SPIN 101 · 2026-10-21

SPIN 101: Five Steps from Six Does Not End at Eleven

Walk a marker around an eight-position circle and distinguish the number of steps from the final position. A short route makes the counting visible.

Draw a circle with eight positions numbered 0 through 7 in clockwise order. Put a button at 6. The instruction for this SPIN 101 desk puzzle is simple: advance five positions clockwise and name the place where the button stops.

Vikram writes eleven. His addition, six plus five, is correct as arithmetic on a straight number line. The circular board has no position eleven, so the answer has not yet been translated back into the board's labels.

Count movements, not the starting square

Move the button slowly: 7 is the first step, 0 the second, 1 the third, 2 the fourth and 3 the fifth. The button finishes at 3. The jump from 7 to 0 is part of the board's design.

His sister arrives at 2 because she counts the starting position as step one. Ask her to leave the button still while saying “start”. Count only when it moves to the next position. Five moves must cross five gaps.

Draw the route as arrows instead of rewriting the labels: 6 → 7 → 0 → 1 → 2 → 3. There are six visited positions but five movements. That difference often disappears when someone counts the written numbers.

A complete circuit changes the distance

For a longer route, one complete circuit uses eight steps and returns to the same position. Thirteen steps therefore have the same endpoint as five, although they are not the same journey. Starting at 6, both finish at 3.

The distinction matters if the puzzle asks two questions. “Where did the button stop?” has one answer. “How far did it travel?” needs the full step count. An endpoint alone does not reveal the number of completed circuits.

Try reversing the direction for a new question: from 6, take five anticlockwise steps. The route is 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. You finish at 1, so a direction omitted from the instruction would leave the puzzle incomplete.

Make the instruction complete

Vikram now writes a compact instruction on the board: eight positions, start at 6, move clockwise, count each gap once. The final number makes sense because the movement rule is visible beside it.

For another SPIN 101 exercise, start at 7 and move clockwise by ten. Complete one circuit, then two more steps: the endpoint is 1. Check it with the button before trying the same reasoning in your head.

SPIN 101: Five Steps from Six Does Not End at Eleven

Count movements, not the starting square

A complete circuit changes the distance

Make the instruction complete

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