# Old Puzzler **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [July 25, 2015, 5:03am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/old-puzzler/90709 "2015-07-25T05:03:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ahclem42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@ahclem42](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ahclem42)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2015, 5:03am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/old-puzzler/90709/1 "2015-07-25T05:03:07Z")
Does anyone remember a puzzler like this and can they help me with getting it right?: There was an old Cartalk puzzle I heard back around 1993 or 1994 or thereabouts. It goes something like this: You have the following number sequence: 1,11,21,1211,… and you ask what the next number in the sequence is. I can’t quite remember what the answer is, but I think it’s something along the line of each succeeding number in the sequence describes the number preceding it. For example, just starting with “1”, the number following it is 1 of the digit “1”, so that succeeding number becomes 1 (of) 1, or 11. The next number describes the preceding number as the quantity 2 of digits “1”, so that next number becomes 2 (of) 1, or 21. The next number describes the preceding number as 1 of the digit “2” and 1 of the digit “1”, so that becomes 1 (of) 2 and 1 (of) “1”, or just 1211. In this case, I think the following number in the series describes the preceding number as 1 of 1, 1 of 2 and 2 of 1, or 111221. I’m not grouping the numbers together, but simply reading them from left to right as individual digits, but I am grouping the consecutive repeated digits together. I’m probably not making total sense here, but if you can find that puzzle somewhere in your archives, that would help me. And obviously I should be doing something better with my time. Nonetheless, can you help me here? I’m a big fan of both Cartalk and public radio! I’m so sorry to hear of Tom’s passing away. He was a great guy. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2015, 6:47am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/old-puzzler/90709/2 "2015-07-25T06:47:15Z")
My head hurts. Maybe it’ll be in the re-runs. ---
**Author:** ![insightful](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/insightful/32/2732_2.png) [@insightful](https://community.cartalk.com/u/insightful)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2015, 7:03am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/old-puzzler/90709/3 "2015-07-25T07:03:55Z")
Well-known sequence: > **[Look-and-say sequence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look-and-say_sequence)** > > In mathematics, the look-and-say sequence is the sequence of integers beginning as follows: To generate a member of the sequence from the previous member, read off the digits of the previous member, counting the number of digits in groups of the same digit. For example: The look-and-say sequence was introduced and analyzed by John Conway. The idea of the look-and-say sequence is similar to that of run-length encoding. ---
**Author:** ![MG-McAnick](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mg-mcanick/32/188_2.png) [@MG-McAnick](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MG-McAnick)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2015, 9:14am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/old-puzzler/90709/4 "2015-07-26T09:14:53Z")
Don’t worry @ahclem42, even if the answer given by insightful for today’s puzzle is correct, and you submit it, I don’t think they are giving out new prizes. The show is all reruns now. ---
**Author:** ![cdaquila](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/cdaquila/32/18089_2.png) [@cdaquila](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cdaquila)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/old-puzzler/90709/5 "2015-07-26T20:17:16Z")
@ahclem42, we are still accepting puzzler responses through [cartalk.com](http://cartalk.com) and we do encourage you to submit! A winner is still selected weekly.