Two hundred thirty seven... two hundred thirty seven...  two hundred and thirty seven of you entered this semester's Wright Challenge: Beyond the Puzzledome.  You could sing "Ninety Nine Bottles of Beer On The Wall" through twice, and thirty-nine of you would remain thirsty.  If you took a dollar bill for every entrant, and lined them all up you would have... well 237 dollars.  And that is a lot of money.  That's $1,639 in dog-money.

The third place winners were Team Sentral Trig.  In spite of their inability to spell "central" they were able to go a whomp whomp whomping through the problems to emerge triumphant.  They will receive $20, and a happy-something from our friends at Kadon Enterprises.   Congratulations to Jessica Gerhart, Mandy Sheirbon, and Richard Brandenburg.

What are the odds that not one, but TWO winning teams would not be able to spell "central"?  Well, using retroactive probability, it turns out to be 100 percent, because our second place winners were ALSO from Sentral School.  A big "YO HO HO!" goes out to Team JAK, our second place winners.   (It was very close, gang, feel free to email me if you want to know how the decision was made.)  Ashley Krough, Kasey Nerem, and Jackie Zwiefel should start looking in their mailbox, because the jolly postman is going to come, Santa-like, bearing $40, and a gift from the always generous folks at Kadon.   The city of Fenton, Iowa, is lucky to have all of you. 

Only 0.42194 percent of the 237 entrants can be our first place winner.  Students entered from all over the state.  The race was intense, with nobody getting a perfect score.  Problems were rechecked, the scales of justice were recalibrated, and the passive voice was utilized.  And the winner of The Wright Challenge: Beyond The Puzzledome is...  Lisa Fuller!  From counting zeros, through counting coconuts, to painting faces of a cube, she can do it all.  Lisa's next problem will be figuring out how to spend her first prize of $60.  It will not be a problem figuring out how to enjoy her prize from Kadon - it will be lovely.   Well-done, Lisa!   

Hearty pats-on-the-back also go to The Big Whopping Chickenz, Melissa Potter, the ever-loyal Team Spartans, Team Mario, Mrs. Malven's students at Nashua-Plainfield and  Jessica Sorenson.  You came close, gang.  

On the credit-where-it-is-due front:  Diane Thiessen mentioned the n! problem to Doctor E when they were whitewater rafting down the Teddy Roosevelt river in South America.  The cube problem and the graph-theory problem were adapted from C.R. Wylie Jr.s 101 Puzzles in Thought and Logic. 

Michele Smith has always been great about giving us precious space in the Northern Iowan, and an energetic smile when the good Doctor drops off the problems.   If you read about this contest in your local newspaper, or heard about it from your school, or heard about it on the radio, you can thank Nan Sash and the UNI Department of Public Relations for being outstanding.  And when the prizes arrive without my having stolen them... that is because of Nadine Lilleskov.   (Nan deserves extra thanks for listening to me whine about problem 5 long after it was polite for me to stop.)  A big thank-you to Dave Kalafut, for no reason at all, except that I miss him.  Jeff Freeman came up with the name for our next contest, although I so dearly want to take the credit.  And a big shout-out to our sponsors at Kadon Enterprises.   Doctor E. bought his first Kadon product in 1998, back before graduate school, when his name was just "E."  Their web-site has lots of fun things to do in addition to their catalog, and it is worth checking out.

And as always, the biggest thanks go to the two hundred and thirty seven of you who entered the contest this time around.  If you had fun, tell your friends about the contest, and tell them you had fun.  If you didn't have fun, tell your friends about the contest, and tell then you had fun.  Why tell them?  So they can enter the next one.  The next one?  Oh no, just when the paperwork is cleared, I'm doing this again?  Yup

Coming up...
To a world-wide-web near you...
Your favorite Doctor returns...
In...

Wright Challenge VI: Crouching puzzle, Hidden answer

Click here to go to Beyond the Puzzledome #5
Click here to go to the solution to Beyond the Puzzledome #5
Click here to go to Beyond the Puzzledome #4
Click here to go to the solution to Beyond the Puzzledome #4
Click here to go to Beyond the Puzzledome #3
Click here to go to the solution to Beyond the Puzzledome #3
Click here to go to Beyond the Puzzledome #2
Click here to go to the solution to Beyond the Puzzledome #2
Click here to go to Beyond the Puzzledome #1
Click here to go to the solution to Beyond the Puzzledome #1

Click here to visit The Wright Challenge, Fall 1999
Click here to visit The Wright Challenge: Doctor E's Revenge, Spring 2000
Click here to visit The Wright Challenge: Doctor E Strikes Back, Fall 2000
Click here to visit The Wright Challenge: Doctor E Returns, Spring 2001

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