Author: David Savitt and Chris Morse
This puzzle is based around the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences,
which can be found at http://www.research.att.com/~njas/sequences.
The misspelling of Sloan as Sloane in the flavour text clues Neil Sloane,
the compiler of the encyclopedia. (More obliquely, the puzzle's title
has acronym EIS, as does the Encyclopdia. Not that that will help anyone.)
The EIS is fairly well-known among mathy types, so it's reasonable to expect
people to figure this out.
When the solver enters the given sequence into the EIS, they'll find a
message like the following (in addition to a thorough description of the
sequence): "Congratulations! You've found the MIT IAP Mystery Hunt
Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences puzzle. Go to http://whatever for
instructions on finding the next sequence." (As of writing this solution,
we have not yet finalised the URL.)
At that URL, they see a web page with a form. They're told to note that
each sequence in the EIS has an identifying A-number, and that they should
enter the A-number from the sequence they just found into the form.
The CGI script waits 90 seconds and then tells them if they're right or
wrong. If right, they receive a list of trivia questions whose answers
form the next sequence. After the fifth set of trivia, they're told
that the answer to the puzzle is ASSOCIATION.
NOTES ON THE TRIVIA
--------------------------------------------------
The sets of trivia in order:
A. McLean
B. Guy
C. Kearns
D. Nill
E. Adams (the second one)
F. Schwab
G. Schaefer
A. Number of Oscar nominations for Cloris Leachman
B. Number of times Gary Player won the Masters
C. Number of Dancing Queen on ABBA Gold
D. Number of US Presidents named Stephen
E. Date in December, 1990 that Dimitar Popov was elected Premier by parliament
F. Length in days of the race Wilfred enters to impress Phyllis
G. Number of Abercrombie and Fitch stores in Delaware
H. Number of daughters of Queen Elizabeth II
A. Number of Nobel Laureates named Taylor
B. Number of ASL letter signs that involve hand movements
C. Number of blue stripes on a Uruguayan flag
D. Chromosome in Dr. Jack Stapleton's interest
E. Number of years the Dow Jones Industrial Average had a maximum between
1000 and 2000.
F. Highest course number Chris Morse will teach this year at Tufts
G. Isotope of sodium with a 1.07 s half-life
A. Number of sets of false ribs in humans
B. Number of elements that are liquids in their standard state
C. Number of the ventricle where Meynert's commissure extends to its base
D. Number of nitrogens in purapuridine
E. Number of punts returned for a touchdown by Dave Meggett in the 1990 season
F. Number of Gilligan's Island principals who appeared on the Brady Bunch
G. Wind Chill temperature (nearest whole number) with a temperature of
30F and 25 mph wind
A. Number of signers of the Declaration of Independence for New Hampshire
B. Number of the page in Chris Morse's Ph.D. thesis featuring a Harry
Chapin song
C. Number of dissenting justices in Bowers v. Hardwick
D. Date in October 1992 of Child Heath Day
E. B vitamin called pyridoxine
F. Digit that completes 28_ for Liz's exchange
G. Book of the Odyssey in which the blind minstrel sings at the banquet
---------------------------------------------------------------
Answers to the trivia:
Set 1. These are all jersey numbers of members (past and present) of the
Vancouver Canucks NHL team. There are a few hitches, though. (First of all,
put all these names into a search engine simultaneously, and up comes a
completely unrelated web page listing naval cadets who received promotions.
Each name is associated to a number too. The reason that a list of Canucks
doesn't come up is that Corey Schwab wasn't acquired until this season, so
he's not on the list.)
1st sequence
------------
A. Kirk McLean wore #1
B. Kevan Guy wore #2
C. Dennis Kearns wore #6
D. Jim Nill wore #8
E. Greg C. Adams wore #22 (There was also a Greg Adams who wore #8.)
F. Corey Schwab wore #32 in the three games he played before going to the minors.
G. Peter Schaefer wears #72, though he changed from #29 in midseason this year.
Sequence Number: A045654
The other sequences didn't give people as much trouble.
2nd sequence
------------
A. 1 (imdb)
B. 3
C. 1 (CDnow)
D. 1 (Grover Cleveland)
E. 7 (though he didn't take office until Dec. 20th)
F. 6 (imdb; the movie "Six Day Bike Race")
G. 1 (abercrombie.com)
H. 1 (Margaret)
Sequence Number: A008277
3rd sequence
------------
A. 2 (Joe & Richard)
B. 2
C. 4
D. 6
E. 10
F. 16
G. 26
Sequence Number: A006355
4th sequence
------------
A. 5 (not 3)
B. 2
C. 3
D. 1
E. 1
F. 2
G. 1
Sequence Number: A016510
5th sequence
------------
A. 3
B. 4 (look in the library, or call his mom!)
C. 4
D. 5 (health day, not heath day)
E. 6
F. 8 (Butterfield 8)
G. 8
Sequence Number: A029072
Answer after getting the last sequence: ASSOCIATION
One can't use the EIS to search for sequences with gaps; however, note
that one didn't need to solve all the trivia in one set to get to the next
set: once one gets three or four consecutive answers, that's often enough
to cut down the search to under 100 sequences, and from there one can look
for sequences matching your other (nonconsecutive) answers.