Edward and Thomas from Dartford
Grammar School worked out that:
Starting at zero (with
both ropes parallel), the sequence
twist, twist, twist, turn
, twist, twist, twist, turn , twist, twist, twist,
turn
takes us to:
|
0, 1, 2, 3, - |
1 3
|
, |
2 3
|
, |
5 3
|
, |
8 3
|
, - |
3 8
|
, |
5 8
|
, |
13 8
|
, |
21 8
|
, - |
8 21
|
|
|
Oliver from Olchfa School also worked this out and noted that:
If the 'moves' "twist (x3), turn" are repeated, the fractions
produced only include numbers from the Fibonacci sequence in
the numerators and denominators
Terence from The Garden International
School in Kuala Lumpur, William from Shebbear College and Akshita
from Tiffin Girls' School worked out how to disentangle
themselves:
The following sequence takes us back to zero:
twist, turn , twist,
twist, turn , twist,
twist, twist, turn ,
twist, twist, twist, turn
, twist, twist:
|
|
13 21
|
, - |
21 13
|
, - |
8 13
|
, |
5 13
|
, - |
13 5
|
, - |
8 5
|
, - |
3 5
|
, |
2 5
|
, - |
5 2
|
, - |
3 2
|
, - |
1 2
|
, |
1 2
|
, -2, -1, 0 |
|
Both sequences were written up by Sakib from Swanlea Secondary
School - you can find his work
here .
Oliver from Olchfa School worked this out and added:
To distangle this, we must reduce the fraction to the form 1/n.
We keep twisting the negative fraction until we get the
first positive fraction (< 1) which is then turned.
The procedure is repeated until we get to 1/n.
Now we turn again, then twist n times to get the fraction back to
0.
The full proof is given in the problem More
Twisting and Turning