What is the next number in the series - 12, 1 , 1, 1, 2, 1, ?
Little 11 year old me had the presence of mind to link
to
to
and actually come up with right answer! :)
It was my school quiz competition. I was in the 6th grade and my partners in the team were my school seniors - 8th and 9th grade.
It was the last question and was a tie breaker with one another team who had scored equal to us. A wrong answer would bring down our score and a correct answer would see us through. My two seniors discussed between themselves and decided to pass the question. Something struck me, excited me and I said I know the answer. The two seniors didn't want to take any chance and just ridiculed me. I was jumping on my seat to lift my hand to say the answer. Both of them just asked me to stay quiet. Before my senior was going to say that we would pass, I lifted my hand and shouted 3. 3 turned out to be the correct answer!
Flashback : I was at my grandparents for the summer vacation few months before this quiz and my grand father used to ask me puzzles in the form of stories.
One such puzzle was :- “Little Krishna was a butter thief. He used to steal and eat butter at home and also from all his neighbors. One day he got so greedy that he ate tons of butter and had a tummy ache and couldn’t sleep at night :) He was awake and heard the clock strike once and a little while later he heard the clock strike once. Again after sometime, he heard the clock strike once! He was puzzled as to why is the clock striking just once three time continuously and wondered what could be the time? “
When my grandfather asked me this,I was obviously confused and couldn't get the answer. He said, When the first time clock struck, it was 12:30 and after half an hour it was 1 and again after half an hour it was 1:30. So the next time it strikes, it strikes 2 times to say it is 2 co clock. ( For those who don't know the old clock with pendulum :- The clock strikes once for 1 o’ clock, twice for 2 o’ clock, thrice for 3 o’ clock and so on, but it strikes just once after 30 minutes after 1 o’ clock, 30 min after 2 o’ clock and so on. )
When the quiz master asked me how the answer was the 3, I told how this series is similar to a clock striking! He was very pleased and our team won!. My teachers were very happy and my seniors shook my hands with a sheepish grin and said it was unbelievable.
My teachers asked how I knew the answer. Call it grace or coincidence , my mom had prepared good ‘benne dose’, dosa with butter that morning. I don't know how but I could immediately remember ‘Krishna stealing butter story’ from my grandfather and I had the presence of mind to relate it to the clock puzzle as soon as I saw the number series question! :)
When my grandfather heard this, he was so excited, he thought I had got into MIT or something!
Went home like a boss and had dose with extra butter that day :).
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