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MagicMan1957 Inner circle 1445 Posts 
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There is a simple math puzzle where you have the spec add up a small column of numbers and they are wrong. It is something like this:
1000 20 1000 30 1000 40 1000 10 ----- and they answer 5,000 Is this the correct configuration of numbers? |
S2000magician Inner circle Yorba Linda, CA 3465 Posts
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That's about how I recall it.
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Scott Cram Inner circle 2678 Posts
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Usually, I've seen it with the two-digit numbers going in the 40-30-20-10 order:
1000 40 1000 30 1000 20 1000 10 ----- This way, they can kind of pick up the pattern of every other number decreasing by 10, and it helps the anticipation along. |
CarlEJones Elite user Dallas, Texas 461 Posts
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I've used this MANY times. It fooled me the first time I heard it and just fooled my wife, twice! It's hard to pack lighter and play bigger than an opening like this....
carl
THANK YOU for helping us carry on our laughter ministry in hospitals to kids of ALL ages. Our visits are ALWAYS free. We NEED & DEEPLY appreciate your gifts of magic so that we can do what we do. Please PM me with questions or, for a faster reply, in most cases please text or call 214-578-1601
https://youtu.be/2DbAdXKIf-A https://youtu.be/sXXXyk6LJgE |
Jim Wilder Special user Birmingham, AL 954 Posts
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Quote:
On 2010-04-07 01:16, CarlEJones wrote: Agreed. It's funny I just saw this thread. If Scott Cram had $1 for every time I sent him a PM requesting this sequence... |
Greg Arce Inner circle 6732 Posts
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Hmm? I guess I've never seen this. Are they doing it on paper or just out loud and in their heads? The reason I asked is that I just did it and got the right answer so there must be some sort of subtlety I'm missing.
Greg
One of my favorite quotes: "A critic is a legless man who teaches running."
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Jim Wilder Special user Birmingham, AL 954 Posts
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Quote:
On 2010-04-09 21:46, Greg Arce wrote: I can't remember the first place I saw this, but I do remember it was in print (and it went from left to right instead of stacked). I remember that I did initially calculate 5000, but as I was turning the page to see the answer, it occurred to me that the number actually would not be that big. Regardless, I'd been victim to not thinking it through. So, I use it (I have it written on the board from left to right done via mental calculation) with students and parents, and usually, the majority of people calculate 5000. |
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MagicMan1957 Inner circle 1445 Posts
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Thanks for the correct order Scott.
Greg, this is always done out loud. Most of the time their final total is 5,000. Even if repeated usually they still get 5,000. And it helps that FOUR THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED just does not roll off the tounge easily. The reason you got it right is because you are a BRAINIAC! |
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aligator Inner circle Canada 2044 Posts
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Weak. Very weak.
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hcs Special user Germany, Magdeburg 508 Posts
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Here is another test:
Inflation? 10 $ = 1000 ct 10 $ = 20 ct x 50 ct 10 $ = 1/5 $ x 1/2 $ 10 $ = 1/10 $ 10 $ = 10 ct |
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Scott Cram Inner circle 2678 Posts
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Ummm...wouldn't 20 cents * 50 cents by 1000 cents^2 (squared)? (Whatever "cents squared" means.)
1000 cents = 20 cents * 50 sets (of 20 cents each), or... 1000 cents = 50 cents * 20 sets (of 50 cents each) This is one of my pet peeves in math: 2 + 2 does NOT equal 4! 2 units plus 2 units equals 4 units. There's a surprisingly big difference. |
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hcs Special user Germany, Magdeburg 508 Posts
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:=))
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Bill Hallahan Inner circle New Hampshire 3226 Posts
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I agree that this is not the strongest item in the world.
I believe it was in the book Science Puzzlers. The book claims that many people do calculate the incorrect sum of 5000. I recall the way it is presented is key. Here it was proposed in challenge fashion and written instead of being spoken, which makes it easier to get the write answer. Scott Cram wrote: Quote:
This is one of my pet peeves in math: 2 + 2 does NOT equal 4! 2 units plus 2 units equals 4 units. There's a surprisingly big difference. Scott, in mathematics, 2 + 2 does equal 4. Quantities (counts) are dimensionless. In the example posed above (20 cents times 50 cents), the "20" would typically be dimensionless. In that case,, the final units would be "cents", not cents squared. What was originally written made no cents! 
Humans make life so interesting. Do you know that in a universe so full of wonders, they have managed to create boredom. Quite astonishing.
- The character of ‘Death’ in the movie "Hogswatch" |
Philemon Vanderbeck Inner circle Seattle, WA 4697 Posts
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2 + 2 = 5 for sufficiently large values of 2.
Professor Philemon Vanderbeck
That Creepy Magician "I use my sixth sense to create the illusion of possessing the other five." |
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S2000magician Inner circle Yorba Linda, CA 3465 Posts
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On 2010-05-14 09:45, Scott Cram wrote: Yes. (Assuming that you meant be, not by.) This is one reason that using standard deviation as a measure of dispersion is preferable to using variance: the units are the same as those of the mean. Quote:
On 2010-05-14 09:45, Scott Cram wrote: It does, actually. I'm not sure why you think otherwise. (Unless you meant that 2 + 2 # 24 (= 4!) (where "#" means "is not equal to"; I cannot get the normal not equal sign to display here); that's true, but it's another matter entirely. )
Quote:
On 2010-05-14 09:45, Scott Cram wrote: True enough. Quote:
On 2010-05-14 09:45, Scott Cram wrote: Again, true enough. However, that big difference notwithstanding, both equations are true. |
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S2000magician Inner circle Yorba Linda, CA 3465 Posts
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Quote:
On 2010-05-16 17:28, Philemon Vanderbeck wrote: I know this is true because it's on a t-shirt my daughter bought me. (However, I prefer the other t-shirt she bought me: the one with the capsaicin molecule (even though it uses an out-of-fashion symbol for a benzene ring (with alternating single and double carbon-carbon bonds)).) |
| The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Magical equations » » Simple Math Test (0 Likes) | |
Posted: Mar 22, 2010 06:32 am 
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