Number Tree

[jfgw]

It is a while before autumn (when the answer will become obvious but without a unique method) but I feel that I should give the solution before I forget.

72    99
  \  /
   27    45
     \  /
      18    39
        \  /
         21    36
           \  /
             ?    28
              \  /
               13    21
                 \  /
                   7

Gengulphus was first with a hint to the answer but not the solution,

No guarantees of course that it's the only reasonable answer - there could in principle be a dozen or more... ;-)
Gengulphus

The answer is 12, hence the reference to a "dozen".

Not-Clue 3: As Gengulphus says, there may be multiple solutions. If what my clues point to isn't the intended one, that could be yet another red herring. Anyone have a good recipe?

http://www.jamaicancookery.com/2011/07/ ... maica.html

One way to tackle a problem is to break it into pieces then put it back together

A hint to the method.

If you want another clue, look at what the various entries in the 'tree' are divisible by. That won't give you the complete pattern, but there's enough of a pattern to it to hopefully set you on the right track.
Gengulphus

Looking at this mathematically, you will see that many of the numbers are divisible by three. (Those nearest to the top are also divisible by 9.) If you add the digits of any number divisible by 3, you end up with a number also divisible by 3 (and, obviously, If you add two numbers which are divisible by 3, the answer will be divisible by three). Likewise with 9.

Looking at the same clue literally, you could say that all of the numbers except the 7 are divisible by a comma followed by a space. 72 becomes 7, 2 and 99 becomes 9, 9.

And do the terrible clues (and not-clues) add up?

It all adds up.

Would an appropriate clue, given the tree-themed quiz, be to perhaps 'count the leaves'?

Yes.

Each number in the tree is the sum of the digits in the two numbers above. For example, the top row, 72 and 99, gives us 7+2+9+9 = 27.

The question mark represents 2+1+3+6 = 12.

Cheers,

Julian F. G. W.

[UncleEbenezer]

p.s. Should post number [n] in this thread be the Great Reveal?

Too cryptic

The question mark represents 2+1+3+6 = 12.
.

You seem to be repeating post 12 in this thread, with its admittedly-somewhat-contrived quoting of posts 1, 2, 3 and 6.

[Gengulphus]

p.s. Should post number [n] in this thread be the Great Reveal?

Too cryptic

No - sufficiently cryptic! You gave everybody 19 hours after I submitted post number 11 in the thread to reply saying "No!" - and had I seen the opportunity, I could (and probably would) have done so within seconds... ;-)

Gengulphus