Yay Math!

[samhexum]

[Becket]

You guys are serious! And I'm flashing back to ninth grade where there is a test with word problems! In Algebra! The panic I felt was worse than Mama leaving me in the Kmart by myself when I was five. Just went next door for a moment. Left me with the manager. I thought I had been sold off! 

The best thing about being in your sixties is that they promised me I never have to see, or do, a word problems ever again. Until today. 

My therapist will be sending you the bill. HORRIBLE!!!!

[CuriousByNature]

55 minutes ago, Becket said:

You guys are serious! And I'm flashing back to ninth grade where there is a test with word problems! In Algebra! The panic I felt was worse than Mama leaving me in the Kmart by myself when I was five. Just went next door for a moment. Left me with the manager. I thought I had been sold off! 

The best thing about being in your sixties is that they promised me I never have to see, or do, a word problems ever again. Until today. 

My therapist will be sending you the bill. HORRIBLE!!!!

I wan't bad at math by any stretch, but it wasn't my favourite or best subject.  It is the one subject that I still periodically have nightmares about all these many years later.  Always a relief to wake up from those!

 

[samhexum]

1 hour ago, Becket said:

You guys are serious! And I'm flashing back to ninth grade where there is a test with word problems! In Algebra! The panic I felt was worse than Mama leaving me in the Kmart by myself when I was five. Just went next door for a moment. Left me with the manager. I thought I had been sold off! 

The best thing about being in your sixties is that they promised me I never have to see, or do, a word problems ever again. Until today. 

My therapist will be sending you the bill. HORRIBLE!!!!

 

19 minutes ago, CuriousByNature said:

I wan't bad at math by any stretch, but it wasn't my favourite or best subject.  It is the one subject that I still periodically have nightmares about all these many years later.  Always a relief to wake up from those!

 

I got 770/800 on my math SAT (660 on the English).  I'm always calculating sports stats in my head or dividing numbers I see during the day by 3 or 7, or other stuff like that.

 

Edited July 22, 2024 by samhexum
To maintain the incredibly high standards I have established here

[samhexum]

Edited August 11, 2024 by samhexum
to ensure maximum delight for the reader!

[samhexum]

[+ MysticMenace]

[MikeBiDude]

5 minutes ago, MysticMenace said:

 

40

[+ azdr0710]

12 minutes ago, MysticMenace said:

I'm guessing 96  (?)

[samhexum]

12 minutes ago, MysticMenace said:

96

[samhexum]

Just now, azdr0710 said:

I'm guessing 96  (?)

I posted just as you did.

[samhexum]

6 minutes ago, azdr0710 said:

I'm guessing 96  (?)

 

5 minutes ago, samhexum said:

I posted just as you did.

You made it just before me because I had to take the time to change the color of my answer to match the numbers in the problem.  The price of being an empath, I guess...

[+ nycman]

13 hours ago, MysticMenace said:

19.

Just because you write a lot of incorrect equations above it, doesn’t change the fact that 8 +11 = 19.

Same logic as: "Who are three people who've never been in my kitchen?"

Anyone get the reference?

Edited August 15, 2024 by nycman

[+ azdr0710]

15 minutes ago, nycman said:

19.

Just because you write a lot of incorrect equations about it, doesn’t change the fact that 8 +11 = 19.

Same logic as: "Who are three people who've never been in my kitchen?"

Anyone get the reference?

“Interesting little article here. It says that, uh… the average human being only uses 17% of his brain. Boy, you realize what that means? We don’t use a full, uh… 64%.” - Cliff Clavin

I did have to pull this back to the thread topic somehow......

Edited August 14, 2024 by azdr0710

[+ MysticMenace]

I actually don't know the answer to what I posted. I first got 40 like @MikeBiDude, and I tried other patterns and got 96 like @samhexum and @azdr0710, but I also got 32. 

[samhexum]

9 minutes ago, MysticMenace said:

I actually don't know the answer to what I posted. I first got 40 like @MikeBiDude, and I tried other patterns and got 96 like @samhexum and @azdr0710, but I also got 32. 

Boo Math!

[+ MysticMenace]

This problem is not for the faint of heart...

[+ sync]

4 hours ago, MysticMenace said:

This problem is not for the faint of heart...

[+ MysticMenace]

Kudos to this teacher for providing this service... and it appears that PornHub's viewers might be huge math enthusiasts as well!

Edited September 14, 2024 by MysticMenace

[mike carey]

2 minutes ago, MysticMenace said:

Kudos to this teacher for providing this service... and it appears that PornHub's viewers might be huge math enthusiasts as well!

And in an unexpected maths moment there we see the way numbers are written in India, with up-steps in multiples of 100 rather than the 1000 we are used to. One crore is 1,00,00,000 (10m for us), and the step down from that is 1,00,000 or 1 lakh. The symbol ₹ for rupee is the Devanagari letter r with an additional line across it. All letters have a line across the top that joins the letters into words and if you're writing on lined paper the text is below the line rather than on top as it is in English (among others). No 'tops' jokes, please.

[+ MysticMenace]

[samhexum]

On July 3, Blue Jays reliever Jose Cuas rolled into a tight game in Houston and did the most mathematically impossible thing any reliever could ever do.

He allowed four straight base runners … on three pitches.

Here we go: Intentional walk … single on the next pitch … hit batter on the next pitch … and then another HBP on the pitch after that.

As you know, we don’t bother wasting actual pitches on those intentional walks anymore. So yep, that’s four batters reaching base on three pitches … which seems challenging, if only because … it’s never been done (not in the pitch-counting era, since 1988, anyway).

But wait. There’s more, because the reliever who preceded Cuas to the mound, Zach Pop, allowed two more base runners on his last three pitches (but also got a line-drive out). So that’s six base runners … on six pitches … with an out mixed in there just for fun.

 

[+ MysticMenace]

The Circular Crop Conundrum

A farmer has a peculiar field where the crops are planted in a circle. Each week, he harvests half of the crops. After three weeks, he has harvested a total of 21 crops. How many crops did he originally plant? Show your work.

 

Once you have answered the above correctly, then proceed to this:

The Paradox of the Perplexing Prisoners

There are 100 prisoners standing in a line, all facing forward so that each prisoner can see everyone in front of them but not behind them. A guard places a red or blue hat on each prisoner’s head. The prisoners cannot see their own hat, but they can see the hats of everyone in front of them. Starting from the back of the line (the prisoner who can see all the others) to the front, each prisoner must guess the color of their own hat out loud. If they guess correctly, they live; if they guess incorrectly, they die.

The prisoners are allowed to discuss and agree on a strategy beforehand, but once the guessing begins, no further communication is allowed.

Question: What strategy can the prisoners use to maximize the number of survivors, and how many prisoners are guaranteed to survive?

 

Once you have answered the above correctly, then proceed to this:

The Infinite Light Switch Puzzle

You’re in a room with an infinite number of light switches, each controlling its own light bulb. All the switches are initially turned off (the light bulbs are off). A mischievous magician enters the room and performs the following sequence of actions:

Step 1: The magician flips the switch for every single light bulb (turning all of them on).

Step 2: The magician flips the switch for every second bulb (turning off bulbs 2, 4, 6, 8, etc.).

Step 3: The magician flips the switch for every third bulb (changing the state of bulbs 3, 6, 9, 12, etc.).

Step 4: The magician flips the switch for every fourth bulb (changing the state of bulbs 4, 8, 12, 16, etc.).

This process continues infinitely, with the magician flipping the switch for every n-th bulb at the n-th step.

Question: After an infinite number of steps, which light bulbs will remain on?

Edited March 15 by MysticMenace

[+ JamesB]

28 minutes ago, MysticMenace said:

The Circular Crop Conundrum

A farmer has a peculiar field where the crops are planted in a circle. Each week, he harvests half of the crops. After three weeks, he has harvested a total of 21 crops. How many crops did he originally plant? Show your work.

 

The circular arrangement doesn’t affect anything.

Let’s define ( x ) as the original number of crops.

Week 1: He harvests half of the initial crops, which is x/2. That leaves x/2 remaining.

Week 2: He harvests half of what’s left, so 1/2 times x/2 = x/4. That leaves x/2 minus x/4 = x/4.

Week 3: He harvests half of what remains, so 1/2  times x/4 = x/8. That leaves x/4 minus x/8 = x/8.

The total harvested over three weeks:

x/2 + x/4 + x/8 = 21

7x/8 = 21

X = 168/7 = 24

Answer: 24.