Math Is Fun Forum

  Discussion about math, puzzles, games and fun.   Useful symbols: ÷ × ½ √ ∞ ≠ ≤ ≥ ≈ ⇒ ± ∈ Δ θ ∴ ∑ ∫ • π ƒ -¹ ² ³ °

You are not logged in.

#26 2013-06-20 04:35:01

phrontister
Real Member
From: The Land of Tomorrow
Registered: 2009-07-12
Posts: 4,810

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

If it was tomorrow here now, then maybe then.


"The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do." - Ted Nelson

Offline

#27 2013-06-20 05:39:31

anonimnystefy
Real Member
From: Harlan's World
Registered: 2011-05-23
Posts: 16,049

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

Well, it is tomorrow for you.


“Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.

Offline

#28 2013-06-20 06:35:06

phrontister
Real Member
From: The Land of Tomorrow
Registered: 2009-07-12
Posts: 4,810

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

Well, I woke up this morning (waaaay too early) and sure enough, it's tomorrow now (although it still feels like yesterday).

But the possibility of petrichor being the source of my affluence is definitely out because we're in the grip of quite a cold start to winter here, and on average this month it has rained every other day.

Back to bed...


"The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do." - Ted Nelson

Offline

#29 2013-06-20 07:06:10

anonimnystefy
Real Member
From: Harlan's World
Registered: 2011-05-23
Posts: 16,049

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

Maybe it's chlorophyll, then?


“Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.

Offline

#30 2013-06-20 12:32:58

phrontister
Real Member
From: The Land of Tomorrow
Registered: 2009-07-12
Posts: 4,810

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

That's most unlikely (see here.) And if chlorophyll instead of sugar had been put into my tea I would've noticed (which I didn't).


"The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do." - Ted Nelson

Offline

#31 2013-06-22 09:48:48

anonimnystefy
Real Member
From: Harlan's World
Registered: 2011-05-23
Posts: 16,049

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

Hi phro

I really hope you are no longer affluenced.


“Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.

Offline

#32 2013-06-22 14:54:38

phrontister
Real Member
From: The Land of Tomorrow
Registered: 2009-07-12
Posts: 4,810

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

My affluence is long gone, thanks (spent, one might also say)...'twas just a momentary hiccup.

hiccup: c.f. hiccough...

OED:

Hickop, hiccup, appears, from its date, to be a variation of the earlier hickock, hicket. Hiccough was a later spelling, apparently under the erroneous impression that the second syllable was cough, which has not affected the received pronunciation, and ought to be abandoned as a mere error.

Chambers:

The spelling hiccough is due to an earlier confusion with cough.

Merriam-Webster:

hiccough by folk etymology (inluence of cough).

Fowler's:

The spelling -ough is a perversion of popular etymology, and 'should be abandoned as a mere error'—OED.

Also, re hiccuping, hiccuped, the single p generally is preferred (c.f. cupping, supped). Both options are valid.


"The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do." - Ted Nelson

Offline

#33 2013-06-22 23:03:11

anonimnystefy
Real Member
From: Harlan's World
Registered: 2011-05-23
Posts: 16,049

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

So, it was just a commentary mishap. That's good.


“Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.

Offline

#34 2014-06-01 15:36:34

a solver
Member
Registered: 2014-06-01
Posts: 1

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

Answer=> number of children  be n
They can patronize 3 stalls.
553=13
552=12
333=9
335=11
334=10
223=7
224=8
All the amounts are different and are not 14 and the sum is also 70

Offline

#35 2014-06-01 18:50:33

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

Hi;

Looking it says collectively they can only patronize 3 stalls, your solution is then invalid because you have them patronizing 4 stalls, 5,4,3, and 2.


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

Offline

#36 2014-06-01 23:19:23

ShivamS
Member
Registered: 2011-02-07
Posts: 3,648

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

Just to let you know, this is from My Best Puzzles in Mathematics by Hubert Phillips.

Offline

#37 2014-06-02 00:42:25

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

Hi;

I did not know that but I recommend working on the problem.


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

Offline

#38 2014-06-03 00:02:52

phrontister
Real Member
From: The Land of Tomorrow
Registered: 2009-07-12
Posts: 4,810

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

Hi;


"The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do." - Ted Nelson

Offline

#39 2014-06-03 01:03:03

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

There are no solutions as the problem is worded. The book solutions is also wrong.


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

Offline

#40 2014-06-03 01:14:26

phrontister
Real Member
From: The Land of Tomorrow
Registered: 2009-07-12
Posts: 4,810

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

Yes, that's how I see it too.

What do you think of my wording change suggestion in my last post?

Gotta vanish for a bit...


"The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do." - Ted Nelson

Offline

#41 2014-06-03 01:21:16

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

That is correct, the wording given in the book means 2 stalls.


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

Offline

#42 2014-06-03 03:03:33

phrontister
Real Member
From: The Land of Tomorrow
Registered: 2009-07-12
Posts: 4,810

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

It would be nice if the OP could note his first post to make people aware of the flaw and the fix before they embarked on trying to solve the puzzle.

Last edited by phrontister (2014-06-03 04:34:21)


"The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do." - Ted Nelson

Offline

#43 2014-06-03 07:49:18

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

I do not think he ever came back in here.


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

Offline

#44 2014-06-03 07:49:47

ShivamS
Member
Registered: 2011-02-07
Posts: 3,648

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

How about [edit by administrator]?

Offline

#45 2014-06-03 07:52:03

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

That would be a problem?!


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

Offline

#46 2014-06-03 07:57:01

ShivamS
Member
Registered: 2011-02-07
Posts: 3,648

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

Why?

Offline

#47 2014-06-03 08:03:57

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

That is the way it is worded in the book.


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

Offline

#48 2014-06-03 08:05:20

ShivamS
Member
Registered: 2011-02-07
Posts: 3,648

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

phrontister wrote:

It would be nice if the OP could note his first post to make people aware of the flaw and the fix before they embarked on trying to solve the puzzle.

Do that.

Offline

#49 2014-06-03 08:15:04

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

Here, I am forced to disagree with my cousin phrontister. It is often good practice to work on problems that have no solution. One of my biggest complaints about my so called education was how my instructors slyly convinced me that

1) All problems have a solution. After all the textbooks are loaded with them. They never showed me one that did not.

2) All problems have nice neat answers like 1,2,3,π, √ 2, √ 3, 1 / 2, 1 / 3 or linear combinations of them.

In the real world not only does not every problem have a solution, lots of times you do not even no whether it does or it does not.

But I will make the change as a warning.


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

Offline

#50 2014-06-03 08:25:48

ShivamS
Member
Registered: 2011-02-07
Posts: 3,648

Re: Please Help me with this puzzle.

Counterarguments (even though I wholeheartedly dislike the education system):

1) That is usually only for high school level. At university, we are given several open-ended or unanswerable problems (usually just to show our effort or to discuss it)
2) Once again, that is usually only for high school level. At university, while most of the problems are proofs and the like, the computation problems are usually not in such a simple form.

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB