The Surprising Maths of Britain’s Oldest* Game Show

⬣ ABOUT ⬣
First broadcast in 1982, Countdown is iconic British TV. Its numbers game is the perfect balance of challenge and simplicity. In this video, I analyse the hidden mathematics of the game: What are the hardest targets, best numbers to draw, and optimal tactics?

⬣ TIMESTAMPS ⬣
00:00 – Introduction
04:46 – How Many Possible Games?
10:00 – Reachable Numbers from a Given Game Set
14:00 – Results and Tactics: Small Numbers
24:00 – Results and Tactics: Large Numbers
31:00 – Scary Numbers
40:05 – Outro

⬣ CHALLENGE ⬣
So to clarify, I want to see a list of the percentage of solvable games for ALL options of large numbers. Like I did for the 15 options of the form {n, n+25, n+50, n+75}, but for all of them. The options for large numbers should be four distinct numbers in the range from 11 to 100. As I said there are 2,555,190 such options so this will require a clever bit of code, but I think it’s possible! Email me via my website if you think you have it!

⬣ FILES ⬣

⬣ INVESTIGATORS ⬣
I’ve never seen that colour on my screen before. I’m hoping you excel yourself and slug out the solution. Now is the perfect time to join the investigation.

⬣ REFERENCES ⬣

Blog I mention which uses reverse Polish notation:

⬣ CREDITS ⬣
All music by Danjel Zambo.

Images
Rachel Riley:
Carol Vorderman:
Teapot:
Cecil Korer:
OK Emoji:

B Footage
8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Countdown © Channel 4.
The Chase © ITV.
Have I Got News for You, Only Connect, Pointless, Richard Osman’s House of Games, University Challenge, The Weakest Link, Would I Lie to You? © BBC.
Des Chiffres et Des Lettres © France 3.