Dave McBryan

About Me

I'm originally from Dublin but came to university in Edinburgh 19 years ago, and loved the city so much that I never left. Although my degree was in Maths and Artificial Intelligence, ever since graduation I've made a living as a writer and presenter of pub quizzes. Other than quizzes and puzzles my two big interests (some would say obsessions) are poker and fencing, and I compete regularly at both. (I'm proud to say I've fenced for Ireland, but if I'm brutally honest that says less about my skills and more about the standard of Irish fencing...)

How did you find out about The Code?How did you find out about The Code?

I came across it while browsing BBC iPlayer (just after the second episode was broadcast).

At what stage did you get involved?
I did the first twocode-breakers after watching the second episode, but to be honest I wasn't very enthused by them. I had assumed the Ultimate Challenge was going to be no more than a slightly bigger version of one of them, so discovering it was something of a totally different nature and scale was when I really got hooked.

What was your favourite part?
Probably making the breakthrough of understanding how all the pages were connected, and the way I was then able to use that information to rapidly solve so much that had previously been problematic (both individual page puzzles and codes). As someone who normally works on my own, I also really liked being a part of the team involved in building the wiki. Finishing the challenge so quickly was only possible because so many talented puzzlers worked together – you all know who you are, thank you very much.

What did you find the most tricky?

The stress of the finishing straight! I was going a bit crazy due to sleep deprivation, so I made more simple errors in the final day of solving than in the first five combined. After finishing the last code, I could see exactly what I needed to do for the final stage, and just how close I was, but I was forced to leave it for a couple of hours while I dealt with a work deadline. At the time, knowing that two people had already completed and I was in a race for thrid place (against at least three others who also knew how to break that code), I was convinced that those hours would cost me any chance of making the finale. (Obviously I'm very relieved now I find that they didn't).

Have you taken part in anything similar before?

I am somewhat of a puzzle addict, so had come across most of the individual types involved before, but I'd never been as actively involved in a collaborative solving process.  In terms of a large-scale project that combines a huge number of different styles of puzzles (and doesn't make it clear that some of them even are puzzles), the closest to this I'd done was possibly the online puzzle NotPron.

What are your problem-solving strengths and weaknesses?
My job means I have reasonably extensive general knowledge, so anything trivia based is right up my street. I guess my other main strength  would be logic-based puzzles. I'm OK at word puzzles too, but much faster at logic. As for weaknesses, having worked with Pete along the way, I've learnt that my computer skills are certainly not up to his when it comes to organising and manipulating data quickly, and I suspect both he and Helen have an edge on me when it comes to decrypting codes.

What do you think your chances are of winning?

Depends entirely on what form the final challenge takes.

Overall how would you rate The Code as an experience?

Hard to say – the experience isn't over yet! So far, I'd say that as someone with a maths background, I found the TV series a bit slow, but I realise it was pitched at a wider audience. On the other hand, the Ultimate Challenge is quite possibly the best-constructed puzzle I've ever seen, made even more enjoyable by solving it in a team. The only caveat I would have concerns the errors: although in the end some of these were very satisfying to identify and work around, it was frustrating that they added an unnecessary day or two to an already epic undertaking. As it is, I suspect  the angst of wondering every time you get stuck whether it's your fault or the compiler's means it's not something for everybody, but if the BBC publishes an error-free version, I would unhesitatingly recommend it to anyone.

Pete Ryland

Name: Pete Ryland
Age: 34
Location: Bermondsey, London

About Me

I am into music. I really enjoy dabbling on guitar and writing songs. I am also into sport. I play touch rugby, rollerhockey and volleyball whenever I have the chance, and I've been known to play almost everything else, from basketball to cricket. Most of all, I code. This is my biggest pastime. I love it so much I have focused my career on it.  When not programming for work, I write free software, allowing others to download the source and improve it.  Being someone who loves taking things apart, I think that this is how all things should work.

How did you find out about The Code?

I generally go out of my way to watch anything presented by Marcus du Sautoy.

At what stage did you get involved?

I got involved after the first episode aired.

What was your favourite part?

Determining the page/zodiac connections and decoding the coded messages before anyone else was a great buzz, especially decoding the final pair of messages.

What did you find the most tricky?

The unspaced Morse code and Margaret’s symmetry problems were particularly difficult; the cribbage cards one was downright nasty.

Have you taken part in anything similar before?
No, never.

What are your problem-solving strengths and weaknesses?

The way I organise the information at hand and can write programs quickly to solve problems and test theses are my biggest problem-solving strengths.  Without my  computer,  I’m almost useless.

What do you think your chances are of winning?

It depends on the format of the finale.  With the limited information at hand, I’d have to say 1/3.

Overall how would you rate The Code as an experience?

The Ultimate Challenge was the single most fun thing I’ve ever done.  I can’t wait for the finale.

Helen Bennett

 

About Me

I spent the first 30 years of my life on the east coast of Essex, obtaining a degree and PhD in Physics along the way, before moving up north and then settling down (for now at least) in Worcestershire. I use my scientific knowledge everyday working for a multi-national research company finding solutions without knowing if they exist and beating computer software into submission. Interests and hobbies include science, geocaching (a high-tech GPS-based treasure hunt which can involve some fiendish puzzles), music, amateur radio, walking, travelling and, obviously, solving puzzles.

How did you find out about The Code?
I saw one of the TV trailers in July and thought that might be interesting. If I had seen the card puzzles on the multimedia sites I probably would have emailed for them.

At what stage did you get involved?

I started to look on the website the week before the first episode, I think, and played the Fermat the Frog game and looked over the Codebreaker. From there I just kept going.

What was your favourite part?

I'd have to say the errors! The first puzzle I solved was the dot-to-dot puzzle and I was still confident of the answer even with the missing letter. There was a repeated section of text in one of the Enigma codes but after some thought I realised I had sufficient information to extract nearly all the answer and decrypted it a few hours before the errata were published. I also enjoyed trying to unravel some of the puzzles that were left unsolved towards the end.

What did you find the most tricky?

My main difficulty was finding natural points at which to stop (there was always something else to look at) and keeping up with everyone else trying to solve the puzzles (I would have submitted to the Wiki page but when I solved a puzzle the answer was already there); these led to some long days and nights.

Have you taken part in anything similar before?

I did dabble with Perplex City, an online game with puzzle cards to solve. That had even more involved social media collaborations but I never really got drawn in. It did show me that with these puzzles within puzzles and meta-puzzles, good bookkeeping is a must.

What are your problem-solving strengths and weaknesses?
I am generally good at cracking codes and number puzzles; I am analytical which can be both a strength and weakness. Word puzzles tend to be more difficult for me, as are hands-on puzzles, but I usually get there in the end. Ultimately it is always easier when you have seen a similar puzzle before.

What do you think your chances are of winning?

Either very good or very bad… it all depends on what the finale involves!

Overall how would you rate The Code as an experience?

Good fun. Being a scientist that uses maths all the time I cannot say that the TV programmes showed me anything new, but then they are meant to encourage people to get in to the subject, which I applaud. As for the puzzles, you always learn something new… how else can I justify all the sleepless nights?

The first three codebreakers to solve the Ultimate Challenge (in under a week!) were:

Helen Bennett from Kidderminster

Pete Ryland from London

David McBryan from Edinburgh

We'll be publishing pictures and biographies of the finalists on the blog next week so you can see who will be fighting it out for the treasure - and stake your bets! We'll also be producing a short film showing how the final stages played out that will go online towards the end of September. It's going to be a very interesting day and we can't wait!

In the meantime we'd love to hear about your experiences of The Code - what did you find difficult, which bit did you really love? Is this the first time you've played anything like this? Post your comments on the blog, on Facebook or Twitter or email us a code@bbc.co.uk. We'll do a full round-up after we announce the winner. May the best man, or woman, win!

If you think you were one of the first people to get in touch with us then make sure you have your phone switched on and your workings to hand as we will need to ask you a few questions. Once we have confirmed eligibility and availability we will be able to announce the three finalists who will be joining us at a secret location next weekend!

Watch this space!

We can confirm that a number of people have made contact with us and appear to have successfully completed the Ultimate Challenge. Since we won't be making callbacks and eligibility checks until September 1st, we won't be able to announce the list of finalists until the first week in September.

Until then, if you haven't solved it yet, do keep at it! And if you're stuck, there are some fantastic player-created resources at the Crack the Code wiki (thanks to everyone there who contributed and set it up!).

Two of the 84 pages from the Ultimate Challenge

A beautiful 84-page book of puzzles, ranging from easy Sudoku and mazes to the most fiendish codes and mathematical brainteasers. Not all of them are hard, and not all are easy, but you'll have to solve every single one of them - and figure out how they're all joined together - to enter our Finale and have a chance at wining the treasure.

 You can download the Ultimate Challenge as a PDF right now, but you'll need your three Codebreaker passwords to unlock it, by following the instructions here. And don't worry if you don't have them all - there's still time to get started!

 We're kicking things up a notch with this challenge (you could say it's exponentially more tricky)! So, while you might be tempted to be a hero and try and solve the Ultimate Challenge on your own, you might also find that things go a lot faster if you work together, whether that's with friends or colleagues at work, or on Facebook, Twitter with #bbccode, or other forums and wikis.

Another page from the Ultimate Challenge - but you'll need your three Codebreaker passwords to see them all!

If you're one of the first three people to solve the final puzzle, you're in with a chance of meeting Marcus and winning this beautiful 3D-printed sculpture.

The Code might have come to an end but the Code Challenge is just hotting up. With the transmission of the third and final episode of the series you should now have all the clues in place to move on to the next stage of the competition. And the first three to crack this will get the chance to meet me and battle it out in a final round on the 10 September.

One of the most exciting things about making this series has been seeing how the Code Challenge has really got people actively involved in the content of the programmes. Mathematics is not a spectator sport and the interactive treasure hunt has provided a fantastic extra dimension to exploring the maths at the heart of our world. I never expected our prime number community challenge to be completed so quickly. Viewers came up with some really inventive ways to find primes: from the countdown clock at the launch of the Atlantis space shuttle which got held at 00:31 to finding people who'd got primes tattooed on their arms (well it was actually me who found that one).

One of the really exciting things about being a mathematician is having one of those "aha" moments where you suddenly make a breakthrough on a problem you've been working on for ages. It really is the buzz that I live for as a mathematician. It's been great to see that viewers have been having their own "aha" moments solving some of the trickier bits of the treasure hunt whether it was cracking the formula behind the puzzling dice in episode 2 or suddenly seeing numbers in the stars in episode 1.

It's always a bit sad to see the last programme go out in a series. When you make a TV show like this it really does become part of your life. We started filming the Code in February when we visited the Merker's mine with its extraordinary cubic salt crystals and we finished in mid-June when we witnessed the total eclipse of the moon in Cyprus. It's one of the real privileges of making TV to have the chance to visit so many fascinating locations during the months of filming. But we have been working on the programme for years before the first shots were taken, trying to find the best way to bring a very abstract subject like mathematics to life in a visual medium like TV. Although I get to be in front of the camera it must be recognised what an amazing team effort it is to make a TV series like The Code and I have had a great team of people to work with. Thank you to you all.

We hope you enjoyed the series and continue to have fun solving the puzzles. Good luck in the final push to get your hands on the treasure - I'll be meeting three of you in a month's time!

On his trip to their London offices, Marcus learns about how Google can correlate a rise in certain search terms with an oncoming outbreak of the flu virus, or the rise of a pop sensation. By working through these relationships logically, Google are able to produce startlingly accurate predictions of future global trends. 

It's this trip that has inspired our puzzle for week three. The puzzle below will test your ability to use logic and reasoning in order to deduce a currently unknown fact. We present: Search Logic. Get your pens and paper ready!

The grid below describes three people's internet searches: Ada, Bill and Chris. As you can see, each search took a certain amount of time. It's your job, using the information we've provided, to fill the grid in and answer the question at the bottom. 

 

There were nine searches made in total. Each search was for one of the clues from one of the episodes of The Code. The nine searches were: 

Episode One: Pi, Stars, Cicadas

Episode Two: Bubbles, Hex, Dice

Episode Three: Search, Hand, Flock

Each person searched for one clue per episode. 

No search was repeated, either by the same person, or by a different person. 

Everyone's first searches were from different episodes. 

Episode Three's clues all took as many minutes to search for as there are letters in the search term. For example, "Three" would have taken five minutes. 

Bill searched for his Episode Three clip first.

Ada did not search for "search".

The person who searched for "hand" also searched for "bubbles".

The "stars" search took 15 minutes and did not occur at the same time as the "hexes" search. 

The person who searched for "cicadas" and "dice" spent 18 minutes in total searching. 

If all the above is true, who searched for "Pi"? 

In programme three the true power of The Code is unleashed in perhaps the ultimate challenge: predicting the future. If time travel were possible, it would be easy – I could just come back from next year and tell you what happened. Sadly we don’t yet know how to travel through time, and many of the ways people claim to predict the future, such as gazing into crystal balls or casting horoscopes, are complete mumbo-jumbo. If you really want to know what’s going to happen tomorrow, next year, or far into the next millennium, your best bet is mathematics.

To prove my confidence in the power of maths to look into the future I was even prepared to put my life at the mercy of The Code. Ever since we started making the series, there was talk of a death-defying stunt that I would be subjected to. The stunts varied from: driving a car at the right speed round a loop the loop so I didn’t fall off, standing in front of a wrecking ball as it swung towards me, diving off a bridge attached to an untested bungee chord. In the end we went for The Ball of Death. I had to calculate the trajectory of a massive ball as it was shot down a ramp. Using my maths I had to work out where to stand to avoid being crushed by the ball. Ominously the plan was to make this the last day of filming…just in case I got my sums wrong. See how well I did in this, the final episode.

You too will have to master the maths of projectiles if you are going to make it to the end of the Code Challenge. Our online game for this episode, Kingdom of Catapults, requires you to predict the path of flying fruit to knock out an invading army that wants to capture your castle. Use your maths to defeat the enemy and you’ll release another clue on the way to cracking the Code Challenge.

Another game that involves spotting patterns to predict the future is rock, paper, scissors. To see how good the champions are at reading patterns in their opponents we travelled to the Raven Lounge in downtown Philadelphia to film at the famous Rock Paper Scissors League Championship that is held there each week.

Although it didn’t make the cut I was also entered into the competition to put my own pattern searching abilities to the test. Each competitor needs their own individual RPS name to enter the league. Regulars include Paper Tiger, Slanted Scissors and Silly Putty. I decided to try some academic intimidation and plumped for The Professor. I got through several rounds but eventually met my match in the quarter-finals where I got knocked out by Dick Nasty.

Dick Nasty, Marcus's opponent at the Rock, Paper, Scissors Qualifying League in Philadelphia.

It was when he put out his hand to commiserate me on my exit from the competition that I noticed a rather curious tattoo on his arm: a collection of squares of different sizes corresponding to the numbers 1,1,2,3,5,8,13 with a Fibonacci spiral traced through them. If I was going to be knocked out of the competition it was no dishonour to lose to someone who was prepared to mark his body permanently with the wonders of The Code.

I hope you enjoyed the series and best of luck with the rest of the challenge. After this episode you should be able to find all the clues you need to unlock the second stage, and from there you could be in with a chance to get into the final!

The Prime Hunters - we salute you and congratulate you! Your dedication and organisation has led to you solving this challenge even before the show has finished - a truly impressive feat.

For your efforts, here is the third and final community challenge clue:

LAGRANGE

This should be entered in using the sixth hand on the Episode 3 codebreaker (released on Tuesday). 

But there's an even bigger challenge coming up - the Ultimate Challenge - and it's going to test you as nothing else has so far in The Code. You're going to need all your wits about you to succeed, and we certainly wouldn't discourage you from helping one another and sharing information!

(And as promised, we'll be putting a collage of the best photos on this blog soon!)

Once you’ve watched the programme you’ll be ready to crack the next stage of our Code Challenge which includes the intriguing: Master of Mosaics. This game is all about spotting the symmetries hidden inside a sequence of beautiful tiles that conceal the fabled Fyodorov family vault. Maybe it's because I spend my life researching the fascinating world of symmetry that this is one of my favourite games of the Code Challenge. Get to the end and another crucial clue will be unlocked.

When we started to make The Code the producers asked me where I would like to go to capture the dramatic examples of mathematics at work . Perhaps I should have said the Bahamas or Hawaii but instead I said that I’d always wanted to go to the northern tip of Northern Ireland to see one of the mathematical wonders of the natural world: the Giant’s Causeway.

The Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland

I’d seen pictures of the thousands of strange hexagonal columns that cover the coast like a beehive but nothing prepares you for witnessing such beautiful geometry up close. Although filming was absolutely freezing and I almost got swept out to sea by a freak wave, the Giant’s Causeway is a dramatic backdrop to the opening of programme two and it conveys the powerful message that the most efficient solutions to nature's problems are often mathematical.

But our trip to the Giant’s Causeway was probably eclipsed by a visit we made towards the end of the programme to Pixar studios to find out how the film-makers are using mathematics to create the virtual worlds of films like Up and Cars. I think most people’s impression is that Pixar is populated by artists meticulously illustrating the movies frame by frame. But surprisingly, a good proportion of the employees are more versed in the mathematics of fractal geometry than paints and brushes. The great discovery of the 20th century is that the mathematics of fractal shapes is the code behind the way many things form: from trees to mountains, from clouds to waterfalls.

 

Most exciting of all was getting a sneak preview of one of Pixar’s new movies. It was so confidential that we weren’t allowed to point our cameras anywhere near the storyboards hanging on the walls and we were all sworn to secrecy. But I can tell you that mathematics will once again be one of the key ingredients in bringing those pictures to life.

I hope you enjoy the second programme and best of luck with this week's puzzles. You're nearly halfway through the hunt, keep going!

Working together the team assembled them in the correct order, worked around the gaps and came up with a few 3D models which were really very close to the real thing. A seriously clever bunch. The real thing revealed on BBC News magazine this morning (27th July) is totally unique designed by Californian sculpter Bathsheba Grossman, known for her mathematcial sculptures. 

She attended Yale University studying Mathematics and Pennsylvania studying Fine Art – so you can see where she was going. 

We asked her to describe the prize. This is what she said about this completely unique prize:

“This is a composition of the Platonic solids, the five polyhedra whose faces are all identical.  They're fundamental to understanding order and symmetry in 3D space, and also dripping with golden ratios.  

“They're arranged in three concentric spherical shells. The outer hull, the most complex, is the dodecahedron (bronze) and icosahedron (silver). The solids are in dual position, showing that they have the same symmetry, and sized so their vertices all lie on the same sphere.  The second hull is the cube (bronze) and octahedron (silver), arranged likewise.  And the innermost is two tetrahedra, one in each metal, showing that this four-sided solid is self-dual.  This makes it twice as excellent as any other Platonic solid.” 

She certainly thought it through.

The prize sits on a hexagonal black granite base which will feature a lasered inscription of the winner’s name and the BBC and The Code logos. 

Will your name be on it?

And here’s the best bit. The bronze/steel composite has been fabricated using the latest 3D-printing techniques, while the silver has been cast from 3D prints using the ancient lost-wax process, which dates back to pre-history  The combination of ancient and modern technology is relevant to The Code. Mathematics is established in old trusted principles and processes while constantly adapting and changing with new ideas and discoveries. The Code Prize represents that. 

We hope that the winner will love this prize as much as we loved commissioning and making it.