1) pick a number from 1-10

2) subtract 5

3) multiply by 3

4) square the number (multiply by the same number)

5) Sum the digits.

(i.e. 646+4=10)

6) if the number is less than 5, add five. Otherwise subtract 4.

7) multiply by 2

8) subtract 6

9) Map the digit to a letter in the alphabet

(e.g.1=A, 2=B, 3=C, etc…)

10) pick a name of a country that begins with that letter

11) Take the second letter in the country name and think of a animal that begins with that letter

12) Go to the 4th letter in the animal’s name and choose a colour which starts with that letter

s

c

r

o

l

l

d

o

w

n

a

b

i

t

You have a pink elephant from Denmark

In case anyone’s wondering how this works there is an explanation below. I’ve left some space in case anyone doesn’t want to find out.

1) pick a number from 1-10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

2) subtract 5

-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5

This step helps to make things symetrical so that the squares come out the same. (n^2 = (-n)^2)

3) multiply by 3

-12 -9 -6 -3 0 3 6 9 12 15

All multiples of 3 have their digits adding up to a multiple of 3. I can’t remember the proof but I have seen one. The exception being 3*0 because 0 is strange.

4) square the number (multiply by the same number)

144 81 36 9 0 9 36 81 144 225

This gets rid of the negatives and also ensures that everything can be written as X*(9). This is because you can break any number down into it’s prime factors and then multiply them together again in any order.

e.g 15 = (5*3)

Therefore 15^2 = (5*3)^2 = (5^2)*(3^2) = 25 * 9 = 225.

5) Sum the digits.

9 9 9 9 0 9 9 9 9 9

Multiples of 9 when they have their digits summed come out to a multiple of 9. When all the prime factors involved are <10 it comes out to exactly 9. (I really hope their is a mathmetician reading this as I'd love to be reminded of the proof.)

6) if the number is less than 5, add five. Otherwise subtract 4.

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

A cunning trick used because you know that you will only get 0 and 9. By phrasing it that way it appears to be randowm but is actually set to ensure all the numbers are the same. From there you can do what you want with them and many variations are around.

7) multiply by 2

10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

8) subtract 6

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

9) Map the digit to a letter in the alphabet

D D D D D D D D D D

10) pick a name of a country that begins with that letter

From here on it makes some assumptions. There aren’t many countries begining with D (Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic (from http://www.flags.net)). Of these most people have only heard of / can only think of quickly Denmark. If they don’t this doesn’t work.

11) Take the second letter in the country name and think of a animal that begins with that letter

That is E. Animals begining with E are quite rare. The only one most can think of is an Elephant. Other choices are Eel, Elk, Echidna and possibly some others. Eel and Elk don’t have enough letters for the next part and very few have heard of echidnas.

12) Go to the 4th letter in the animal’s name and choose a colour which starts with that letter

Assumiong the go for Elephant you have colours begining with P. Most people either go for Pink or Purple.