Message #186

From: Melinda Green <melinda@superliminal.com>
Subject: Chart of initial solvers
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 11:45:49 -0700

Given the increasing number of initial solvers we’ve been getting, I
wanted to see what sort of trends there might be so I drew up the little
ASCII chart below showing the number of initial solvers for each
quarter. You’ll need to use a fixed width font to see it properly.

                                       X<br>
                                       X<br>
                         X     X       X<br>
                         X     X   X   X<br>
             X   X     X X X   X X X X X<br>  X X       X   X X X X   X X X X X X X X X X<br>  -------------------------------------------<br>  1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2<br>  2000    2001    2002    2003    2004    2005

The first thing you can see from the chart you can see that we’re
growing at a healthy rate. Perhaps this is due to the still-rising
percentage of people getting onto the web. It could also be due to the
fact that you guys are spreading the word.

The other thing I notice about the chart is that we seem to get the most
new solvers in the middle of the year, especially June and July. I’m
guessing that this is because lots of you were in school when you first
solved it, and that you tackled it during your summer breaks.

Whatever the reason is for our growing numbers, I hope the trend
continues. Please post links to the MC4D site on any web sites, blogs,
or news groups, that you might have access to and perhaps this could
really snowball.

-Melinda