funny math

[Asian Jon]

$27 is how much the 3 spent altogether!! This already includes the $2 that they gave to the owner. The remaining $3 is for them.

[JimmyDavid]

This scenario gets more complicated:

Me and a friend went for a picnic. He brought 6 apples and i brought 3. An old lady passed by and saw how nice our apples were.
"would you like to exchange those for oranges?" she said "i'll give you twice as many you have"
Since it was a good deal we accepted and got 18 oranges (correct, right?). But then i noticed that we could ONLY eat oranges and the lady could ONLY eat apples. Didn't seem like a balanced meal for any of us. I went after her and said "lady, the deal is done and i don't wish to change it back. But would you accept this orange back so that you can
eat something else other than just apples? "
"what a nice young man" she replied"I will, if you also take an apple back"

Done. But by that time it was quite late and we had to re-schedule our picnic for another time. We wanted to go home and it was just fair enough that we took back each the same proportion we had brought in the beginning.

How could we do that?

[Asian Jon]

Ok this is just a guess...

You guys started off with your friend having twice as many apples as you. You then traded them in for oranges, yet your friend still had twice as many oranges as you did. Since you traded the old lady an orange for ONE apple that apple you got back is only worth one orange. Therefore, to be fair you would take home 5 oranges and an apple and your friend would take home 12 oranges.

Was I even close?

[JimmyDavid]

Not really. That's one of those IMPOSSIBLE to solve questions. And that's all because along the way we change the rules. We stated that each apple is worth 2 oranges, therefore when i gave the old lady an orange for an apple i should have given her 2.
Most people just assume that 1 apple for 1 orange is fair and end up doing math all day without results, because they overlook that little detail.

[reptiguy123]

What if you used halves?

[JimmyDavid]

Still impossible. Assuming that each apple is worth 2 oranges, look at this way:

we end up having 17 oranges + 1 apple.

We can also say we have 19 oranges because that apple is worth 2 oranges. But 19 is never possible to divide by 2 people if we want one person to get twice as much as the other. someone would end up having 6.3333333.....(to infinite) apples. Even if you could cut that apple into little pieces there's never an exact number.


There's an old math mind-breaker that used to be very popular. Maybe you know it, already:

a)Think of any number you wish.
b) now double it.
c)add 26.
d)divide it by 2
e)take away the first number that you started with
e)add 4


What number have you now?









Could it be 17 ???

[Asian Jon]

Ok it i still possible though according to your explanation of "17 oranges and 1 apple=19 oranges."

It will just be very hard to do.

[JimmyDavid]

It's more than hard, is truly impossible. A division that falls into infinity never gives an exact number.

The only possible way out of that situation would be to go honest. Track the old lady and give back that other orange she deserves.

[sidewinder]

It cost them $25 for the room, plus the $2 tip makes $27, plus the dollar they each got back-$3........$30 bucks, it's all there.

[BOAS_N_PYTHONS]

JIMMYDAVID:

Originally posted by JimmyDavid
Take 1000 and add 40 to it
Now add 30
add an extra 1000
now add 20 plus another 1000
add 1000 again
add 10

Maybe I need to go back to school or just missed how you worded it.

1000
40
30
1000
20
1000
1000
10

I added this and got = 5000

Just did it in my head then on paper did I miss something?



Tony

EDIT:

Tried a few more times hahahahaha it is = 4100.

[Slipknot]

1000
1000
1000
1000
40
30
20
+10
______

5000...or is it?


See, 40 + 30 + 20 + 10 = 100; 1000 + 1000 + 1000 + 1000 = 4000; 4000 + 100 = ?

I got 5000 at first too...

[Slipknot]

For the hotel one...

$25 + $3 + $2 = $30...I didn't really get the "hard part".

[Asian Jon]

HAHAHA Tony you really screwed up on that one

[Ptindy]

We are talking about that it is impossible to have an exact infinite division? Are we forgetting that numbers are a language just like the chinese use symbols? With or language it is impossible. Maybe the chinese have symbols for these numbers and therefore they aren't infinite? If we apply these numbers to the real world. You can always get a third of something. A third of a pile of dirt, a third of a length, a third of a pizza. Therefore, a third of an apple or orange? That's my theory and i'm sticking to it.

Mike

[Ptindy]

Tony you may want to readd all the numbers in those huge trades and deals you made for your snakes. I'm sure someone owes you something :P

Mike