You are quite possibly the dumbest person I have ever "met", online or offline. And I say this with a certain amount of respect. I did not think being so dumb was humanly possible for an adult. Respect.
According to the teacher, it takes 10 minutes to make 2 pieces, 15 minutes to make 3 pieces, and 20 minutes to make 4 pieces. How long does it take to make one piece (ie. not do anything)? 5 minutes?
Maybe there is an initial start up time like setting up and penciling in the measurements. Time that would not be re-calculated after the first cut. Or maybe, just maybe, the teacher is an idiot.
What's so hard to understand about? It seems people are thinking of the cross multiplication in the simplest way. THIS CAN BE DONE ON PAPER WITH NO "FLAWS"
There is no flaw in doing it on paper. I gave the equation earlier on in the thread. You have to use a little bit of critical thinking (wow I haven't used that phrase in a while) to realize that there's an extra element to the problem. Initially, you'd assume the equation is: 5x=y x = number of pieces y = number of minutes spent sawing so you plug in parameters that we already know. What do we know? It takes 10 minutes to saw the board into 2 pieces, and it takes 0 minutes to saw the board into one piece. Plug in the numbers: 5(2) = 10 TRUE 5(1) = 0 FALSE Uh oh, now we know that the equation is wrong. How can we write an equation so that both of these known scenarios are true? Well, using a little bit of LOGIC, we realize that it the number of boards she ends up with is one more than the number of cuts she makes, so (skipping a few steps here, but hopefully you'll be able to follow me) our new equation is: 10(x-1) = y Let's test it. 10(2-1) = 10 ---> 10(1) = 10 TRUE 10(1-1) = 0 ---> 10(0) = 0 TRUE Now that we've verified that we're using the correct equation, we can use it to find our solution 10(3-1) = y ---> 10(2) = y ---> 20 = y Answer: 20 minutes Math, when done correctly, is ALWAYS correct. If you apply its principles in the real world and it doesn't work out, then you're either not accounting for something in your equation (in this case it's the fact that obtaining 2 pieces of wood takes only one cut), or you aren't holding true to the givens of your equation (not really cutting at a constant rate, etc.) Can we let this rest now?
<br> This is one of the funniest things i've ever read, period. <br> "You value logic and science while I do not." ^quote of the year <br> I hope you're not trying to compose music. You have to know how to do math for that too...
Seriously. This is what is driving me crazy. There is no flaw in the question, no confusion with the way it is worded, no two possible answers, etc. It is a straightforward question. The 2nd grader that took the quiz got the answer correct, both according to the logical answer arrived at by most on this board AND BY THE OFFICIAL GRADING KEY. The only flaw that has occurred in this situation is that they picked an idiot volunteer to grade the test who had a failure in their own math ability. Perhaps someone on this BBS is the volunteer grader?
Music majors in college are generally only required to take college algebra and no higher maths. The 4 or 5 semesters of Music Theory satisfy the other math requirements. I was lucky that my university offered a physics class that you could get into with only algebra as a prerequisite. I wanted to take physics as my science but I didn't want to have to take an extra math class in order to do it.
So logic and science don't have much value, and don't use paper when solving math problems. This is awesome. I learned a s***load today.
If you cut the board in half, and then lay the pieces next to each other (not stacked one on top the other), couldn't you cut them simultaneously and get four pieces in 20 minutes? When you cut the board at first, there's space on the side of the board farthest from you and space on the side nearest you that the saw travels through, but has nothing to cut. For the second cut, if you place the pieces together to make use of this space, would it still take ten minutes to cut down the middle if there were resistance from two boards? This thread is classic, and more than a little sad. Seeing grown people fail at second grade math, and then TRY TO DEFEND why either: a) The question "wasn't clear enough" rolleyes: It was meant for a second grade intellect, and wasn't exactly mired in complication. Just admit you were tricked by a non-trick question.) or b) Solving simple problems is overrated makes me want to throw up. As a matter of fact, I did. Three times. It took me ten minutes. If I were to throw up at the same pace, how long would it take me to realize this thread should have ended fifteen pages ago? Nobody strain yourslf. (On a side note, I still don't understand how the airplane on a conveyor belt achieves lift)
