Sponsored by the SOA Young Professional Advisory Council

SOA "Ask an Actuary” Puzzler Contest

Actuaries use statistics, data science, and financial modeling to make sense of the uncertain future.  Over the next 3 weeks the Society of Actuaries (SOA) Young Professional Advisory Council (YPAC) will release 3 puzzles.  The last chance to submit the 3^rd and final answer will be Sunday January 18^th and 11:59 pm CST.

Each week for the next three weeks we will post a brain busting question/puzzler for you to solve.  Everyone who accurately completes each of the three puzzles will enter a drawing for SOA branded items including, an SOA vest, headphones, a phone charger, and most importantly, bragging rights. 

Join us for this three (3) week Puzzler Contest sponsored by the Society of Actuaries (SOA) Young Professional Advisory Council. 

Do you have what it takes?

Eligibility

All SOA members and candidates. See the Official Rules for complete details.

Week Three/Puzzler Three

We are ready to make history with our new SOA “Exponential Opportunities” for 2021 and beyond, the new long-term growth strategy for the SOA and the actuarial profession.

Question: Which SOA historical event happened in the year A? (Where A is the area of triangle with sides length 2020, 2021, and 113/52*m, where m is the answer to the 2nd puzzle).

Answer: The answer to the final puzzle is the SOA historical event which happened in the year A, where A is the area of triangle with sides length 2020, 2021, and 113/52*m, where m is the answer to the 2nd puzzle --- 1949 the year the Society of Actuaries was founded.

Please provide your answer and complete the data on the Puzzle Form by 11:59 on Sunday, January 17th, 2021.

Winners will be selected and informed by Jan 25, 2021. Thank you for playing!

Week Two/Puzzler Two (Answer Reveal)

SOA Young Professionals might recall 2013 and “geek” was word of the year when Collins online dictionary changed the definition to 'a person who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about a specific subject.’ We definitely take ‘geek’ as a compliment!  Being knowledgeable and enthusiastic about being an actuary is no joke, so it is the first joke on actuarialjokes.com that inspires today’s puzzle (‘there are 10 kinds of actuaries: those who understand binary, and those who do not’).

Answer: n = 4.  4^x in decimal = 10^(2x) in binary.  That will always contain a single 1 (the leading digit).  The answer is 1.

Week one/Puzzler One (Answer Reveal)

For the first puzzle we also ask each of you to tag one of your friends or colleagues on social media to try the SOA Ask an Actuary Puzzler Challenge.

Elizur Wright (1804 – 1885) was the kind of 19^th century polymath whose biography is as exciting as a 25-tab Excel workbook.  He founded the American Anti-Slavery Society in the 1830s and 40s, invented a railroad spike-making machine in the 1850s, and made significant early advances in the mathematics of life insurance for the purpose of protecting policyholders from unscrupulous insurers in the 1860s and 70s.  A slide rule he invented to support those mathematics is displayed at SOA HQ.  Who said actuaries are boring!

The answer to the first puzzle is the last digit of 1804 ^ 1885
1804 = 4 x 11 x 41
The last digit of 11^n is always 1
The last digit of 41^n is also always 1
So the last digit of 1804 will be equal to the last digit of 4^n, which oscillates between 4 (where n is odd) and 6 (where n is even).
1885 is odd, so the answer is 4.

Judging

The judges, members of a Young Professional Advisory Council will review each entry for the accurate answer.

YPAC will collect the submissions as of Jan 18^th for review. Approved drawing contests will be identified by Jan. 27^th. The prize drawing will be conducted on Jan 28^th. Winners will then be announced and notified.

Prizes

• SOA Branded Vest
• SOA Branded Headphone
• SOA Branded Phone Charger
• Most importantly, bragging rights.