ITT we ask easy riddles/questions that people screw up

[Reincarnate]

Not to be a party pooper, but technically speaking, UserNameGoesHere is correct. It is a very bad way to write a math problem. But at the same time, ninjaKiwi, you too are correct that PEMDAS is pretty straightforward.

The problem comes into play with respect to implied multiplication by juxtaposition. Even though it's still multiplication, some mathematicians will argue that coupling items together implies they are to be treated as their own unit.

For instance:

x=5/ab to most people comes across as 5/(ab) which is evaluated as 5/(a*b) or 5/a/b, but if you wanted to be pedantic with PEMDAS, 5/ab is technically 5/a*b or evaluated the same as (5/a)*b instead, which is very different.

So if I write a(b+c) it is "implied" through juxtaposition that we apply a to b and c. But if I write something like x/a(b+c) it suddenly becomes unclear if we modify the a-term first via x or if we carry out the implied distributive property operation first (as we are accustomed to doing).

The "pedantically" right answer is pretty clear if you go with straight-up PEMDAS, but it's obviously poor form to write math out that way.

It'd be like if I asked you what Person A meant when they said "I could care less." We know what Person A probably meant, but if we are to be pedantic, the answer is very different. Mathematics is a sort of language, and like any language, you have to be clear and consistent if you want your expression to be understood without ambiguity.

[Cavernio]

one haystack

[rushyrulz]

Is it weird that Senegal was the first country I thought of? :O

Riddle me this: If a completely deaf girl has a screaming orgasm in the middle of the night and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

[Reincarnate]

Originally Posted by rushyrulz

Is it weird that Senegal was the first country I thought of? :O

Nope, Senegal was the first one I thought of too. The one I had trouble with, funnily enough, was Brazil.

[runescapedude1126]

Originally Posted by iironiic

One extra square?!?!

the extra square is the 2nd image, the entire image is a square, and the first is only a rectangle.

[sanzath]

Originally Posted by rushyrulz

Is it weird that Senegal was the first country I thought of? :O

Riddle me this: If a completely deaf girl has a screaming orgasm in the middle of the night and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

This (or at least the tree version) has always annoyed me, mostly because it depends on the definition of "sound" we're using. If a sound is just any vibration of the air molecules in the air, I'd be inclined to say yes - but some people will argue that a sound is only a sound if it's observed, be it by the human ear or otherwise, and they'll claim that no sound is made.

But then that's just a terrible and inconsistent definition, so I'll say yes.

[Cold Kitten]

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

This riddle is probably one of the best mindfscks out there. Years ago, I had to pull it into Photoshop and test the hex values just to convince myself it was the real deal. What's crazy is that once you know it, you can tell they're the same color if you let your vision space out and "eyeball" both of them at the same time. But when I go back to looking at one versus the other, by god that top square looks so much darker.

Is it sad that I just pulled it into photoshop to make sure as well? xD

[Bluearrowll]

Three travelers are sitting around a fire, and are about to eat a meal. One of them has five small loaves of bread, the second has three small loaves of bread. The third has no food, but has eight coins. He offers to pay for some bread. They agree to share the eight loaves equally among the three travelers, and the third traveler will pay eight coins for his share of the eight loaves. All loaves were the same size. The second traveler (who had three loaves) suggests that he be paid three coins, and that the first traveler be paid five coins. The first traveler says that he should get more than five coins. Is he right? How should the money be divided up?

[Emithith]

Originally Posted by flipsta_lombax

Believe it or not, Square A and B are the same color.

damn that's some trick you got there.
If you cover all the squares up but one of them, and then cover all but the other one, they do appear as the same color.

[Reincarnate]

Originally Posted by Bluearrowll

Three travelers are sitting around a fire, and are about to eat a meal. One of them has five small loaves of bread, the second has three small loaves of bread. The third has no food, but has eight coins. He offers to pay for some bread. They agree to share the eight loaves equally among the three travelers, and the third traveler will pay eight coins for his share of the eight loaves. All loaves were the same size. The second traveler (who had three loaves) suggests that he be paid three coins, and that the first traveler be paid five coins. The first traveler says that he should get more than five coins. Is he right? How should the money be divided up?

Yes, he's right.

Three people sharing in 8 loaves = 8/3 loaves per person.
Traveler one is giving up 5-8/3 = 2.33333 loaves
Traveler two is giving up 3-8/3 = 0.33333 loaves

In other words, traveler one is contributing a relative 7 times the amount of bread than traveler 2 is. Therefore he should get 7 times the compensation.

7x+x = 8, 8x = 8, x = 1

Give 1 coin to traveler 2, and 8-1=7 coins to traveler 1

[supermousie]

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

Yes, he's right.

Three people sharing in 8 loaves = 8/3 loaves per person.
Traveler one is giving up 5-8/3 = 2.33333 loaves
Traveler two is giving up 3-8/3 = 0.33333 loaves

In other words, traveler one is contributing a relative 7 times the amount of bread than traveler 2 is. Therefore he should get 7 times the compensation.

7x+x = 8, 8x = 8, x = 1

Give 1 coin to traveler 2, and 8-1=7 coins to traveler 1

I'm sorry, I completely lost focus in the riddle the second I realised you changed your avatar.

[Reincarnate]

May as well post the famous Monty Hall problem (if you haven't heard this before, don't cheat -- it's a fun problem):

You are in a game show and three doors stand before you. The host tells you that behind those doors will be two goats and a brand new sports car. The host knows which prize is behind which door, and the prizes never change positions once the game has started.

You get to point to a door of your choice. But instead, the host opens *another* door revealing a goat behind it. The host then gives you a choice. You can either continue onward and open the door you initially chose/pointed to, or you can open the other door that hasn't been opened yet.

Do you stay or switch and why?

[Sweet_Feet]

Riddle me this: Is it possible to build a house which has all windows facing south?


easier riddle my prof asked earlier this week

[Bluearrowll]

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

Yes, he's right.

Three people sharing in 8 loaves = 8/3 loaves per person.
Traveler one is giving up 5-8/3 = 2.33333 loaves
Traveler two is giving up 3-8/3 = 0.33333 loaves

In other words, traveler one is contributing a relative 7 times the amount of bread than traveler 2 is. Therefore he should get 7 times the compensation.

7x+x = 8, 8x = 8, x = 1

Give 1 coin to traveler 2, and 8-1=7 coins to traveler 1

Congrats

And Flipsta, that picture continues to give me problems. I can look at it for minutes and think that squares A and B must be different colours, but then I put the 2 squares side by side, and they look alike, and to further compare,
they're both Hue: 160 Sat: 0 and Lum: 113 with 120 RGB apiece.

[i love you]

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

May as well post the famous Monty Hall problem (if you haven't heard this before, don't cheat -- it's a fun problem):

You are in a game show and three doors stand before you. The host tells you that behind those doors will be two goats and a brand new sports car. The host knows which prize is behind which door, and the prizes never change positions once the game has started.

You get to point to a door of your choice. But instead, the host opens *another* door revealing a goat behind it. The host then gives you a choice. You can either continue onward and open the door you initially chose/pointed to, or you can open the other door that hasn't been opened yet.

Do you stay or switch and why?

I would switch because during the first choice, you had a 1/3 chance of winning the car. When the host reveals one of the goats, your chances are now up to 2/3 if you switch i would think since the prizes never changes position.

I don't know. I'm pretty bad at riddles xD

[iironiic]

Two trains, 160 miles away, are approaching each other from opposite directions: one going 30 mph and the other going 50 mph. Starting at the first train (one that's going 30 mph), the fly travels 70 mph to the other train, turns around and travels 70 mph back to the first train. It repeats this process until the trains collide and the fly dies. How many miles did the fly travel before its death?

[Emithith]

Either the two goats and the car are in the same door and the other two are filled with nothing, or he showed you the goat door to scare you away from the car, that's what I think.

[emerald000]

Originally Posted by iironiic

Two trains, 160 miles away, are approaching each other from opposite directions: one going 30 mph and the other going 50 mph. Starting at the first train (one that's going 30 mph), the fly travels 70 mph to the other train, turns around and travels 70 mph back to the first train. It repeats this process until the trains collide and the fly dies. How many miles did the fly travel before its death?

I feel I am missing something here, but here I go anyway.

The trains collide in 2 hours. The fly goes at 70 mph. So it travels 140 miles.

[iironiic]

Originally Posted by emerald000

I feel I am missing something here, but here I go anyway.

The trains collide in 2 hours. The fly goes at 70 mph. So it travels 140 miles.

Well done (:

[UserNameGoesHere]

Originally Posted by ninjaKIWI

Only if you're ridiculously unfamiliar with any math, and don't know PEMDAS?

Or, like I said, if you actually use math for real world problems rather than just an exercise. I'm going to go ahead and assume you haven't.

Anyone who has any amount of experience with multiple programming languages, programming for multiple environments (porting/etc...), or even just different compilers for the same language can tell you that different languages and even different compilers of the same language can interpret things differently and not necessarily mathematically-speaking strictly correctly. To avoid problems, if in doubt, parentheses it out.

Alternately, if you're working with other people in some manner with calculations (scientists, engineers, business folks, government, etc...) you will want to be as clear as possible as even a single digit of error can be disastrous for real-world projects. Just because it is obvious to you does not mean it will be to others.

Sorry if this reeks of snark but so did your implication.

If you have access to both a TI-85 and a TI-86 try it on both -- they provide different answers. Case in point.