Flibbertigibbet

Puzzle Answer

If you're interested in the answer to the "puzzle" I made up the other day, look in the extended entry area of this post.

The first one came from this:

My best friend was working on his website and had grid of numbers laid out to denote where it would put samples of his work for his portfolio and staring at the grid made me come up with that series.

The last number in the series is 5.

This reminded me of the American Flag.

I can't look at the field of stars on the American flag without my eyes tracing the two bouncey paths over the stars. By numbering the stars, I got the second series I presented to you:

So, the next four numbers in the series I gave you are: 33, 27, 21, 15.

That one was a little harder because the rows alternate in length, which would mess up the pattern of adding and subtracting that you'd saw in the first one. Also, I didn't give you very many "bounces" to reveal a clear pattern, either.

Anyway, there you go.

I was just thinking about this as a possible method for encrypting messages. I wonder if people have done this before. I'm sure they have. Does anyone have a reference?