Postcardmancy

phi = the golden ratio
n = the order in which our sendee ordered its copy of the journal
f(n) = the Fibonacci number corresponding to n. For instance, p(1) = 1, p(3) = 2
p(n) = the prime number corresponding to n. For instance, p(1) = 2, p(3) = 5
round(x) is a function that rounds the number x to its nearest integer
x%y corresponds to the modulus operation, which shows the remainder if x is divided by y
^ is the “raised to the” operator
* is the multiplication operator

much clearer when you can write it by hand (see attached), but:

totes = round[ phi^( (p+f)^phi / (n+f) ) + phi^f / phi^(p*n) + phi*(p-n) - p*f ] % 3

then,

if totes == 0.:
return “Eric”
if totes == 1.:
return “Janice”
if totes == 2.:
return “Joe”

the resulting order is: [‘Janice’, ‘Janice’, ‘Janice’, ‘Joe’, ‘Janice’, ‘Joe’, ‘Eric’, ‘Eric’, ‘Joe’, ‘Joe’, ‘Eric’, ‘Eric’]