OK, not really... but I do enjoy doing math at least as much as math enjoys doing me!
I just submitted my answer to Hinckley's latest math question. I may be pushing my luck, trying another one after getting the first one right - maybe I should've just taken my winnings and called it a day? - but as I say: I love doing math! And there are fewer things in the math world sweeter than using linear algebra to solve word problems. If anything we ever learned in school seemed like it might have Real World applications, that was it (for me). I used to give Tammy, at age 9 or 10, algebra questions on our walks to the variety store. They often went something like:
"If there were four brothers, and the second youngest got twice as much allowance as the youngest, and the second oldest got twice as much as the second youngest, and the oldest got twice as much as the second oldest, and the brothers received a grand total of 45 dollars in allowance between them, how much did each one get?"
When she finally encountered simple algebra in school, I think it was a cakewalk for good ol' Tammy!
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4 comments:
That title makes me want to stop posting anything math related at all. In fact anything to do with numbers.
Is it 3, 6, 12, 24? That took me half an hour to figure out!! Now you know how much I hate counting those fist of fives! :)
Hah.. I didn't post the answer initially because I assumed it was too obvious but I forget that not everyone loves linear algebra like I do. Here's a formal solution:
Let x be the allowance the youngest brother gets
Therefore 2x is the 2nd youngest's allowance
And 4x is the 2nd oldest's allowance
And 8x is the oldest's allowance
Therefore x + 2x + 4x + 8x = 45
So 15x = 45
And x = 3
So 3, 6, 12, and 24 is the correct answer, as calculated by Roopak (and Hinckley, in his head, in less than the blink of an eye).
And as calculated by poor Tammy on walks to the variety store...traumatized forever I'm sure
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