Can you answer this math question?

[FrogDog]

<< So, who can tell me the ansewr to this question:

You need a score of 50% on a test to pass it.
Sally takes a test with 18 questions and she gets 10 of them right. Did she pass?

>>

Woah man! The prof who gave you that must be wack!!

 

[Bulldozer]

<< Ya'll are obsessed with formulas.

If n is the number of folds then the first term is 1, not 1/2. Because at 0 folds the thickness is 1/2. At one fold it is 1. None of the functions for Tn thus far satisfy the situation at hand except mine a = 1, not 1/2. >>




I only saw your original formula but it doesn't seem quite right to me, and I haven't seen a first term of 1/2.

Are you saying that at one fold the thickness is 1?

I still think my answer is right but nobody seems to be acknowledging it as either right or wrong.

 

[ohtwell]

<< So, who can tell me the ansewr to this question:

You need a score of 50% on a test to pass it.
Sally takes a test with 18 questions and she gets 10 of them right. Did she pass?

>>




Yes, she got more than half of them right.

The grade is approximately 56%.

 

[StageLeft]

<<

<< So, who can tell me the ansewr to this question:

You need a score of 50% on a test to pass it.
Sally takes a test with 18 questions and she gets 10 of them right. Did she pass?

>>




Yes, she got more than half of them right. >>

God you had to answer it didn't you

 

[ohtwell]

<<

<<

<< So, who can tell me the ansewr to this question:

You need a score of 50% on a test to pass it.
Sally takes a test with 18 questions and she gets 10 of them right. Did she pass?

>>




Yes, she got more than half of them right. >>

God you had to answer it didn't you >>





Sorry

 

[CSoup]

Seeing as you are from Jersey, I sure hope this is not a math question from Princeton. I know they have been slipping over the years, but they used to have the best mathematicians teaching there.

 

[yomega]

<< So, who can tell me the ansewr to this question:

You need a score of 50% on a test to pass it.
Sally takes a test with 18 questions and she gets 10 of them right. Did she pass?

>>



NO!!! if she needs 50% and she gets 56%, then last time I checked 50% != 56%, so not she did not pass.

Note: this assumes all questions have equal weight.

 

[LordMaul]

<< So, who can tell me the ansewr to this question:

You need a score of 50% on a test to pass it.
Sally takes a test with 18 questions and she gets 10 of them right. Did she pass?

>>




No, she didn't.

EDIT: Explanation by Yomega.

 

[ohtwell]

<<

<< So, who can tell me the ansewr to this question:

You need a score of 50% on a test to pass it.
Sally takes a test with 18 questions and she gets 10 of them right. Did she pass?

>>



NO!!! if she needs 50% and she gets 56%, then last time I checked 50% != 56%, so not she did not pass.

Note: this assumes all questions have equal weight. >>




I never thought if it that way.

If she got 9 answers correct (assuming that the teacher graded using 100/18 = 5.5) she would get 50% assuming that the teacher rounded up.

 

[Jerboy]

<< The Empire State Building is approximately 1,250 feet tall. Suppose you were to take a single sheet of paper and fold it in half. Then fold it in half again. Do it again!! And again!! How many times would you have to fold the paper to reach a stack that was above the height of the Empire State Building?



How the hell would you solve this question? My partner said that since a piece of paper is half an inch (0.5) you would times that by 1,250. Is she right? Thsi question has got us stumped!!! :|


How would you solve this question? Show your answer!!


>>



First thing first:

unit conversion

paper=.4166666 or 1/24 feet
tower=1,250ft


never mind.. why am I doing your home worK?


I'm not gonna tell you the answer, but I can give you an idea.

There are 14 hypothetical insects on an electronic counter at the beginning of the day and each day they multiply by three. How many days does it take until 60,000 counts is reached?

well you need to know the formula

14x 3^n=60,000

solve for n

we'll eliminate fourteen by dividing 60,000 by 14

you'll be left with 3^n=4285.7

log 4285.7
------------
log 3

x=6.648

 

[SagaLore]

<< The Empire State Building is approximately 1,250 feet tall. Suppose you were to take a single sheet of paper and fold it in half. Then fold it in half again. Do it again!! And again!! How many times would you have to fold the paper to reach a stack that was above the height of the Empire State Building?



How the hell would you solve this question? My partner said that since a piece of paper is half an inch (0.5) you would times that by 1,250. Is she right? Thsi question has got us stumped!!! :|


How would you solve this question? Show your answer!!


>>




I would start off with assuming that the paper would be infinitely folded. Then you would have to figure out the composition of the paper, and get the atomic/molecular size of the particles in the composition. Then you need to get a really close value for the thickness of the paper, and then at that point develop an exponential algorithm to determine how many folds it would take to reach a thickness of 1,250. The density of matter if pretty high, so you shouldn't run out of particles.

You're going to have to pretend there is no tension involved either.

 

[SagaLore]

<< "If this is a university math class and you guys are struggling with the most basic geometric sequence possible, that's really sad"

Yep, it is a University but it's not just our group. Most of the students in my class are having a hard time with this question. The professor is wacked!!!! Here is another question he gave to us:

3
+
2 (4)
----------
???? You would say 5 right? Wrong!!!!! Since were talking about base 4, the answer would be 11. So 3+2=11!! You see how confusing this can be sometimes. Plus I'm not that good at math. >>




No... that is wrong as well... Your answer is right, but not because 2 is base 4. The 4 in parenthesis represents another equation within the equation, and it means 2 * 4 or 2 x 4. Complex equations are solved by their multiplication before the addition.

If the 2 were at base 4, then we would have to assume that 3 is at base 10. You would have to convert both to a like base before adding them together.

 

[ChurchOfSubgenius]

I have one for you smarties.......

How long is............my arm.

This is easier that it sounds, I am talking where my bone meets my shoulder to my finger tip.

 

[Shalmanese]

/me rummages around for the US education declining thread

 

[snowdogg187]

do your own homework hehe

 

[Polgara]

Um, you can't do that. I know this sounds stupid as fcuk, but you can only fold a piece of paper in half eight times or less. Try it. You'll never make it past eight.

Exactly right! You can't fold a cube.

 

[arcain]

<< I never thought if it that way.

If she got 9 answers correct (assuming that the teacher graded using 100/18 = 5.5) she would get 50% assuming that the teacher rounded up. >>



Err.. your thought process there isn't quite right.

100/18 does not equal 5.5. If you want to do it that way (this is basically what I think you're doing):
9 * (100/18) = 9 * 100 / 18 = 100 /2 = 50.

Though I think many others would just do 9/18 = 1/2 which is 50%.

No need to round either way.


In my first year of college, my roommate's girlfriend did not know how to divide. Somehow she had made it into a pretty good school, and was working on an Education degree without knowing how to divide. Wow.. I thought I was scared then.

 

[ohtwell]

<<

<< I never thought if it that way.

If she got 9 answers correct (assuming that the teacher graded using 100/18 = 5.5) she would get 50% assuming that the teacher rounded up. >>



Err.. your thought process there isn't quite right.

100/18 does not equal 5.5. If you want to do it that way (this is basically what I think you're doing):
9 * (100/18) = 9 * 100 / 18 = 100 /2 = 50.

Though I think many others would just do 9/18 = 1/2 which is 50%.

No need to round either way. >>



My thought process is fine. To even start grading something you have to figure out of much each question is worth.
That is all I was saying.
I fully understand that it would be alot simpler to just say 9/18 = 1/2 which is 50%.

I was making the question into more than it had to be.

 

[flot]

This could be the most awful thread ever. Some people need some serious math classes. hehehe.

 

[Legendary]

Jeez it's physically impossible to fold a piece of paper more than 7 times without some sort of instrument...hence this problem is impossible...

 

[JenChic]

There is no way a piece of paper is 0.5in wide. I would say a piece of paper has the width of approximately 0.5mm.

 

[BoomerD]

There is no way a piece of paper is 0.5in wide. I would say a piece of paper has the width of approximately 0.5mm.

hey...let's all point and laugh at the noob who bumped a 20 year old thread to try to impress us with their geenyus...

 

[MtnMan]

MythBusters proved that you cannot fold a sheet of paper more than 7 times.

 

[H T C]

I remember there was an interesting problem @ school back when i was around 12 or so: how many times do you have to fold a piece of paper 0.5mm thick in order to cover the distance from the Earth to the Moon (roughly 330K Kilometers)?

Back then i didn't have a calculator, so i did the math by hand: you have to fold the piece of paper 42 times, and that more than covers the distance from the Earth to the Moon. My answer was actually wrong because i started from 1 and doubled it until reaching the distance to the Moon, not taking in to account the fact that the paper was 0.5mm thick and NOT 1mm, thus the correct answer is actually 43 and NOT 42 but, since apparently i was the only one to have tried to solve this problem, and having shown the papers where i did my math to the teachers, i managed to win a prize for my efforts, though i can't seem to remember what it was.

The OP's math problem reminds me of the above problem i just described.