Singularity is a game whereby participants each guess a number
and the winner is the lowest non-repeated number. Over 10 years
ago Scientific AmeriKen set out to determine how massive numbers
of people would affect the outcome of the game. The original singularity
experiment lasted one year, but despite this length of time and
that each person was allowed 100 entries, the singularity turned
out to be number 85. In this experiment Scientific AmeriKen repeats
this experiment - but extended the entry time frame to 10 years!
The number 85 as as singularity was a surprise in the one year
experiment as a higher number was certainly expected. Given the
contest length is 10 years, that each individual gets up to 100
guesses per email address, and contestants have the previous competition's
results - it is the hypothesis of this experiment that the winning
number will be greater than the one year experiment.
The methodology followed exactly as the first iteration of this
experiment, these include: Allow for a greater number of entries
to increase numbers, of up to 100 guesses per email address which
could allow for an infinite number of guesses of they so chose.
The data was mined using the programming language SQL to determine
the participant with the lowest non-duplicated number. Unlike
the first experiment that offered a grand prize of $50.00, the
winner of this experiment would receive "AN ENORMOUS PRIZE".
| |
Singularity 1 |
Singularity 2 |
| Years |
1 |
10 |
| Singularity |
85 |
36 |
| Top Singularities |
85, 87, 113, 114, 116, 122, 125, 128, 129, 130 |
36, 38, 40, 41, 48, 51, 52, 53, 55, 57 |
| Highest number guessed |
7209430220 |
99999999999 |
| Median Guess |
188 |
1313 |
| Number of people who used maximum guesses |
8 |
2 |
Winner - Duggo - number 36 -- prize: Scientific AmeriKen Grande
Mug*
* Unfortunately this enormous prize has been discontinued in the 10 years since this experiment started. The winner of this experiment will receive nothing.**
** Actually, we'll probably give the winner a T-shirt or something.***
*** That something might just be an exciting $25.00 shopping spree at the Scientific Ameriken Online Store!
With the exciting conclusion of the 10 year SINGULARITY2 experiment, Scientific AmeriKen is proud to announce Duggo the winner! Interestingly, despite the knowledge gained from singularity 1, the participants of this iteration did not choose the proven technique of guessing every number between 1 and 100, except the winner Duggo. Perhaps the fear of knowing that the contest would last 10 years scared many into guessing larger numbers - which is evidenced by a 10-fold increase in the median guess. Also, although dates of the entries were not kept, routine maintainence of the database showed that most of the guesses happened in the first year. Scientific AmeriKen believes this is probably due to less effort advertising the experiment and not due to a drop in the popularity of the singularity game that was all the rage 10 years ago (Because obviously Singularity is just as fun as ever!). One other factor is the $50 prize in Singularity 1 may have been more enticing than an "ENORMOUS PRIZE" in Singularity 2. Due to lack of data, Scientific AmeriKen will just acknowledge this as a possibility for now. In all, Scientific AmeriKen thanks all the participants over the 12 years of the Singularity experiments and looks forward to the possibility of a 100 year long, Singularity3.
