Badminton progressions
A game of badminton is won by the first player to win 21 points, except if the score reaches 20-20, in which case it continues until one player is two points ahead. A match is won by the first player to win two games.
In this match each player won one of the first two games, so that the match required a third game to determine the result. For each of the players, the number of points they won in the three games, taken in game order, formed an arithmetic progression (with a non-zero common difference).
What was the score in the deciding third game?
Advertisement
WIN 拢15 will be awarded to the sender of the first correct answer opened on Wednesday 29 September. The Editor鈥檚 decision is final. Please send entries to Enigma 1610, New 杏吧原创, Lacon House, 84 Theobald鈥檚 Road, London WC1X 8NS, or to enigma@newscientist.com (please include your postal address).
Answer to 1604 From primes to squares: 53361, 71289, 76729
The winner Jim Barrie from Blantyre, Glasgow, UK