Saturday, January 06, 2007
Today was some campfire night thing for the JC 1 kids in our school. So the councillors asked us, the Service CCA to come and help them set up the campfire as we’re ODAC, and we know what we’re doing.
Well, we’re SUPPOSED to know anyway.
And yes, we DO know what we’re doing.
We set up the fire and stuff and it took us about 5 hours to do so. Overall it was quite fun and exciting, though there were times where we just sat and stoned while waiting for the councillors to organise themselves. We had basically finished what we were supposed to do; we only had to wait for the ‘Okay-go’ signal from them.
So we sat, stoned and listened to music, while playing stupid games.
The campfire was pretty much a success; we had lots of fun lighting it up and generally distracting the rest of the JC 1 population from the actual programme. We apologise most sincerely to the organisers. Anyway, the thing is that well – I just never realised, how just damn BEAUTIFUL fire, a chemical reaction, is.
Well, not the big campfire that was happily chewing out our kerosene wood, it was the pretty little handmade compact stoves of ours which we placed around the fire to warn the kiddies not to get too close that were beautiful.
Well I don’t know, I could sit for hours staring at the flame. It was almost – alive; flowing and moving and shivering in the wind. And it ate too, the wax that we gave it and stuff. I could imagine how flame-lovers can come about, I almost became one today.
The flame was just so beautiful…
Eh, I’m scaring myself.
Ah wells, that’s not my point today! My point today is that Meiying, our resident photographer asked us two mathematical questions that I couldn’t exactly answer.
‘There was this man who wanted to buy bananas. He goes to this shop which sold bananas at $1 per kilogram, and wanted to buy all the bananas in that shop. Now that shop had 100 kilograms worth of bananas. The man told the shopkeeper to separate the bananas by peeling the skins off. So the skins were in one pile and the flesh was in another. (Now I think this is impossible) but the piles turned out to be exactly 50 kilograms each. So the shopkeeper said that he’d sell the skins at $0.20 per kilogram and the flesh at $0.80 for a kilogram, so the price still turns out to be a dollar for a kilogram, for 100 kilograms. The man just took out a $50 note and paid the shopkeeper.
$0.80 x 50kg = $40
$0.20 x 50kg = $10
$(40 + 10) = $50
So where’d the other $50 go?’
You’d never get $100. With the 80:20 ratio,
$0.80 x 80 kg = $64
$0.20 x 20 kg = $4
$(64 + 4) = $68
75:25
$0.80 x 75kg = $60
$0.20 x 25kg = $5
$(60 + 5) = $65
Where’s my $100?
OH I know this question already!
My first explanation:
It’s because right, in 1 kilogram of unpeeled banana, there can never be 1 kilogram of peeled banana! It’s like the weight of 1 kilogram of feathers and 1 kilogram of steel issue!
So right, even if he finds 50 kilograms of peeled banana, it’s not the same as 50 kilograms of unpeeled bananas! You’re actually buying more with 50 kilograms of unpeeled bananas because the peel is taken away, and that weighs something.
The man is actually buying fewer bananas!
Well because I know that there can never be exactly 50:50 so I tried it with other ratios and yes, he’s always buying more bananas when he peels them as the shopkeeper actually lowered the price! $1 to $0.80 for 1 kilogram. That’s why the price is lower!
Eh… but that doesn’t explain why they don’t add up to $100…
Second explanation:
The man cheated. He’s paying $1 for 2 kilograms of bananas: $0.20 for 1 kilogram of peel and $0.80 for 1 kilogram of flesh. He’s paying $1 for double the weight. That’s why the price is halved.
This other question has a flaw in it I think, I’m not too sure yet.
‘I want to buy a pair of jeans which cost $47. So I borrow $25 from A and B, giving me a total of $50. I pay for the jeans, and get back $3. I give $1 each to A and B, so now I owe them $24 each, and I have a dollar to myself.
$(24 x 2) + $1 = $49
So where’d my other dollar go?’
I think this question shouldn’t be solved like that; for we’re talking about negativity there and my mind sort of shuts down or gives up at negativity. It should actually be $50 - $1 for that dollar you have and hence you’d owe A and B $49 in total but that doesn’t explain how you gave $1 each to A and B and you still owe them the same amount of money each. Doesn’t $24 x 2 = $48? So where’s the extra $1?
This has something to do with the cost of the jeans. Zomg this is a bloody trick question!
Because the damn jeans cost $47, you borrowed extra, so there’s bound to be surplus money, and besides that money is supposed to belong to them in the first place, so it counts under that $25 each –
Oh man. It’s weird. My head sort of shut down just now. Hmmmm.
It’s really the jeans I think. It’s because of the surplus! That’s why the money keeps changing. I think the person should just keep the change and pay back A and B whole.
Like think of it this way, after paying A and B their respective dollar, you now owe them $24 each. So then it’s $24 x 2 = $48 and then you add up your $3 as that money should be kept with you to prevent complications like this. Then you get $51, which is more than how much you owe them. You can’t add two as you gave both dollars to them, and the one dollar is just like the question above.
Hmmmmm.
Meh. I shall let the math enthusiasts solve this. Yes, I can see Adeline already… Oh yes, the Meiying person is good at math. Logic! Raahz. There’s bound to be a loophole! I SOLVED THE BANANA QUESTION. I think. There’s something wrong with the jeans question, I know that.
And when I grow up, I want a wrench to carry around. I like wrenches. The things they use to unscrew bolts. Hahaha.
Posted by norbert at 1/06/2007 12:52:00 AM