Let's do an experiment in perception.

[amerikat]

I was watching a video of a class at Stanford University. The professor
wrote four numbers on a white board.

4 14 23 34 What is the next number and why?

I'm not a scientist and barely graduated high school but I continue to learn
and found this professor very interesting.

[seabeyond]

1. 42? if i did math right. though tired. 10, 9, 11, 8, the next would be 12

up down up down

[amerikat]

4. not up down up down

[seabeyond]

6. uh hu. start at ten. then down to 9. then up to 11. then down to 8. then up to 12. then down

to 7

does to work, lol

[amerikat]

9. It's not necessarily a math problem..hint

[nc4bo]

12. Nevermind (d'oh)- can't wait to see.

I'm a math idiot though :)

[amerikat]

18. This is why it is an experiment in perception

most of us seek a mathematical answer because the question involves numbers

[catabryna]

2. The next number is 65

Because I was born on 04/23/65.

B-)

Happy nearly 46th birthday to me!

[amerikat]

5. you could be correct

or not

[amerikat]

7. and happy birthday in advance.

[amerikat]

3. I'll link to the video and correct answer after some responses.

[catabryna]

8. Can't wait to see your answer...

but, it can't be better than mine! :P

[amerikat]

10. You are at a disadvantage geographicly....hint

[catabryna]

13. Don't be a Debbie Downer...

I'm sticking with my answer. :evilgrin:

BTW: The sign up the road says this is my Easter Funday... don't ruin it! lol!

[Exilednight]

11. 42

start at 4 then sequence +10 +9 +11 +8 +12 +7 +13 +6

It's an old cypher technique.

[amerikat]

15. It's not a math or cypher technique.

you may have the correct answer or not.

[Exilednight]

19. If there's a different answer, then there isn't enough information to determine what the next number

in the sequence would be.

[amerikat]

24. not about math...

you can't get the answer with logic.

[seabeyond]

71. well, geez. no logic. hm. a challenge. lol. nt

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. delete

[amerikat]

16. Nice bug! you may or may not have the correct answer.

if you have the correct answer you arrived from the wrong direction.

[tabatha]

17. The only unknown is

whether one of sequences goes up and the other down.

There is not enough information to know whether the second sequence decreases.

It could be 4 14 23 34 .... 44

[amerikat]

21. If the next number was a decrease millions of people would be

very confused indeed. It's not a math problem. It's a perception thing.

[nc4bo]

22. I had that 44 floating in my dimlit brain....

the word that pushed me there was "perception".

Cool stuff.

[cameozalaznick]

20. 45

That's my guess... 45.

[amerikat]

23. Guessing? you could be correct.

in the film someone guessed 7 billion. and they were wrong.

[shanti]

61. 45...or 5

depends

[amerikat]

65. See the answer near the end of this post.

[amerikat]

25. Atleast one person has the correct answer.

but not for the correct reason.

[defendandprotect]

26. Are the next two numbers 44 and 53?

[amerikat]

31. first number is incorrect. Haven't gone to the sixth number.

although you could be correct on number 6. Not sure

[defendandprotect]

66. How about 42, then 54 -- ? Will keep trying!!

[amerikat]

68. see post 52 for the answer

[amerikat]

28. I'll post a major hint at 1:30 EST or is it dst.. i"ll post a mojor hint

in 13 minutes.

[blondeatlast]

35. cameo? I think I get it but don't want to give it away if I'm right. nt

[amerikat]

40. based on your geographical location

I doubt it.

[shanti]

63. see my answer above

does there have to be a reason?

[Exilednight]

27. If it's not 42, then it's 44. But that's a problem for sequencing. n/t

[amerikat]

29. No sequencing is involved. it's not math it's perception.

[RegieRocker]

30. 44 or 43 or ?

[amerikat]

32. you could be correct or not...why 44 or 43?

[RegieRocker]

38. That is my secret! I'll let you know after answer is revealed.

[catabryna]

33. perception = intuition...

Just helping all you people out who are looking toward logical explanations... :hi:

[amerikat]

39. Thank you. logic and math have nothing to do with the

correct answer:bounce:

[Coyote_Bandit]

34. delete

[darkstar3]

37. Um?

Check again...

[Coyote_Bandit]

45. :-)

I'm sleep deprived and math challenged.

[darkstar3]

46. Sleep deprivation does some strange things, doesn't it?

[boston bean]

36. 44

[tabatha]

42. deleted

[boston bean]

44. yeah, i noticed that and deleted my response.. can't hide any thing around here

LOL

[darkstar3]

41. 42, because the next number is whatever I want it to be.

[amerikat]

43. IT'S TIME FORE THE BIG HINT!!!!

4th, 14th, 23rd, 34th.

[Lars39]

49. Is it...

53rd avenue?

[Recovered Repug]

47. I'm just curious what the answer is

and don't want to loose track of the thread.

[buzzard]

48. Me too,n/t

[amerikat]

50. bookmark this thread. You will want to watch the lecture

that I will post shortly.

[MedleyMisty]

51. Hmm

Answering before reading the rest of the thread.

It could be 44, but that's boring and predictable. 10 9 11 10, a pattern of adding and subtracting one - it'd go on to be 12 11 13 12, etc.

42 is cool - 10 9 11 8, adding one and then subtracting one - it'd go on to be 12 7 13 6. Plus, you know - 42 is the answer. ;)

Trying to look for other patterns that make sense - don't get anything from 4 5 5 7. Haha - I'd totally make a puzzle like 1 12 21, what's the next number? And the answer would be any combination that would add up to 7, so the sums of the number pairs would spell out 1337. :)

Looking at the numbers themselves but not getting anything from that - there is the 1 2 3 pattern but not sure what to do with 4 4 3 4, in that case.

It's late and I haven't eaten much today, so I'm going to stop there.

[amerikat]

52. OK. Here is the answer 42 as in 42nd St. It's a next subway stop

after 34th St in NYC. I hope nobody is disappointed. Like I said it was
an experiment in perception. You needed to have some familiarity with the
NYC subway system to come to a conclusion and the correct answer.

[Lars39]

54. lol

That was fun, amerikat! :hi:

[amerikat]

56. Glad you enjoyed it.

I hope nobody is pissed off. Lot of faceplants for the logical thinkers right about now.
I did tell them it was a perception thing and stressed that it was not a logic or math problem.
What the lecture when you have the time. Well worth watching IMO.

[Lars39]

58. Naw...everybody liked stretching their brains a bit.

Got it booked marked. Looks good. :)

[amerikat]

60. I like a good brain teaser myself. Watch the video.

I think these perceptions have a great deal of weight in the political world.

[defendandprotect]

69. Shame, shame!! I'm a old New Yorker -- and traveled that route often -- !!

Trying to recall what came after 42nd St -- been a long time --

think it was 54th St -- Wow!!

:)

[seabeyond]

72. booooo.. all the people that arent in ny are out of luck. boooo.

my son was figure we ougth to put up the names of pres and say, what is next. we have an area where the streets are all named after pres

[RegieRocker]

73. Pffffft

[amerikat]

53. Thanks for participating in this experiment.

Kudos to Seabeyond. Exiledknight and Darkstrar3. all had correct answers but
for all the wrong reasons. This was and experiment in perception. Many tried to apply logic and math
to arrive at the conclusion. Well this was fun for me. I hope it was fun for you.

[seabeyond]

74. wink.

i got my answer before hubby like way fast. was good for his ego. even though our answer wrong.

[amerikat]

55. Here is the link to the lecture on human biology.

http://www.openculture.com/2011/03/freesapolskycourse.html

have fun!

amerikat

[catabryna]

64. Bookmarked...

I'm listening to music at the moment. But, we know what it is, and what it ain't.

;)

[amerikat]

67. Thank you for participating in this experiment.

[defendandprotect]

70. Thanks -- saved it -- can't watch right now!! :)

[provis99]

57. these are famous bible passages written by Paul regarding Christ

Philippians (chp4) 4-14, Romans (chp8) 23-34.

The next series could be 1 Corinthians (chp12) 12-27.

They cover the same themes,

Maybe your prof was subconsciously channeling his inner Christian?

[amerikat]

59. I'll look into that. bookmarking my own thread for

future study.

[provis99]

62. oops. I posted this after you gave the answer.

Never would have guessed it was New York subway stops!

[seabeyond]

75. love it prov. how totally creative. yea. nt

[Donald Ian Rankin]

76. Any number you like can be the 5th term of a quintic sequence with those first four terms.

More generally, one can find a polynomial whose first n terms are any sequence of n numbers.