Shelby Moore wrote:
The most accurate question should be, "How do you add some numbers with minimized instructions?", because it forces them to realize they must order the set.
An answer might be, "Zero if empty, else order the set, sum the first number with the sum of remainder of the set. Repeat for the sum of remainder."
Realize that I did not write "sort" order. I am refering to "queue" order that allows the "first" distinction. Also by "remainder" means "remaining portion of" (you are dividing the queue-ordered set by it's "tail" and thus "head" is the remainder). I just returned from 130 pushups and 1.2 mile run, and it was more difficult since I've not gotten out my thinking-cap chair for past 2 weeks. I wonder if our mental and physical exertion competes for the limited velocity at which our body can convert fuel to glucose and dump the cell waste products through the liver? Many people are already consumed by other exertions, many which are passive and compulsive (e.g. TV, reading same topics over and over again which are presented with superficial differences), which may atrophy their minds in terms of the brain patterns needed for logical induction.