Find out what number Alex has written down

Task types:

Solo

Filmed

Mental

Social

Objective

Single brief

Original

Locations:

Taskmaster House (UK)

Spaces:

The Living Room (Taskmaster UK)

Task brief

The task brief is laid on the table in the living room. The brief for the task is as follows:

What number has Alex written down?

You may ask no more than 20 questions.

Alex may only say ‘yes’ or ‘no’, and you must be increasingly surprised by every answer.

Your time starts now, and ends when you say the correct number or ask your 20th question.

Task notes

Alex is seated at the right-hand corner of the table wearing a ‘Happy Birthday’ badge, and has 20 small flat glass beads on the table in front of him.
Each time the contestants ask him a question, Alex takes one of the beads off of the table.
The number ‘63’ appears on multiple items around the room, including on a large decorative letter ‘M’, on a ceramic dog figurine, on the wall behind a magnifying glass, on the side of a plastic toy sheep, on a barometer, and on one of the fake books on the bookcase, but this does not appear to have any obvious connection to the actual number Alex has written down.
Partway through the task, a mobile phone hidden behind the grate at the bottom of the bookcase rings, with the caller ID showing that the call is coming from ‘Lil Wayne’ (this appears to be a reference to Alex’s banter section from series 16, episode 9, when Alex claimed that he was in a WhatsApp group named ‘The Little Ones’ with several other celebrities including Lil Nas, Lil Wayne, and Richard Littlejohn). If the contestants answer the call from Lil Wayne, someone on the other end of the phone says a number to them such as ‘360’ or ‘120’. Although this number varies from incidence to incidence, and is not directly related to the number the contestants are searching for, it has been theorised by some fans that the number refers to the number of degrees the contestants should turn, clockwise, from where they are facing when they answer the phone, to be facing the location where Alex has written down the target number (which is on a piece of paper in the inside pocket of his jacket).
There is a clue to the number the contestants are looking for on a label attached to a horizontal support underneath the table, in the form of the following mathematical calculation:
? = (1009 x (2000 x (0.01+0.04))) + ²√((3 x 2 + 0.084) x 1000)
The number can also be made out from an impression on Alex’s clipboard, which has been left on top of the bookcase.
The number the contestants are looking for represents Alex’s birthday (the 10th of September 1978): 100978.