago.

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