Think of a number

How does it always work?

The computer isn’t guessing randomly. Each question eliminates exactly half of the remaining candidates. Starting from 1,024 possibilities, ten halvings always converge to a single answer.

This is binary search — one of the oldest and most useful algorithms in computer science. The same logic powers database index lookups, sorted list traversal, and git bisect for tracking down regression commits.

2¹⁰ = 1,024, which covers any number from 1 to 1,000 in ten steps. The upper bound is 1,000, not 1,024 – a round power of two would be a giveaway to anyone who writes code.