Spoilers for Thursday 11th December SF2

[Ben Hunter]

It's maths grads Martin Bishop and Junaid Mubeen battling it out to play Charlie Reams in tomorrow's final. Their ability on the numbers is the common denominator, but will the letters rounds prove to be the difference between two squares?

[Matt Morrison]

Love your intro Ben!

R3: obviously I spotted HARDON instantly, and had an internal chuckle. Was surprised when I thought I heard Martin actually declare it!

[Paul Howe]

AGOGICS

Stolen from Ben Pugh I think.

[Charlie Reams]

the difference between two squares?

Never prime, you mean? (Well, apart from 5.)

I got AGOGICS in the green room. Maybe I should've posted it before the end of the round, then I would've looked really cool.

[Kai Laddiman]

No Martin, DON'T SAY MOANIER!...too late.

NEUROMIA?

[Craig Beevers]

RAMEQUIN any good in ODE? At the time I wondered if another vowel was picked to secure that 8 as the darren.

[Harry Whitehouse]

Handiman?

[Ray Folwell]

Handiman?

No, it's spelt HANDYMAN

[Matt Morrison]

7 x 5 = 35, + 3 - 1 = 37
37 x 25 = 925
- 3 = 922, still one away but an easier option than Junaid's

[Ben Wilson]

Yay, I got 924 same way as Junaid. Bit disappointed EXONUMIA^ isn't ODE-friendly though (and it doesn't take an S in Collins anyway, it already being a plural).

[David Gunn]

7 x 5 = 35, + 3 - 1 = 37
37 x 25 = 925
- 3 = 922, still one away but an easier option than Junaid's

I got 922 that way too, and beat Martin in the first numbers game with
(6x5x25)+(4x3)+7=769.

[Kai Laddiman]

the difference between two squares?

Never prime, you mean? (Well, apart from 5.)

What about 3? (4-1)

And 7? (16-9)

And 11? (36-25)

And 17? (81-64)

...

[Philip Jarvis]

Equallers not mentioned on show - R3 ANOTHER; R9 REPINED.

I managed to get ANXIOUS and surprised myself by pipping Junaid by 3 points.

Looking forward to the final tomorrow.

[John Brackstone]

pederast as an equaller

[Paul Howe]

the difference between two squares?

Never prime, you mean? (Well, apart from 5.)

What about 3? (4-1)

And 7? (16-9)

And 11? (36-25)

And 17? (81-64)

...

Not to rub it in (well maybe just a little bit), but every prime apart from 2 can be expressed as the difference of two squares, just set a = ceil(p/2),b = flr(p/2) and p = a^2 - b^2.

Shame Martin couldn't quite capture the consistency of his previous outings today, but Charlie vs Junaid should be a cracking final, looking forward to eventually watching it sometime next week.

[Martin Gardner]

I said the winner of this game would be the favourite for the final, I'm a little unsure now! Neither player played as well as their previous game (as mentioned before, they dropped 8 points combined in 30 rounds of Countdown). I thought PRECASTED^ while very very unlucky, although I was a bit surprised at SOMAINE^ as Martin can still mathematically win if he plays a six. In fact even if it's ok, he still needs to get both the numbers game and the conundrum without Junaid getting either so there's no advantage to it. And of course if it's disallowed (very very likely) it costs him the game. But then you can't see the score when you're playing - you're the only people in the studio that can't!!!

[Charlie Reams]

Not to rub it in (well maybe just a little bit), but every prime apart from 2 can be expressed as the difference of two squares, just set a = ceil(p/2),b = flr(p/2) and p = a^2 - b^2.

Okay, good point. I was getting at the obvious factorisation of m²-n², but I forgot that it can still be prime if m=n+1.

[Eoin Monaghan]

Not quite as good as 'agogics' but I checked in the dictionary and got 'coggie'. A variation of 'cogie' apparently

[Kirk Bevins]

Not quite as good as 'agogics' but I checked in the dictionary and got 'coggie'. A variation of 'cogie' apparently

COGGIE is not in ODE2r I'm afraid.

[Eoin Monaghan]

Not quite as good as 'agogics' but I checked in the dictionary and got 'coggie'. A variation of 'cogie' apparently

COGGIE is not in ODE2r I'm afraid.

Thanks Kirk for that (wink,wink) I checked at the end of the game so it didn't amke a difference to my score

[Martin Bishop]

I was a bit surprised at SOMAINE^ as Martin can still mathematically win if he plays a six. In fact even if it's ok, he still needs to get both the numbers game and the conundrum without Junaid getting either so there's no advantage to it. And of course if it's disallowed (very very likely) it costs him the game. But then you can't see the score when you're playing - you're the only people in the studio that can't!!!

I was very aware of the score. I knew that, as I only had a five (rubbish, I know), I had to try something ridiculous or I would have lost. If SOMAINE happened to be in, I'd never have forgiven myself.