"A billboard placed this week in the heart of Silicon Valley posed a complex mathematical question that most commuters on Highway 101 would need Google to crack.
Turns out the search-engine heavyweight--which was behind the anonymous, stark-white ad with black lettering--only wanted to lure the math-minded who wouldn't need Google's database in the first place, and give them a job.
The recruitment ploy certainly plays on mathematician Paul Ardos' famous quote: "A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems."
In a kind of geek jeopardy, the billboard read:"{first 10-digit prime found in consecutive digits e}.com." The answer, 7427466391.com, would lead a puzzle-sleuth to a Web page with yet another equation to solve, with still no sign the game was hosted by Google."
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Source:
CNet News
Jul 10, 2004, 02:03 AM
