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Post by ChrisB on Dec 13, 2017 0:19:51 GMT
The question was not "What is the answer to this problem" but "Can you solve this?"
Therefore, the answers are either:
1. Yes, or
2. No.
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Post by Slinger on Dec 13, 2017 0:20:29 GMT
I should correct myself. There are two possible answers to the question. Either can be correct and neither is a number. Aaaah, the mists have parted. My answer originally should have had two characters, but now it has three I hope. |
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Post by Slinger on Dec 13, 2017 0:24:32 GMT
I remember being told at school that there was an A level question on a maths paper one previous year. 1+1 =? Something like 80% of the replies were wrong. Some said it was 3, because they didn't think that such a simple question would have a straightforward answer, so the question must be in binary. I can't remember any of the other ideas pursued - school was a very long time ago. 1+1=2 was the answer the examiners expected to see. Unless you're an accountant, in which case the correct answer is "Which number would you like it to be?"  |
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Post by Stratmangler on Dec 13, 2017 0:28:45 GMT
The question was not "What is the answer to this problem" but "Can you solve this?" Therefore, the answers are either: 1. Yes, or 2. No.  |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2017 5:41:22 GMT
The question was not "What is the answer to this problem" but "Can you solve this?" Therefore, the answers are either: 1. Yes, or 2. No. Epic! And the winner is......Chris B! |
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Post by MartinT on Dec 13, 2017 6:30:15 GMT
Mmmm, strictly speaking yes, but the question is an invitation to solve the puzzle.
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Post by pinkie on Dec 13, 2017 6:42:36 GMT
The answers include possibly I think so I can I can prove it I could go on... I know Chris was joshing, but my wife asked the same "who makes up these silly rules"? Mathematics like English is a language. But it needs to communicate consistently rather than creatively If the problem is viewed as an English language challenge then any correct answer solves it. That includes demonstrating "I can" If it is a maths challenge, the answer is 38. If you add a 2nd row banana it is the answer to the great question of Douglas Adams  |
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Post by MartinT on Dec 13, 2017 6:48:23 GMT
...but what is the question?  |
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Post by ChrisB on Dec 13, 2017 8:26:48 GMT
If I had written something like that final row in an answer to a problem, my old maths teacher, Mr Loader would have given me a slap round the back of the knees for not applying brackets.
(Mr Loader used to have a plant on his desk, called Pythagoras, which he swore had square roots).
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Post by pinkie on Dec 13, 2017 8:47:55 GMT
Anyone got Excel as a spreadsheet
Type +2+3+3*11 and hit enter
Report back your answer - it will be 38
Rules is Rules
On which subject, and since my accountancy credentials have featured here, you may be aware that the world of accountancy is in awe of "double entry bookkeeping"
(I had an inappropriate T-shirt as an accountant at the top-5 firm of Price Waterhouse which on the front said "Accountants do it with double entry" "Auditors do it with Internal control" and a bit further down "PW - Big Firm Member")
Double entry is debits and credits - a source of much confusion and frustration for so many - who appear to think there is something esoteric about which is which and why. By CONVENTION (cos you have to have one) debits go on the left, and credits in the right hand column
1) Why was the rule taught that "debits are on the side by the window"?
2) What was the point of debits and credits at all? Why did Luca Paciolli invent the system?
3) If debits are assets - money in the bank , and credits are liabilities, money you owe or overdrawn banks - why does your bank statement say it is a debit balance when it is overdrawn, and a credit balance when you have money in it?
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Post by ChrisB on Dec 13, 2017 9:02:33 GMT
I got 88 and yes, I was wrong and yes, rules is rules but a pair of brackets wouldn't have gone amiss.
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Post by MartinT on Dec 13, 2017 9:18:31 GMT
I think the lack of brackets was designed to catch out those who don't know the operator priorities.
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Post by pinkie on Dec 13, 2017 9:19:47 GMT
Brackets is always safest.
(Not permitted to slap round the knees any more, sadly.)
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Post by MartinT on Dec 13, 2017 9:21:50 GMT
And someone I know would slap me round the knees because, of course, they are parentheses (brackets are square).
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Post by pinkie on Dec 13, 2017 9:22:46 GMT
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Post by pinkie on Dec 13, 2017 9:25:10 GMT
And someone I know would slap me round the knees because, of course, they are parentheses (brackets are square). Hence PEDMAS - as I learned it ParenthesesExponents Division Multiplication Addition Subtraction |
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Post by MartinT on Dec 13, 2017 9:26:25 GMT
Apparently it's BODMAS and useful to remember:
B Brackets first
O Orders (i.e. Powers and Square Roots, etc.)
DM Division and Multiplication (left-to-right)
AS Addition and Subtraction (left-to-right)
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Post by pinkie on Dec 13, 2017 10:07:37 GMT
Any thoughts on why "debits are on the side with the window"?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2017 10:56:03 GMT
The question was not "What is the answer to this problem" but "Can you solve this?" Therefore, the answers are either: 1. Yes, or 2. No. I got a few different answers and then gave up, so I like Chris's quote above, my answer would be. Yes/No |
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Post by Slinger on Dec 13, 2017 14:05:48 GMT
As I said earlier though, there is no definite, correct, mathematical solution because as no 'rules' are stated it would be equally valid to assign mathematical values to each of the shades of grey in the composite geometric figure. For instance... Light grey= 1 Mid grey = 1 Dark grey = 13 Expand that premise to allow numbers less than one, i.e. decimal places, then the mathematical solutions are infinite. Also, nobody knows if the clock in the last set is showing 2 O'clock or 1400 hours. What it comes down to (in my opinion, for what that's worth) is the fact that as there are no mathematical rules laid down in the 'question' any computable answer can be correct. I think Chris has it, it's an English question and the answer is binary. That's 'binary' in the language sense rather than the mathematical obviously. |
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