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Alan, Bianca, and Charles are counting in turn. Alan says "one," Bianca says "two," and Charles says "three." Then it's Alan's turn again and he says "four." If the pattern continues, who will say "fifty-nine"?

User Pcoving
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2 Answers

6 votes

Final answer:

To find out who will say 'fifty-nine,' we use the equation (59 - 1) mod 3, where the positions are 0 for Alan, 1 for Bianca, and 2 for Charles. The result is 1, so Bianca will say 'fifty-nine'.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine who will say "fifty-nine" in the counting sequence, we need to understand the pattern of counting among Alan, Bianca, and Charles. The sequence starts with Alan saying "one," Bianca saying "two," Charles saying "three," and then it continues with Alan saying "four" and so on. This is a repeating cycle where each person counts one number and then passes the turn to the next person.

Since there are three people in the sequence, we can find out who will say a particular number by using the modulo operation. The number in question is 59. We use the equation (number - 1) mod 3 to find the position in the sequence (where the sequence starts at 0). Applying this equation: (59 - 1) mod 3 = 58 mod 3 = 1. The result corresponds to the position in the cycle: 0 for Alan, 1 for Bianca, and 2 for Charles.

Therefore, since the result of the modulo operation is 1, it will be Bianca who says "fifty-nine" as the cycle of counting continues.

User Roman Melnyk
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6 votes
Bianca would say fifty nine
User Mark Dickinson
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