41
votes

The Duck Giveaway 2016, Seasonal Edition

Friends, the contest is over! The winning number was 50, picked by CarLaTeX. Thanks everybody for joining the contest!

'ello, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, ducks and mallards, children of all ages! It is time for organizing another amazing community lottery, our beloved duck giveaway 2016, seasonal edition! The previous giveaway was a huge success, so let us try that again! Quack!

The prize

The prize will be a lovely duck! Not a real one, I am afraid (note to self: organize another lottery with real ducks in the future), it will be a hand puppet duck:

Quack!

Lovely, isn't it?

Again, why a duck? Why not a lion?

As I mentioned in the thread linked here, I always like to provide examples with ducks when I write answers. To my surprise, the theme got a very positive feedback from the community and it spread to everybody. Of course, a lion would be better, but hey, it's free! And it's a duck! :)

Why a hand puppet?

This will be our third lottery offering a duck puppet and I still have absolutely no idea. But since I got this duck again, I thought it would be a good idea to start a contest! :)

Rules

Rules from last lottery still apply:

  • To win the duck you must guess a number in the range 1-200. The first person who guesses the right number gets the duck.

  • Contestants may submit 2 valid guesses. UPDATE: Let us spice things up! you can now select a third entry! :)

  • Please post your guess as an answer to this meta question, not as a comment.

  • Contestants must have been a member of TeX.sx before 1 November, 2016.

Two additional mentions:

  • If two or more people choose the same number, only the oldest entry will be considered. The other guesses will be automatically disqualified.

  • If you win the contest, I will need your real name and address for shipping and customs purposes (you can contact me through email, so only I will have privileged access). If you seek anonymity, we advise you to not enter this contest.

Please don't forget to edit the punch card with your numbers.


The lottery

As seen in the last lottery, I'll use the following code to pick the winner (special thanks to the awesome LaTeX Project for LaTeX3):

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

\usepackage{expl3}
\usepackage{xparse}

\usepackage{pgf}
\pgfmathsetseed{\number\pdfrandomseed}

\ExplSyntaxOn

\prop_new:N \g_duck_contest_prop
\int_new:N \g_duck_contest_upper_limit_int
\bool_new:N \l_duck_contest_winner_bool
\bool_set_false:N \l_duck_contest_winner_bool
\tl_new:N \l_duck_contest_winner_tl
\int_new:N \l_duck_contest_winning_number_int

\NewDocumentCommand { \person } { m m }
{
    \clist_map_inline:nn { #1 }
    {
        \prop_if_in:NnTF \g_duck_contest_prop { ##1 }
        {
            Hey! ~ #2 ~ wants ~ to ~ be ~ naughty! ~
            The ~ number ~ ##1 ~ was ~ already ~ chosen! \par
        }
        {
            \prop_gput:Nnn \g_duck_contest_prop { ##1 } { #2 }
            \int_gset:Nn \g_duck_contest_upper_limit_int
            {
                \int_max:nn { \g_duck_contest_upper_limit_int } { ##1 }
            }
        }
    }
}

\NewDocumentCommand{ \winner } { }
{
    \bool_do_until:Nn \l_duck_contest_winner_bool
    {
        \pgfmathrandom{1, \g_duck_contest_upper_limit_int}
        \prop_get:NoN \g_duck_contest_prop { \pgfmathresult } \l_duck_contest_winner_tl
        \quark_if_no_value:NF \l_duck_contest_winner_tl
        {
            \bool_set_true:N \l_duck_contest_winner_bool
        }
    }
    \int_set_eq:NN \l_duck_contest_winning_number_int \pgfmathresult
    \l_duck_contest_winner_tl
}

\cs_generate_variant:Nn \prop_get:NnN { No }

\NewDocumentCommand{ \winningnumber } { }
{
    \int_to_arabic:n \l_duck_contest_winning_number_int
}

\ExplSyntaxOff

\begin{document}

% add yourself here
% ==============================
% For example, in the following line
% I picked 1 and 27, but I'm not
% participating in the contest :)
% \person{1,27}{Paulo Cereda}
% ==============================

% the announcement
The winner is \winner, with \winningnumber! Congratulations!

\end{document}

I will run this code with all the contestants, post a video of it and announce the winner. The "accepted answer" in this thread will reflect the winning number.

The date

Hopefully, I will get the code running on December 30, 2016 (Friday), and announce the winner. There will be enough time for guessing the numbers!

Good luck! And by the way, welcome to TeX.sx, the friendliest and most awesome community in the whole StackExchange network! They give us hats, right? We give ducks! Quack! :)


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|037|038|●●●|●●●|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|053|●●●|055|056|057|058|059|●●●|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|065|●●●|067|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|075|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|091|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|●●●|●●●|104|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|118|●●●|●●●|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|122|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|134|135|●●●|●●●|138|139|●●●|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|145|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|150|●●●|152|●●●|154|●●●|156|157|158|●●●|160|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|●●●|163|●●●|165|●●●|167|168|●●●|170|●●●|172|●●●|●●●|175|176|●●●|●●●|179|180|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|182|183|●●●|185|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: Friends, we are now accepting a third entry. I will check the winning number on the answers list, based on the posted date. Note that the edit history will also be considered.

Results

The winner of the duck in this edition is CarLaTeX, and the chosen number was 50! I recorded the results in my terminal and the session is available here. Thanks everybody for joining the contest! And thanks for being part of this amazing community! Quack! :)

5
  • 13
    Aside: We are working on a proper random number function for expl3. Bruno's hopefully going to add something soon (and I'm going to bother the XeTeX people for a couple of primitives)
    – Joseph Wright Mod
    Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 9:14
  • 6
    @JosephWright: oooooh awesome! So ducks do really help LaTeX3 development! :) Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 9:15
  • 4
    Gwych! Bendigedig! Hwyaden!
    – cfr
    Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 1:50
  • 1
    @cfr: I was reflecting that perhaps we need a mathduck package even more than a mathwitch package… ;-)
    – GuM
    Commented Dec 3, 2016 at 3:25
  • 1
    @GustavoMezzetti But witches have cats! Ducks are great, but I'm not sure about putting one on the back of my broomstick ... But it is like trying to choose between cake and biscuits. Can't we have both?!
    – cfr
    Commented Dec 3, 2016 at 3:43

76 Answers 76

5
votes

This time I can participate! Hurrah!

I choose:

10 my favorite number and even the base of any number system

50 something that you should never ask a lady.

My third choice is:

100 thank you Paulo!

5
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – percusse
    Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 14:55
  • Thank you @percusse!
    – CarLaTeX
    Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 15:15
  • 1
    Thanks for joining the contest, buddy! Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 10:14
  • 1
    Yay, a third choice! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:47
  • Congrats, you won the duck! :) Commented Dec 30, 2016 at 9:00
19
votes

According to my random number generator I choose 9 and 99

enter image description here

http://dilbert.com/strip/2001-10-25

4
  • 1
    Thanks for joining the contest, pal! Commented Nov 20, 2016 at 9:04
  • +1 for the comics Commented Dec 8, 2016 at 8:57
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:44
  • @PauloCereda Done!
    – Danu
    Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 14:37
15
votes

12 (For the number of wing feather tips on the last contest duck)

5 (For the number of top knot feather tips on the last contest duck)

enter image description here

p.s. He says you have to rerun the winner selection if these are chosen. (Duckie says "he is unique, and wants to remain unique!!)

3
  • 1
    12 and 5 punched Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 15:19
  • Awwww thanks for posting the duck! :) Good luck! Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 10:13
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:44
9
votes

apparently 0 and 201 I used last time broke the rules, so this time I choose:

0 and 0

Update Third choice now allowed, I choose 0

2
  • 3
    Oh my, if you win, that means I have to give you two ducks?! Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 9:16
  • 5
    @PauloCereda According to the rules (or their natural extension), only the oldest 0 counts. We don't know which one is stored first (which is implementation dependent), but fortunately the winner is the same in both cases. So only one duck, no extra budget required.
    – gernot
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 11:08
8
votes

cathod

024 cat

054 cathod

[cath is already taken :(]

Caveat: I may have counted incorrectly ....

EDIT

Plus 161

TSPCD

Code for pictures is around and about. All ducks courtesy Paulo.

11
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓ Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 9:17
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 10:20
  • @GuilhermeZ.Santos I already did that, didn't I?
    – cfr
    Commented Dec 3, 2016 at 3:46
  • @PauloCereda ^^ I didn't realise people were posting pics ... ;) Best make up for lost time with two cats and three ducks, just to be on the safe side.
    – cfr
    Commented Dec 3, 2016 at 4:00
  • @cfr you did, but it wasn't flagged at the comments like the others, so I flagged it! ;) Commented Dec 3, 2016 at 8:01
  • @GuilhermeZ.Santos Ah, I see. Thanks.
    – cfr
    Commented Dec 3, 2016 at 16:04
  • I choose 31 and 194: the first and the last free in this moment. Commented Dec 14, 2016 at 1:07
  • @PrzemysławScherwentke You have to post it as an answer - not a comment.
    – cfr
    Commented Dec 14, 2016 at 1:43
  • @cfr Thank you! Corrected. Commented Dec 14, 2016 at 19:28
  • 1
    It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:44
  • @PauloCereda Great Quack! 161 ... punched ...
    – cfr
    Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 21:24
7
votes

I choose 101 and 191, the smallest and largest palindromes among the choices. okay, third number: 076.

6
  • 1
    choices 101 and 191 punched. Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 16:43
  • Well if you consider that these numbers always have 3 digits, the smallest palindrome would be 010 I guess. And 1 if you drop the leading 0s.
    – Cimbali
    Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 1:21
  • @Cimbali -- duh ... of course you're correct. (yesterday was a very long day ...) but 010 (and 050) were already taken. Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 3:06
  • Thanks for joining the contest, barbara! Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 10:14
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:44
  • Third number updated! Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:55
7
votes

This contest is awesome.

137 because, if I won, the fine-structure constant (or, in this case, its inverse) would finally have a proper use.

28 because 10^28 is roughly the number of atoms in a duck.

135 because 1.35 is the refractive index of blood plasma across most of the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum (reference).

5
  • 1
    ooh atomic ducks! Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 23, 2016 at 23:38
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – percusse
    Commented Nov 24, 2016 at 2:13
  • Cheers, guys! :)
    – Rain
    Commented Nov 24, 2016 at 19:07
  • 1
    It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:45
  • Thanks! I've updated my post with my third number. I resent 136 and 137 already being chosen, but 135 will have to do. :)
    – Rain
    Commented Dec 29, 2016 at 0:36
6
votes

As always;


131; I'm a random number generator myself and this is the result.

Also another generator agrees;

enter image description here

I have generated another one which is 68.

3
  • 1
    Thanks sir! :) Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 9:27
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – percusse
    Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 10:17
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:45
5
votes

147 (Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben)

125 (no need to explain what opus number this refers to)


Third choice:

97 (currently listening to KV 297), so modulo 200.

3
  • Grazie mille for joining the contest, pal! :) Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 9:27
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – percusse
    Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 10:17
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:45
5
votes

42 for obvious reasons

and

3

edit: I pick 180

3
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 10:31
  • 1
    ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – Ignasi
    Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 11:42
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:46
5
votes

128, because the Dreamcast had quite a few Donald Duck games.

52, because it's 42 in octal and, you know.

EDIT: And 169 because it is a nice number.

5
  • 1
    Numbers punched. Commented Nov 13, 2016 at 14:52
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 13, 2016 at 19:34
  • @PauloCereda why, thank you Commented Nov 13, 2016 at 19:54
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:47
  • @PauloCereda ah nice. Picked and edited and punched. Thank you! Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 17:09
5
votes

4 randomly generated by a fair roll of dice :)

196 because 200 - 4 = 196

34 as third choice. Thanks to @Paulo Cereda for the extra chance! ;)

4
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓ Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 9:17
  • 1
    Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 10:15
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:46
  • @PauloCereda: numbers punched, thanks again ;)
    – Pier Paolo
    Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 18:14
5
votes

30 and 155 stumbled over this while reading about some TeX oddities

Addendum: 179

3
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – percusse
    Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 14:55
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 10:14
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:46
3
votes

I will go for 22 and 87 and some more words ...

4
  • 1
    ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – Ignasi
    Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 11:43
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 13:03
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:48
  • @PauloCereda I saw it, but I choose the numbers for a specific reason and there is no fitting additional number. Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 14:16
3
votes

I'll select two not so random numbers: 8 and 63.

3
  • 1
    ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – Ignasi
    Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 11:43
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 13:03
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:48
3
votes

I will go for 23 and 124 and some lore ipsum...

3
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 13:03
  • 1
    ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – percusse
    Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 14:55
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:48
3
votes

I choose the numbers 071 and 142.

Choices punched.

3
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – percusse
    Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 17:29
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 10:16
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:48
3
votes

I choose the numbers 16 and 116.

4
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓ Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 9:17
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 10:15
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:49
  • My 3rd number: 65
    – mpkuti
    Commented Dec 29, 2016 at 6:46
3
votes

29 and 129 ...............

3
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓ Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 9:17
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 10:15
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:49
3
votes

I choose 2 because it is "one little duck" in bingo and 25 because it's "duck and dive" in bingo.

3
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – gernot
    Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 17:00
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 9:15
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:52
3
votes

After consulting Matlab I decided to try 192 and 126

3
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – gernot
    Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 17:01
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 9:15
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:52
3
votes

\person{127,177}{gernot}

Though the lottery program above can't decide on the number, it tells me each time that I've won. This is a good sign, for sure.

3
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – gernot
    Commented Nov 10, 2016 at 17:01
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 9:15
  • @PauloCereda I thank you for this wonderful idea.
    – gernot
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 11:01
3
votes

I choose you 7 and 107

and...

3
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 9:15
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – gernot
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 9:21
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:52
3
votes

I choose 120 and 130, because people like to pick crooked numbers with 7s at the end for some reason, and I want to swim against the stream (like I give a flying duck).

3
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – percusse
    Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 17:14
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 12, 2016 at 9:00
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:52
3
votes

39 and 36, which is 42 in base 11 and in base 12.

3
  • ooh an owl! :) Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 12, 2016 at 23:34
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – percusse
    Commented Nov 13, 2016 at 20:30
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:53
3
votes

Here are my numbers:

1st Number: 32 (current Paulo Cereda's age, according to his profile page)
2nd Number: 85 because "LaTeX was first developed in 1985 by Leslie Lamport" according to http://www.latex-project.org/intro.html

And yes, I understood that the numbers in the lottery will be randomly picked... but that does not mean my guesses have to be random as well! ;-)

I already punched these two numbers in the original post :-)

5
  • 1
    I am getting old! :) Thanks for joining the contest, pal! Commented Nov 12, 2016 at 23:34
  • @PauloCereda: You're welcome :-) And thank YOU for running this Duck Giveaway again... and for everything you do for the TeX / LaTeX Community.
    – ricmarques
    Commented Nov 12, 2016 at 23:46
  • 1
    @PauloCereda You're very very young, enough to be my son :) ... or, from another point of view, I'm enough old to be your mother :'(
    – CarLaTeX
    Commented Nov 13, 2016 at 10:04
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – percusse
    Commented Nov 13, 2016 at 20:28
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:53
3
votes

I choose 020 and 040, since they’re nice and symmetric. Could some ≥2k user punch ’em for me, please?

3
  • 2
    Numbers are punched ...
    – Mensch
    Commented Nov 15, 2016 at 20:38
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 16, 2016 at 6:03
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:57
3
votes

I choose 015 and 200 as the smallest and biggest numbers available.

3
  • Thanks for joining the contest! Commented Nov 22, 2016 at 8:28
  • ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – percusse
    Commented Nov 24, 2016 at 2:13
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:58
3
votes

I'm going for 162 and 193, otherwise known as ●●● and ●●●.

1
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 14:06
3
votes

I'll take the numbers 119 and 199


Update: third number: 132

5
  • Thanks for joining the contest! :) Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 10:04
  • 1
    ✓ numbers punched ✓
    – percusse
    Commented Nov 9, 2016 at 10:16
  • It is now possible to pick a third number! Hurry! :) Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:47
  • @PauloCereda updated
    – daleif
    Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:49
  • 1
    Third number updated! Commented Dec 28, 2016 at 13:56

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