AdrianneSantaRomana

POW#1ATimelyPhoneTree
September21,2016
ProblemDescription
Leighandherfriendsareonlyallowedtomakephonescallsfor1houronaschoolnight.Theyhave
decidedthatthemostefficienttospreadnewswastomakethreeminutecallsthroughoutthehour.Itwasenough
timetomakeacall,telltheessentialsofthesituation,andhangupthecall.TheplanisLeighwillbeginacallwith
Mikeforthreeminutes.Attheendofthecall,MikewillcallanotherfriendwhileLeighmakesaseparatephonecall.
Oncethethreeminuteshavepassedthosefourwilleachcallsomeonenew,andthepatterncontinues.Ourgoalisto
findouthowmanypeoplewillhaveheardthenewsbytheendofthehourwiththeinformationgiven.
Italwaystakesthreeminutestomakeaconnectionandcompleteacall
Noonecallsapersonwhohasalreadybeencalled
Thecallernevergetsabusysignal

Process
Tostarttheproblem,Idecidedtofindouthowmanycallscanbemadeinthehour,ifeachcallisthree
minuteslong.SoIdivided60(numberofminutesinanhour)by3(callduration)andIarrivedattheanswerof20
callsinonehour.Ialsothoughttomyself,Ohtheyjustdoubleeachtime!FromthereInumberedeachcalland
wrotehowmanypeoplearemakeacallandhowmanypeopleknowthenewsbytheendofthatthreeminutes.SoI
createdthetablebelow:
*24hourTime
2000
12
2003
24
2006
48
2009
816
2012
1632

2015
3264
2018
64128
2021
128256
2024
256512
2027
5121024

2030
10242048
2033
20484096
2036
40968192
2039
819216384
2042
1638432768

2045
3276865536
2048
65536131072
2051
131072262144
2054
262144524288
2057
5242881048576
2100

Iknewthatthiswasntenough,andIneededtogodeeperintotheproblemandchallengemyself.Idecided
todrawouteachstepindividuallytoseeeachcall.Thishelpedmevisuallyseewhatwasgoingon,whowascalling
whoatwhattime.Asshowninthediagrambelowisthatthepreviousstepisdoubledtoreachthecurrentstep.For
example


AdrianneSantaRomana
POW#1ATimelyPhoneTree
September21,2016

ThisiswhereInoticedapatternthatthisproblemhadtodowithexponents,sinceonenumber(inthiscase
2)ismultipliedbyitselfacertainnumberoftimes.Inthefirstcall,2peopleknowthenewsthatisbeingspread.
Theninthenextcall2morepeopleknowwhichisdoublefromthefirst.The3rdcall4newmembersinthecall
whichisdoublefromtheprevious.ThiswentontillLeighmadeher20thcallorthelast3minutecallsaremadein
thehour.
LookingatthediagramInoticedthe2wouldbetothepowerofwhatevercall/stepnumberitis.Soforthe
4thcallitwilllooklikethis:
4

2222=2

Solution
Fromthediagramaboveitshowsthatthecallnumbercorrespondstotheexponentthatismultipliedbythe
base,whichis2.With20threeminutecallsforthewholehour,thenumbertwowasmultipliedbyitself20times.

220 = 1, 048, 576

Attheendofthehour,almostthewholecityofSanDiegowillknowaboutthenewsthatLeighandher
friendswanttogetacross.Iftheywantedtofindouthowmanypeoplewouldknowregardlessofhowmanycalls
thewouldsimplyjustplacethecallnumberintheequation2n ,wheren representswhichcallitisintheline.

Extension
Iftheycouldreachthenewstoover1millionpeoplewithonlythreeminutecalls,howmanypeoplewould
knowthenewsifitwere5minutes,7minutes,and9minutes.Whatwouldhappenitonepersoncangetaholdof2
people?Doesthepatternlooksimilartothethreeminutecalls?Howdotheendgoalsrelatetooneanother?

HonorsExtension
Leighandherfriendsaregivenanewconstraint,thateachoneofthemcanonlymaketwophonecalls
duringthehour.Withthesamethreeminutecallforthehourandanewrule,howmanypeoplewillhaveheardthe
newsattheendofthehour?
ItwasmoredifficulttocreateatablelikeIdidinthepreviousproblem,becauseIwouldalwaysconfuse
myselfwithwhatstepIwasonandhowmanypeoplearecalling.Instead,Iusedasimilardiagramasthelastoneso
thatIcouldgettheinformationvisually.Colourcodingthecallsmadeiteasiertoseehowmanycallshaveeach
personmade.Witharestrictionoftwocalls,everytimethepersonasmadetheirsecondcalltheywouldntappearin
thediagrambecausetheyveuseduptheircalls.


AdrianneSantaRomana
POW#1ATimelyPhoneTree
September21,2016

Fromthis,Ihadrealizedthatthenumberofpeoplecallingineachstepincreasesinrelationtothefibonacci
sequence.Ialsorealizedthatitsnotjustthenumberofpeoplecallingdoubledbutthatthepeoplewhohavealready
calledneededtobeaccountedfor..Insteadofcreatingmorediagramswhichwouldtakeupmoretime,Ithought
aboutcreatingatablewouldbeusefultothissituation.
Call#

#of
People
calling

Total#
of
people

Total
who
knows
news

Call#

#of
People
calling

Total#
of
people

Total
who
knows
news

11

144

288

376

12

233

466

609

13

377

754

986

10

12

14

610

1220

1596

16

20

15

987

1974

2583

13

26

33

16

1597

3194

4180

21

42

54

17

2584

5168

6764

34

68

88

18

4181

8362

10945

55

110

143

19

6765

13530

17710

10

89

178

232

20

10946

21892

28656

Fromthistable,Inoticedthatthetotalnumberofpeoplewhoendupknowingthenewsisjustbasically
addingtheprevioustotaltothenextsetofcallers.Ifeachfriendhadalimitof2callsinthehour,thenumberof


AdrianneSantaRomana
POW#1ATimelyPhoneTree
September21,2016
peoplewhoknowthenewsisonlyabout3%ofhowmanypeopleknewifeveryonecalledtheentirehour.The2%
28656
camefromdividingthetwototalsbyoneanother. 1048576 =0.027=3%.So,attheendofthehour,withthe
constraints28,656peoplewillhaveheardthenews.

SelfReflection
AsIstartedthePOW,Inoticedthatitinvolvedpatternstofindouthowmanypeopleheardthenews.This
problemdefinitelygavemeanewperspectiveonmathandhowtoapproachsituationssimilartothisones.Ibelieve
thatthiskindofproblemwillhelpmeinthefuturewhenIfacethem.TheproblemcameeasytomeandIfoundthe
answerfairlyquickly.However,mygoalistodivedeeperandfindouthowthisproblemisbrokendownandwhere
thestepsoriginate.IwantedtochallengemyselfandseehowfarIcouldgowiththisproblem.Ihadalsotakenup
theextensionasseenabovetoshowthatIcouldworkfurtherintotheproblemwithdifferentrules.Idefinitelyused
thehabitofamathematician,lookingforpatternsmainlybecausethiswasaproblemthatinvolvedthemalot.It
waseasiertovisualizethesepatternsandseehoweachstepwasbrokendowntofindoutwhereitallcomesfrom.
Wherethe2n originatedwaswhenIjustcouldn'tfigureoutwhy.Ithenrealizethatitwasrightthereinfrontofmeif
Ijusthaddrawnitout.AtfirstwhenIworkedontheextension,IthoughtIwasfinishedwhenIdoubledthenumber
ofpeoplecalling.Ihadntrealizedthattherewasmoreto.ThisprovesthatIgobackandcheckmyworktomake
surethatIhavegonethrougheverystepandcarefullylookedattheproblemandmysolution.ForthisPOW,I
believethatIdeservea10/10basedonwhatIhaveshownabove.Thatit'snotjustasimpleproblemthatcanbe
solveinamatterofminutes.There'smoretotheproblem,thedeepertheexplorationistofindouthowitall
connectstogether.