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Topic: A mathematical puzzle

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William

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Re: A mathematical puzzle

William wrote:

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/lifestyle/lif … r-BB1pOwc9

William

I initially thought the answer was '30' because I interpreted the '1s' on the sides as '11'. Nice one.

3 Reply by William (edited by William 2024-07-12 08:10:00)

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Re: A mathematical puzzle

The underlying issue is that if the answer would have been twelve than there would have needed to be a + sign at the end of the top line and the end of the middle line, and a + sign at the start of the middle line and the start of the bottom line.

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 +
+ 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 +
+ 1 + 1 x 0 + 1 = ?

William

4 Reply by GB

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Re: A mathematical puzzle

The question as written is nonsensical, and absolutely unacceptable in an exam.

  • Alfred
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Re: A mathematical puzzle

William wrote:

The underlying issue is that if the answer would have been twelve than there would have needed to be a + sign at the end of the top line and the end of the middle line, and a + sign at the start of the middle line and the start of the bottom line.

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 +
+ 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 +
+ 1 + 1 x 0 + 1 = ?

William

If the answer had been twelve, wouldn’t ‘plus’ signs at the beginning of the second and third lines have been sufficient?

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
+ 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
+ 1 + 1 × 0 + 1 = ?

"Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?"
― Tennessee Williams

6 Reply by William (edited by William 2024-07-13 00:33:36)

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Re: A mathematical puzzle

No.

I know it is counterintuitive but I read it somewhere, possibly in an Oxford University Press book about typesetting mathematics. I saw it in a book sale of surplus books that had been withdrawn from an academic library so i bought it.

Is it basically the same as hyphenating a word over two lines in text?

I suppose that in large enough type in narrow enough columns the very long word in that Mary Poppins song might need to be hyphenated over three lines.

William

  • Alfred
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Re: A mathematical puzzle

William wrote:

I suppose that in large enough type in narrow enough columns the very long word in that Mary Poppins song might need to be hyphenated over three lines.

I suppose that you must have had a reason not to type ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ here, but in any case it’s considerably shorter than the equally contrived ‘hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia’ (hyphenation: hip‧po‧po‧to‧mon‧stro‧ses‧qui‧pe‧dal‧i‧o‧pho‧bi‧a). That aside, I don’t recall ever having encountered a narrow column of text containing a line beginning with a hyphen.

Merriam-Webster’s article The Real Origin of ‘Supercalifragilistic’ ends with this delicious observation:

Finally, what of the claim made in Mary Poppins that saying the word loud enough will cause the speaker to sound precocious? We do not have sufficient evidence to support that conclusion at this time.

"Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?"
― Tennessee Williams
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Re: A mathematical puzzle

Yes, it was late and I did not want to take the time to find it and do a copy and paste.

William