Did you solve it? A magical melody from the Mozart of math
Earlier today, I set a puzzle by UCLA professor Terry Tao, who is widely regarded as one of the world’s top mathematicians.
TL;DR
- A puzzle involves two plant types: regular (1 coin/day) and mother (1 coin, 2 seeds/day).
- Seeds grow into regular plants the following day.
- The puzzle asks for coin totals on specific days, a general formula, and initial conditions based on a Day 10 total.
- The number of coins at the end of Day X is given by the polynomial ax^2 + bx + c.
- With 427 coins at the end of Day 10, the initial values are a=4, b=2, and c=7.