Quick Quiz
12-07-2012, 09:31 AM
#1
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Quick Quiz
(1) A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?
(2) If it takes five machines five minutes to make five widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?
(3) In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half the lake?
If you answer quickly, you will probably be wrong.
(2) If it takes five machines five minutes to make five widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?
(3) In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half the lake?
If you answer quickly, you will probably be wrong.
12-07-2012, 10:29 AM
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Mathematical modeling is actually a fun subject, a small dose of it is given in most ordinary differential equations courses. The idea is to come up with an equation representing a naturally occurring event, such as population growth, temperature propagation, things like that. Once you have a formula you can predict how fast things will change. The process can be used to model how fast just about any naturally occurring event will go forth.
12-07-2012, 02:25 PM
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OceanicPilot is correct. The quiz is explained in this article:
Study Shows Smart Liberals, Conservatives, and Libertarians Are Easiest to Fool - Reason.com
Basically, a Professor at MIT wanted to know what kind of people tend to jump to a wrong answer even when they have excellent math skills. It turned out that overconfidence mattered more than whether the person was liberal or conservative. (Not really surprising.)
"...the smarter you are, the easier it is to fool yourself."
Study Shows Smart Liberals, Conservatives, and Libertarians Are Easiest to Fool - Reason.com
Basically, a Professor at MIT wanted to know what kind of people tend to jump to a wrong answer even when they have excellent math skills. It turned out that overconfidence mattered more than whether the person was liberal or conservative. (Not really surprising.)
"...the smarter you are, the easier it is to fool yourself."
12-08-2012, 11:38 AM
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One interesting thing about the "lake" problem: even a tiny patch of lily pads, doubled in size 47 times, would cover an absolutely humongous lake (multiply the original size by 2 to the 47th power). Don't know if such a lake would fit on Earth!
12-08-2012, 01:19 PM
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1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024,2048,4096,8192,1 6384,32786,65536, 131072,262144,524288,1048576,2097152,4194304,93886 08,16777216, 33554432,67108864,134217728,268435456,536870912,10 73741824, 2147483648,4294967296,8589934592,17179869184,34359 738368, 68719476736,137438953472,274877906944,549755813888 , 1099511627776,2199023255552,4398046511104,87960930 22208, 17592186044416,35184372088832,70368744177664
If we start with a 1 square foot lilly pad, on day 47 it will be 70.3 trillion sq ft. There are 10,763,910 sq ft in a sq km so about 6 and a half million sq km. The surface of the earth is 510 million sq km so we've got another week.
I answered the questions in about 20 seconds.
If we start with a 1 square foot lilly pad, on day 47 it will be 70.3 trillion sq ft. There are 10,763,910 sq ft in a sq km so about 6 and a half million sq km. The surface of the earth is 510 million sq km so we've got another week.
I answered the questions in about 20 seconds.
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