Math Fails Everywhere

[Plain Old Petunia]

Jun 9, 2015 9:25:26 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Jun 9, 2015 9:07:52 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

I don't see it either. 

I was afraid that might happen.  Sorry about that.  Y'all can make a new goat page linked to your own account if you like.
(IMO, FB is biting themselves in the foot over this.)

Did they tell you it was going to happen?  Is it because they wanted id with your "name" on it?

[Lizard Queen]

Jun 9, 2015 10:32:55 GMT -5 Plain Old Petunia said:

Jun 9, 2015 9:25:26 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

I was afraid that might happen.  Sorry about that.  Y'all can make a new goat page linked to your own account if you like.
(IMO, FB is biting themselves in the foot over this.)

Did they tell you it was going to happen?  Is it because they wanted id with your "name" on it?

No, they didn't tell me.  I suspected it might since I created the group. 
Yeah, I decided not to give them my id.  Honestly, I've gotten really bored with FB recently anyway.  Someone mentioned they are experimenting with people and their newsfeeds.  

I did start a goaty Tumblr blog, but haven't written anything for it yet.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jun 9, 2015 10:39:42 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Jun 9, 2015 10:32:55 GMT -5 Plain Old Petunia said:

Did they tell you it was going to happen?  Is it because they wanted id with your "name" on it?

No, they didn't tell me.  I suspected it might since I created the group. 
Yeah, I decided not to give them my id.  Honestly, I've gotten really bored with FB recently anyway.  Someone mentioned they are experimenting with people and their newsfeeds.  

I did start a goaty Tumblr blog, but haven't written anything for it yet.

You could've always told them your name was "Billy".

[Plain Old Petunia]

Jun 9, 2015 10:39:42 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Jun 9, 2015 10:32:55 GMT -5 Plain Old Petunia said:

Did they tell you it was going to happen?  Is it because they wanted id with your "name" on it?

No, they didn't tell me.  I suspected it might since I created the group. 
Yeah, I decided not to give them my id.  Honestly, I've gotten really bored with FB recently anyway.  Someone mentioned they are experimenting with people and their newsfeeds.  

I did start a goaty Tumblr blog, but haven't written anything for it yet.

Well, pooh.

Is anyone willing to start the group?  I am, but only if starting the group does not make my profile visible to everyone in the group.  I have that old boyfriend stalking issue.

[Phoenix84]

It is funny and sad at the same time.

I'm floored by how much lack of basic math knowledge there is. When I was in college, I'd sometimes help out with physics labs. There were college freshman who could only add, subtract, and turn on a calculator.

[Virgil Showlion]

OK. Math quiz time!

Let's get those neurons firing and prove we're a head above the rest. Please place answers in spoiler blocks. No calculators allowed.

Get all five problems correct, and earn a rare (and extremely valuable) 'like' from Virgil.

1. True or False: (-12)⁶·(81²·(-12)^-7)^-5·(2·(2¹⁰)⁴)^-1 < -2^-8·(18²·(9/16)^-2)⁵
   Justify your answer.
   
   
2. Does the parabola defined by y = 13x² - 7x + 1 pass through the x axis? Does it pass through the y axis?
   Justify your answers.
   
   
3. Train station B is 75 miles away from train station A. At 9:25 AM, a train departs from station A heading for station B, traveling at 30 miles per hour. If a second train departs from station A heading for station B at 10:15 AM, how fast must it travel to arrive at station B at the same time as the first train?
   
   
4. If the area of an equilateral triangle formed from points P, Q, and R is A, what is the area of the triangle formed from points P|Q, Q|R, and R|P, where X|Y means "the midpoint of X and Y".
   
   
5. A bag contains 2 blue balls, 2 yellow balls, and 6 red balls. If the balls are taken out of the bag randomly, one at a time, what is the probability that both blue balls will be removed before either yellow ball is removed?
   
   
6. BONUS (Remember: No calculators!)
   
   Suppose a giant sphere is sitting on the ground in the daylight on a perfectly flat surface. The sun is directly overhead and casting a shadow straight down from the sphere onto the ground.
   
   If 60 gallons of paint were required to paint the full surface of the sphere, how many gallons of paint would be required to paint the ground covered by its shadow?
   

[Angel!]

Fun!

1.

SPOILER: Click to show

False. Since you put (-12) in parenthesis & -2 not in parenthesis, then I am assuming the second half of the equation will end up negative & therefore can't be greater than the first half.

2.

SPOILER: Click to show

It never crosses the X axis. Crosses the Y at 1

3.

SPOILER: Click to show

50 mph

4.

SPOILER: Click to show

A/4

6.

SPOILER: Click to show

15 gallons

I will have to think about #5.  I could easily be wrong on some of these.

[Lizard Queen]

Jun 9, 2015 10:56:19 GMT -5 Plain Old Petunia said:

Jun 9, 2015 10:39:42 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

No, they didn't tell me.  I suspected it might since I created the group. 
Yeah, I decided not to give them my id.  Honestly, I've gotten really bored with FB recently anyway.  Someone mentioned they are experimenting with people and their newsfeeds.  

I did start a goaty Tumblr blog, but haven'  I written anything for it yet.

Well, pooh.

Is anyone willing to start the group?  I am, but only if starting the group does not make my profile visible to everyone in the group.  I have that old boyfriend stalking issue.

I'm really sorry.     It was really awesome "meeting" so many YMers.  You're actually real people! 

I don't know if group  members can automatically see your profile.  (I thought not?)  There were group members, and then there were people who I friended...not necessarily the same thing.

[Angel!]

5. Aha!  I think I got it.  Although I could still be wrong

SPOILER: Click to show

16.6%  I ignored the 6 red balls & then the problem became simple

[Virgil Showlion]

Jun 9, 2015 15:03:58 GMT -5 Angel! said:

Fun!

1.

SPOILER: Click to show

False. Since you put (-12) in parenthesis & -2 not in parenthesis, then I am assuming the second half of the equation will end up negative & therefore can't be greater than the first half.

2.

SPOILER: Click to show

It never crosses the X axis. Crosses the Y at 1

3.

SPOILER: Click to show

50 mph

4.

SPOILER: Click to show

A/4

6.

SPOILER: Click to show

15 gallons

I will have to think about #5.  I could easily be wrong on some of these.

You got 4 and 6 correct. 1 and 3 are incorrect. 2 is correct, but you need to justify your answer (e.g. using the discriminant).

ETA: Your answer to 5 is also correct.

[Angel!]

Jun 9, 2015 15:19:54 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

You got 4 and 6 correct. 1 and 3 are incorrect. 2 is correct, but you need to justify your answer (e.g. using the discriminant).

ETA: Your answer to 5 is also correct.

I don't know on 1 then. I'm being lazy on that one.

2 was calculated

SPOILER: Click to show

by x=0 for y-axis. Trial & error for X-axis.

On 3 I was being an idiot and

SPOILER: Click to show

calculated arrival time incorrectly as 11:45.  Stupid mistake because I am not good with time vs base 10 system.  9.25+2.5 hrs = 11.75 = 11:45.  See the error?  I'm an idiot.  But, the answer worked out to a perfect 50 mph, so it seemed legit.

45 mph

[Virgil Showlion]

@ "trial and error for x axis"

I suppose that counts as "justification".

Your math on 3 is fine. You just neglected to convert the :25 to 5/12.

[Angel!]

Jun 9, 2015 15:53:35 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

@ "trial and error for x axis"

I suppose that counts as "justification".

LOL! It's all your getting because it has been 13+ years since I've been in a math class & I do not use quadratic equations regularly, so I don't remember anything about solving them.   I could have said something about for any number where x<0, the negatives cancel out so there would be no negative results.  Then for anything where x>1, multiplying x squared with will always be greater than x*7, so never a negative result there either.  It was the 0<x<1 where I had to do some tests to try to see where the parabola bottomed out.

[Angel!]

1 is true because -12 to an odd power results in a negative. Nothing on the right side of the equation results in a negative.

You were sneaky because (-2)^-8 is the same as -2^-8.   I've been out of school too long to remember details like that. 

[Virgil Showlion]

Jun 9, 2015 16:27:17 GMT -5 Angel! said:

1 is true because -12 to an odd power results in a negative. Nothing on the right side of the equation results in a negative.

You were sneaky because (-2)^-8 is the same as -2^-8.   I've been out of school too long to remember details like that. 

SPOILER: Click to show

(-12)⁶·(81²·(-12)^-7)^-5·(2·(2¹⁰)⁴)^-1 < -2^-8·(18²·(9/16)^-2)⁵

(-12)⁶·81^-10·(-12)³⁵·(2·2⁴⁰)^-1 < -2^-8·18¹⁰·(9/16)^-10    Removing outer brackets.

(-2²·3)⁶·(3⁴)^-10·(-2²·3)³⁵·(2⁴¹)^-1 < -2^-8·(2·3²)¹⁰·(3²·2^-4)^-10    Reducing to powers of prime factors.

(-1)⁶·2¹²·3⁶·3^-40·(-1)³⁵·2⁷⁰·3³⁵·2^-41 < (-1)·2^-8·2¹⁰·3²⁰·3^-20·2⁴⁰    Multiplying exponents

(-1)⁴¹·2⁴¹·3 < (-1)·2⁴²    Summing exponents.

2⁴¹·3 > 2⁴²    Divide both sides by -1.

3 > 2    Divide both sides by 2⁴¹.

The inequality holds.

[andi9899]

Math makes my head hurt.

[Angel!]

Jun 9, 2015 16:48:41 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Jun 9, 2015 16:27:17 GMT -5 Angel! said:

1 is true because -12 to an odd power results in a negative. Nothing on the right side of the equation results in a negative.

You were sneaky because (-2)^-8 is the same as -2^-8.   I've been out of school too long to remember details like that. 

SPOILER: Click to show

(-12)⁶·(81²·(-12)^-7)^-5·(2·(2¹⁰)⁴)^-1 < -2^-8·(18²·(9/16)^-2)⁵

(-12)⁶·81^-10·(-12)³⁵·(2·2⁴⁰)^-1 < -2^-8·18¹⁰·(9/16)^-10    Removing outer brackets.

(-2²·3)⁶·(3⁴)^-10·(-2²·3)³⁵·(2⁴¹)^-1 < -2^-8·(2·3²)¹⁰·(3²·2^-4)^-10    Reducing to powers of prime factors.

(-1)⁶·2¹²·3⁶·3^-40·(-1)³⁵·2⁷⁰·3³⁵·2^-41 < (-1)·2^-8·2¹⁰·3²⁰·3^-20·2⁴⁰    Multiplying exponents

(-1)⁴¹·2⁴¹·3 < (-1)·2⁴²    Summing exponents.

2⁴¹·3 > 2⁴²    Divide both sides by -1.

3 > 2    Divide both sides by 2⁴¹.

The inequality holds.

Ok, I've just been put of school too long for these.

At least I can solve the 10+10*0-10 ones that pop up on Facebook. 

[wyouser]

Jun 9, 2015 14:38:04 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

OK. Math quiz time!

Let's get those neurons firing and prove we're a head above the rest. Please place answers in spoiler blocks. No calculators allowed.

Get all five problems correct, and earn a rare (and extremely valuable) 'like' from Virgil.

1. True or False: (-12)⁶·(81²·(-12)^-7)^-5·(2·(2¹⁰)⁴)^-1 < -2^-8·(18²·(9/16)^-2)⁵
   Justify your answer.
   
   
2. Does the parabola defined by y = 13x² - 7x + 1 pass through the x axis? Does it pass through the y axis?
   Justify your answers.
   
   
3. Train station B is 75 miles away from train station A. At 9:25 AM, a train departs from station A heading for station B, traveling at 30 miles per hour. If a second train departs from station A heading for station B at 10:15 AM, how fast must it travel to arrive at station B at the same time as the first train?
   
   
4. If the area of an equilateral triangle formed from points P, Q, and R is A, what is the area of the triangle formed from points P|Q, Q|R, and R|P, where X|Y means "the midpoint of X and Y".
   
   
5. A bag contains 2 blue balls, 2 yellow balls, and 6 red balls. If the balls are taken out of the bag randomly, one at a time, what is the probability that both blue balls will be removed before either yellow ball is removed?
   
   
6. BONUS (Remember: No calculators!)
   
   Suppose a giant sphere is sitting on the ground in the daylight on a perfectly flat surface. The sun is directly overhead and casting a shadow straight down from the sphere onto the ground.
   
   If 60 gallons of paint were required to paint the full surface of the sphere, how many gallons of paint would be required to paint the ground covered by its shadow?
   

1-True, Accurate directions to that island in Pirates Of The Caribbean that can be found only by those who already know where it is.   2-Parabola does not pass through either the x axis or the y axis. People contracting this virus lose blood from their ears, eyes nose and elsewhere...but wait...is that Parabola or Ebola??  3-Neither will arrive at the train station at all.  Ever. Both will enter the Twilight Zone ant 10:20 AM.  4-Pharoh had his chief engineer executed when points P/Q, Q/r, and R/P intersected midpoints X and Y to form a perfect square. (see insurance commercial) 5- Use of the paint in the bonus question to make ALL balls blue gives one a 100% probability of drawing a blue ball from the bag every time!!!..........Wow! And I haven't TOUCHED AN ALGEBRA BOOK SINCE MY FRESHMAN YEAR IN HIGH SCHOOL IN 1965!!

[Plain Old Petunia]

Jun 9, 2015 15:14:59 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Jun 9, 2015 10:56:19 GMT -5 Plain Old Petunia said:

Well, pooh.

Is anyone willing to start the group?  I am, but only if starting the group does not make my profile visible to everyone in the group.  I have that old boyfriend stalking issue.

I'm really sorry.     It was really awesome "meeting" so many YMers.  You're actually real people! 

I don't know if group  members can automatically see your profile.  (I thought not?)  There were group members, and then there were people who I friended...not necessarily the same thing.

Oh Lizard, no need for you to be sorry.  The  is for FB, not you.  You rock!  

Did you happen to save the "mission statement" or anything else?  I know I have a saved pic of the goat which gave me such fits of giggles and a few others, but not the awesome pinned post.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jun 9, 2015 17:07:59 GMT -5 wyouser said:

Jun 9, 2015 14:38:04 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

OK. Math quiz time!

Let's get those neurons firing and prove we're a head above the rest. Please place answers in spoiler blocks. No calculators allowed.

Get all five problems correct, and earn a rare (and extremely valuable) 'like' from Virgil.

1. True or False: (-12)⁶·(81²·(-12)^-7)^-5·(2·(2¹⁰)⁴)^-1 < -2^-8·(18²·(9/16)^-2)⁵
   Justify your answer.
   
   
2. Does the parabola defined by y = 13x² - 7x + 1 pass through the x axis? Does it pass through the y axis?
   Justify your answers.
   
   
3. Train station B is 75 miles away from train station A. At 9:25 AM, a train departs from station A heading for station B, traveling at 30 miles per hour. If a second train departs from station A heading for station B at 10:15 AM, how fast must it travel to arrive at station B at the same time as the first train?
   
   
4. If the area of an equilateral triangle formed from points P, Q, and R is A, what is the area of the triangle formed from points P|Q, Q|R, and R|P, where X|Y means "the midpoint of X and Y".
   
   
5. A bag contains 2 blue balls, 2 yellow balls, and 6 red balls. If the balls are taken out of the bag randomly, one at a time, what is the probability that both blue balls will be removed before either yellow ball is removed?
   
   
6. BONUS (Remember: No calculators!)
   
   Suppose a giant sphere is sitting on the ground in the daylight on a perfectly flat surface. The sun is directly overhead and casting a shadow straight down from the sphere onto the ground.
   
   If 60 gallons of paint were required to paint the full surface of the sphere, how many gallons of paint would be required to paint the ground covered by its shadow?
   

1-True, Accurate directions to that island in Pirates Of The Caribbean that can be found only by those who already know where it is.   2-Parabola does not pass through either the x axis or the y axis. People contracting this virus lose blood from their ears, eyes nose and elsewhere...but wait...is that Parabola or Ebola??  3-Neither will arrive at the train station at all.  Ever. Both will enter the Twilight Zone ant 10:20 AM.  4-Pharoh had his chief engineer executed when points P/Q, Q/r, and R/P intersected midpoints X and Y to form a perfect square. (see insurance commercial) 5- Use of the paint in the bonus question to make ALL balls blue gives one a 100% probability of drawing a blue ball from the bag every time!!!..........Wow! And I haven't TOUCHED AN ALGEBRA BOOK SINCE MY FRESHMAN YEAR IN HIGH SCHOOL IN 1965!!

Your 1965 math teacher is weeping.

[ken a.k.a OMK]

Virgil you said no calculators so I got my slide rule out. It took 3 hours to find it. I loosened the screws, put talcum powder on it and calibrated it. It didn't help with your questions.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jun 9, 2015 19:01:20 GMT -5 ken a.k.a OMK said:

Virgil you said no calculators so I got my slide rule out. It took 3 hours to find it. I loosened the screws, put talcum powder on it and calibrated it. It didn't help with your questions.

Sometimes it doesn't amaze me that Americans can look at the $18,000,000,000,000 US public debt and go "Oh. OK."

I mean... It's a number. There are some zeros in there, or whatever. I guess. Can we, like, divide by ten to get a million or something?

[Opti]

Jun 9, 2015 18:20:40 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Jun 9, 2015 17:07:59 GMT -5 wyouser said:

1-True, Accurate directions to that island in Pirates Of The Caribbean that can be found only by those who already know where it is.   2-Parabola does not pass through either the x axis or the y axis. People contracting this virus lose blood from their ears, eyes nose and elsewhere...but wait...is that Parabola or Ebola??  3-Neither will arrive at the train station at all.  Ever. Both will enter the Twilight Zone ant 10:20 AM.  4-Pharoh had his chief engineer executed when points P/Q, Q/r, and R/P intersected midpoints X and Y to form a perfect square. (see insurance commercial) 5- Use of the paint in the bonus question to make ALL balls blue gives one a 100% probability of drawing a blue ball from the bag every time!!!..........Wow! And I haven't TOUCHED AN ALGEBRA BOOK SINCE MY FRESHMAN YEAR IN HIGH SCHOOL IN 1965!!

Your 1965 math teacher is weeping.

Maybe not, 1965 was 50 years ago. So does this mean wyo is at least twice as old as Virgil?

Wonder how well Virgil will do on his quiz when he is 65 or older.

[Opti]

Jun 9, 2015 19:18:04 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Jun 9, 2015 19:01:20 GMT -5 ken a.k.a OMK said:

Virgil you said no calculators so I got my slide rule out. It took 3 hours to find it. I loosened the screws, put talcum powder on it and calibrated it. It didn't help with your questions.

Sometimes it doesn't amaze me that Americans can look at the $18,000,000,000,000 US public debt and go "Oh. OK."

I mean... It's a number. There are some zeros in there, or whatever. I guess. Can we, like, divide by ten to get a million or something?

Without scope, all numbers are meaningless. I'm not going to lose sleep over something like this when personally I'm in the red. It amazes me a Canadian cares so much actually.

If the US ever goes bankrupt, would it really matter how big or small the number is?

[cronewitch]

I am not going to worry my pretty little head about all that hard math stuff.

[Deleted]

My head exploded. I think I need to go to bed now. OMG. And I thought word problems in third grade sucked. I was the drooler who slept through Algebra class, TYVM. Ugh.

[mmhmm]

I hadn't seen this thread before. Now, I wish it was still before ...

[KaraBoo]

Back to the original post (the "test" makes my eyes glaze over):

In high school, I was immediately offered a job at subway because I was the only applicant that had answered the last question on a math test correctly ( the application had 20 easy math questions on the back).

The last equation: 4-11=

Manager stated I was the first to ever get it correct at his store. I declined to work for him due to the fact I would be closing the store by myself and I thought that was unacceptable for a 16 yr old to be doing.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jun 10, 2015 6:58:00 GMT -5 KaraBoo said:

Back to the original post (the "test" makes my eyes glaze over):

In high school, I was immediately offered a job at subway because I was the only applicant that had answered the last question on a math test correctly ( the application had 20 easy math questions on the back).

The last equation: 4-11=

Manager stated I was the first to ever get it correct at his store. I declined to work for him due to the fact I would be closing the store by myself and I thought that was unacceptable for a 16 yr old to be doing.

He hired you because you were the only one who didn't answer:

4-11 = unavailable (but I can work 9-5)

He wanted a closer, after all.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jun 9, 2015 22:04:51 GMT -5 Opti said:

Jun 9, 2015 19:18:04 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Sometimes it doesn't amaze me that Americans can look at the $18,000,000,000,000 US public debt and go "Oh. OK."

I mean... It's a number. There are some zeros in there, or whatever. I guess. Can we, like, divide by ten to get a million or something?

Without scope, all numbers are meaningless. I'm not going to lose sleep over something like this when personally I'm in the red. It amazes me a Canadian cares so much actually.

If the US ever goes bankrupt, would it really matter how big or small the number is?

The size dictates losses incurred by US bondholders (i.e. pension funds, mutual funds, college endowments, municipalities, etc.). It's nearly always proportional to the size of deficits being incurred at the time of default, hence it dictates how much has to be hacked out of budgets due to the government's inability to borrow. And it influences probability of collapse due to the inability of world markets to absorb larger quantities of debt.

So, in a sense, yes it does matter.