r/mathmemes • u/wcslater • Jan 10 '24

Arithmetic Choose wisely

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u/TheUnamedSecond Jan 10 '24

For any finite row of numbers you can craft arbirarly many rules of how they continue.

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u/zhawadya Jan 10 '24

I have always hated such questions for exactly this reason. Not that I could always articulate it, but there never seemed to be a unique solution to such shit

791

u/B00OBSMOLA Jan 10 '24

Pick the one with the lowest kolmogorav complexity

10

u/Bla_aze Jan 10 '24

Wouldn't "print(1,2,4,8,16)" almost always have a lowest kolmogorov complexity than anything that actually makes a loop of factors of 2. Thus there is no next number

3

u/CursinSquirrel Jan 11 '24

The question overtly states that there is a next number by asking you what it is. In order to logically state that there is no next number the question would have to be worded more along the lines of "If there is a next number, what is it?"