All discussion relevant to Countdown that is not too spoilerific. New members: come here first to introduce yourself. We don't bite, or at least rarely.
Martin Bishop wrote:I wouldn't recommend discussing politics with Carol, though...
Why on earth not?
She made an embarrassing appearance on Question Time a few years ago. She clearly knew very little beyond what she reads in the Daily Mail and approached every subject with the sort of indignant moral outrage one would expect.
Ian Fitzpatrick wrote:Can someone explain the magic in "the product of two primes", Rachel mentions it often and I feel I should know it but I'm afraid it has escaped me. Thanks.
I think it's just that there is a way of getting the target by multiplying 2 smaller numbers, but only one so it's hard to spot.
If someone gets a solution like 17×23 it's quite clever because it doesn't break down any further and it's hard to spot. But unless they're both at least 13, it's not any cleverer than any other solution and not particularly interesting so I'm not sure why she mentions it.