"Name" combined with "Nicomachus"
By Hank Chiuppi
ARCADIAN 2 no. 8 (June 23, 1980): 72.


This program is based on two games: "Name" and "Nicomachus."  These were both 
published in Creative Computing's 1978's "BASIC Computer Games" by David Ahl.  
Each of these two programs were "combined" to come up with this "new" game.  
This Bally Arcade/Astrocade version doesn't have any documentation in the 
"Arcadian" newsletter, so the original documentation for the two games has been 
included:


"Name:"

NAME is a silly little ice-breaker to get a relationship going between a 
computer and a shy human.  The sorting algorithm used is highly inefficient, 
as any reader of Creative Computing will recognize, this is the worst possible 
sort for speed.  But the program is good fun and that's what counts here.

NAME was originally written by Geoffrey Chase of the Abbey, Portsmouth, Rhode 
Island.


"Nicomachus:"

One of the most ancient forms of arithmetical puzzle is sometimes referred to 
as a "boomerang."  At some time, everyone has been asked to "think of a 
number," and after going through some process of private calculation, to state 
the result, after which the questioner promptly tells you the number you 
originally thought of.  There are hundreds of varieties of the puzzle.

The oldest recorded example appears to be that given in Arithmetica of 
Nicomachus, who died about the year 120.  He tells you to think of any whole 
number between 1 and 100 and divide it successively by 3, 5, and 7, telling him 
the remainder in each case.  On receiving this information, he promptly 
discloses the number you thought of.

Can you discover a simple method of mentally performing this feat?  If not, you 
can see how the ancient mathematician did it by looking at Lines 80-100 of the 
program.