if you like math ....

[eagle1]

I hope you don't dammit.!!! I hate it but I took a class (Math Fundamentals) which was pretty weird. It was like that game clue.!! I mean it was crazy but it did had good "Tests"!

If you are reading this, then you must like math! So my question is, (a brain teaser), when does 2=1.!?????

Hint: Use algebra.!

[krusty the klown]

Hmmm... when does 2=1?

When you use a flawed algebraic proof - it's quite a cheeky one, rather like a magician's 'slight of hand'

[This message has been edited by krusty the klown (edited 07-02-2001).]

[eagle1]

Yep..!! You got it Out.!!! Although you CHEATED..(using search engines....!!hahaha) that's it.!

[samwichse]

I don't have the answer, but this seems like a good place for a math riddle (or two). The first one I've still not figured out.

3 people go to stay in a hotel, which charges 25$ per night. So each chips in 10$ on the hotel room, but the cashier is out of change, so she sends of the extra five dollars change with the bellboy. The bellboy, in a fit of dishonesty and not wanting to split 5 dollars between 3 people, pockets 2$. So each person recieves a dollar back, making the total cost per person 9$ each. 3*9=27, plus the 2$ that the bellboy took only equals 29$, so what happened to the missing dollar?

The second is a riddle a friend of mine had to write the answer to on the board in finite math, he told me right before I went to bed and I laid there about an hour and a half staring before I figured it out.

Three people are standing in a a line, facing front to back. Out of a box containing 3 blue hats and 2 red hats, each person has a hat placed on their head. No one can see his own hat. The person in back can see the hats of the two people in front of him, the person in the middle can see the hat in front of him, and the person in front can see no one's hat at all. The back person says he cannot tell what color his hat is, the middle person says he also cannot tell what color his hat is. The front person says he knows. What color is his hat, and how does he know?




[This message has been edited by samwichse (edited 07-02-2001).]

[Warthog]

Go away, GO AWAY!

*horrid memories of school flood Warthog's brain*

Warthog

[t048]

If you are reading this, then you must like math! So my question is, (a brain teaser), when does 2=1.!?????

When the decimal point of one is followed by an infinite number of nines. i.e. 1.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999999999...on to infinity.

[radbasa]

25 / 3 = 8.333

so each would expect change of 1.667 (10 - 8.333)

give them back 1 dollar each (1.667 - 1) and they end up .667 short in change.

.667 x 3 = 2, the $2 the bellboy took.

[OuTpaTienT]

hehe, good ol' Google comes through again.
Found it here.
--

Step 1: a and b > 0
Step 2: a = b
Step 3: a2 = ab
Step 4: a2 - b2 = ab - b2
Step 5: (a + b)(a - b) = b(a - b)
Step 6: (a + b) = b
Step 7: b + b = b
Step 8: 2b = b
Step 9: 2 = 1

This proof looks mathematically sound however there is a major error in Step 6. As you can see both sides are divided by (a - b) however since a = b, a - b =0. Diving both sides by (a - b) is the same as dividing by 0 which equals infinity, that is why the proof does not work, but it is rather fun.

[OuTpaTienT]

And here's another: http://www.math.toronto.edu/mathnet/...econd1eq2.html

[OuTpaTienT]

Ah ha! This is one I know (and I didn't cheat). Sorry radbasa but that's not it.

It's kinda a trick question. Ya see, the $2 the bellboy took should NOT be added to the $27, but instead should be subtracted...making $25.

Think about it, you got the $30 total, minus $1 given back to each man, minus $2 in the bellboy's pocket. It all adds up just fine.

[surrealchereal]

doh, I'm embarrassed already!

sorry i just can't say it, it's just too stupid.

(it's too late, say goodnight surreal)
goodnight

[Barney]

The second riddle: The person in the front wears a blue hat. The back person doesn't know what color the others wear, that means the people in front of him are not both wearing a red hat (if they were, he'd know he had a blue one). The person in the middle knows now that only he or the person in front of him can be wearing a red hat. They could also be both wearing a blue hat. The front person must be wearing a blue hat. If the front person had wore a red hat, the middle person would have known he was wearing a blue hat, because only he or the front person could wear the red hat.

Bit confusing perhaps? Took a few minutes to figure out. Wasn't that hard.

[samwichse]

Out: well that wasn't so hard after all, I sort of feel dumb.

[justy]

Barney, maybe I'm wrong, but I think the first two sentences spell out the answer? Which I don't think you asked the question to?

All the best, Justy.

[LemonHead]

THIS IS THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS GODDAMMIT!!!

MY BRAIN IS ON VACATION IN HAWAII :P