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I am organising a lottery and Springer have kindly agreed to donate two copies of LaTeX and Friends.

The lottery closes when the judge (I) announces the winners. The judge's decision is final and there shall be no discussion and or correspondence about the outcome of the lottery.

To win the book you must guess a number in the range 1--200 and post it as an answer to this question. The first person who guesses the right number wins the book. Please note that the time of arrival in TeX-SX is what counts, not the time of sending.

To give everybody a fair chance, you may post only two numbers.

There is one exception to the previous rule. If several contestants guess the same number, the contestant whose guess arrived first is valid. The other contestants may post a new number.

Contestants must have been a member of TeX-SX before 1 December, 2016. (Without this restriction, people may start creating fake accounts and submit multiple guesses.)

Please post your guesses as an answer to this meta question; not as a comment. Comments will be ignored. Please only put your guess in the body of the answer.

Guesses will be checked every couple of days and the winner will be announced within a few days after.

The winners must send me a delivery address for the book to my personal email address. I shall keep these addresses private. If a winner wants to have their book signed, I can do so at their request.

The following numbers have been taken (numbers marked with ●●● are already chosen):

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|020|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|034|035|●●●|●●●|●●●|039|040|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|046|●●●|●●●|049|050|●●●|●●●|●●●|054|●●●|056|●●●|058|059|●●●|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|062|●●●|●●●|065|●●●|●●●|068|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|074|075|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|080|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|082|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|092|●●●|●●●|●●●|096|●●●|●●●|●●●|100|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|102|103|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|114|●●●|●●●|●●●|118|●●●|120|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|122|●●●|124|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|138|●●●|●●●|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|145|●●●|●●●|148|●●●|150|●●●|●●●|153|●●●|●●●|●●●|157|158|159|160|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|161|●●●|163|164|●●●|●●●|167|●●●|●●●|170|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|176|●●●|178|●●●|●●●|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|●●●|182|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|190|●●●|●●●|193|●●●|195|196|●●●|●●●|●●●|●●●|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT: This is not getting anywhere. All guesses are wrong so far:( From 18 December, 21:14 GMT on, everybody is allowed to submit up to two guesses.

EDIT: 48 was one of the winning numbers. Congratulations to Torbjørn. One more number to go.

EDIT: We're almost there. Only one guess has been right so far:( From 22 December, 11:49 GMT, 2016 on, each (valid) contestant (see above for rules) is allowed to submit up to three guesses.

EDIT: 124 was the second winning number. Congratulations to Ryan. End of lottery.

13
  • Thanks for moving this to Meta to @JosephWright. I should have put it there in the first place.
    – user10274
    Commented Dec 12, 2016 at 16:36
  • »Comments will be ignored.« ;(
    – Henri Menke
    Commented Dec 12, 2016 at 20:35
  • Thanks to @paulocereda. Didn't understand the system. Makes much more sense this way as you don't have guess when crossing out a number.
    – user10274
    Commented Dec 13, 2016 at 10:40
  • 1
    Do I have to punch out the number myself? - Ah, I even cannot click Edit.
    – mhchem
    Commented Dec 13, 2016 at 12:57
  • @mhchem If you can't do it, somebody will do it for you. It depends how much reputation you have ;).
    – cfr
    Commented Dec 13, 2016 at 17:54
  • 2
    How is it possible, that this question has 80 answers, but only 25 upvotes???
    – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz
    Commented Dec 16, 2016 at 10:51
  • @samcarter They were too busy in finding a random number to remember to upvote the question :)
    – CarLaTeX
    Commented Dec 18, 2016 at 8:21
  • 1
    @CarLaTeX Ah, that's a comforting explanation!
    – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz
    Commented Dec 18, 2016 at 11:03
  • 4
    @MarcvanDongen Many thanks to you and to Springer for the chance! :)
    – cxw
    Commented Dec 20, 2016 at 15:31
  • Congratulations to the winners! Thank you Springer for sponsoring. Thanks everyone for your great work!
    – Jan
    Commented Dec 21, 2016 at 8:31
  • @cwx Thanks and thanks to everybody for participating.
    – user10274
    Commented Dec 21, 2016 at 13:09
  • 7
    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because people won :)
    – percusse
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 12:07
  • @percusse I second that motion.
    – user10274
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 13:20

123 Answers 123

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  1. (081). Because I want to win!!!!!
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  • Number punched!
    – CarLaTeX
    Commented Dec 18, 2016 at 9:42
0

146

this is my second guess

1
  • Number punched!
    – CarLaTeX
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 6:39
0

Well … really, no Lua?

%!TEX TS-program = lualatex
\documentclass{article}
\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{document}
\Huge\directlua{tex.sprint(math.random(200))}
\end{document}

Using this I chose 067. That must be exactly right, it was computed with a computer.

… and I chose an additional number as granted. It’s the 197, and this must be correct, too, because it was computed with a computer, too.

Punched it out myself, this time. Sorry if this wasn’t correct.

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  • Number punched!
    – CarLaTeX
    Commented Dec 18, 2016 at 10:46
0

125, 187 answer must be at least 30 characters

1
  • Numbers punched!
    – CarLaTeX
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 6:40
0

Let's just pick 43 and 143 semi-randomly.

1
  • Numbers punched
    – CarLaTeX
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 6:38
0
  1. Just because I saw this number wasn't taken by anyone.
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0

Thanks very much for this cool betting game. I already feel lucky that I just stumbled across it.

But let's guess some numbers to see if I can reach even more.

71 and 172

A nice Christmas time to all of you!

0

I choose the numbers 44 and 133.

1
  • New numbers punched!
    – CarLaTeX
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 6:58
0

Let it be 005 (my second choice).

1
  • Number punched.
    – Torbjørn T.
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 12:32
0

79 and 52, in that order. No fewer, no less.

1
  • Numbers punched.
    – Torbjørn T.
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 12:33
0

I choose 16 and 98 in that order.

1
  • Numbers punched.
    – Torbjørn T.
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 12:34
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083 and 084 because ... nothing.

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  • I marked them as taken in list of numbers in the question.
    – Torbjørn T.
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 14:59
0

My numbers are 030 and 100 I hope I will win............ :)

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  • 1
    I'm afraid that, being a member for only a week, you're not actually eligible to enter. See the rules in the question.
    – Torbjørn T.
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 14:56
0

I'll go for 87 and 132 - because of reasons...

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  • 1
    I marked them as taken in list of numbers in the question.
    – Torbjørn T.
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 15:05
0

154 for the first guess

194 for the second one

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  • Numbers punched.
    – Torbjørn T.
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 12:33
  • Sorry, I meant to say that I punched the numbers for you, they were not already taken. So I'll remove your two new guesses from this answer.
    – Torbjørn T.
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 14:58
  • Ok. My mistake. Thank you.
    – Jérôme Dequeker
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 15:38
  • No worries, I see that my first comment could be misunderstood.
    – Torbjørn T.
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 15:40
0

I'd love 55 because it is nicely framed by 054 and 056.

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  • I marked it as taken in the first post.
    – Torbjørn T.
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 18:25
0

I will go with

66

and 140

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  • I have punched it
    – Stormvirux
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 16:33
0

89 and 116

And I am wondering how the book might be sent? in pdf?

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  • 1
    It's a physical copy, of paper, so regular old snail mail. Edit: I edited the first post, so your numbers are marked as taken.
    – Torbjørn T.
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 17:41
  • @TorbjørnT. Thanks.
    – Troy Woo
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 17:45
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I choose the numbers 19 and 91

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Let my second answer be 51. No particular reason.

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Boy, for some reason 60 is also calling my name.

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61 because it is the smallest Centered hexagonal number left

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I will have 018. But surely we all have zero probability of success, unless the answer is an integer? Hope springs eternal...
Second guess: 041, for the rare case when 42 doesn't quite work.

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  • I marked those as taken in the first post.
    – Torbjørn T.
    Commented Dec 20, 2016 at 10:10
0

My third and last guess is 136

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I choose the number 29 and 134.

0

Chosen by purely mental processes:

32

109

0

I'll take a shot with following numbers: 70 and 189.

0

My third choice is 170 ....................

0

I'll guess 158!

Second Guess 124.

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  • Good man yourself. That's the second winning number. Please send me your snail-mail details and I will send a copy of the book as soon as I have it. Do you want the book signed?
    – user10274
    Commented Dec 20, 2016 at 21:15
  • @MarcvanDongen No kidding? My bad day just turned around! Signed for sure!
    – Ryan
    Commented Dec 20, 2016 at 23:18
0

Only now I saw this topic. Hopefully I could vote.

I choose 102 103 068

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