If you’ve read a math textbook, you probably know what they’re talking about here. Stuff like “Bob throws a coin off a bridge and notices that the coin’s path is a parabolic shape similar to that of the equation y = x² + 2x +4” just make me go “who really does that in real life?” It just seems silly that a person would be able to come up with an equation for something as obscure as the number of squirrels seen within the course of a week.
Not really math, but my favorite one is from “University Physics” by Ronald Reese. It’s full of funny problems.
It had these two mountain climbers that were frozen in ice and trapped on a cliff. Then rather than help them, you had to figure out what would happen. Funniest problem I’ve ever seen.
LKA: Assuming the first two statements are correct, so is the third, in the model you gave; however, in the model you gave, neither of the first two statements are necessarily true.
A better example of faulty use of deductive reasoning is:
1. All cats die.
2. Socrates died.
3. Therefore, Socrates was a cat.
The faulty assumption being that just because all cats die, all things that die are cats.
Word Problems in General: I had a math teacher who had a really dumb girl argue with him over a word problem. Something like:
“Okay, so Mr. Wilson wants to put fencing around his yard. His yard is 53 yards by 24 yards, with a half-circle on one end. How much fencing will he need?”
“Why does he want to put a fence around his yard?”
“Maybe he wants to keep his dog in.”
“Why does a dog need a yard that big?”
“Maybe it’s Clifford, the big, red dog.”
“Couldn’t Clifford just walk over the fences?”
“Maybe he’s DEAD.”
After that, the default answer for most word problems became “Big, Red, Dead Dog”.
Math is everywhere.
Yet questions with total b_______ are everywhere, too.
That is, in Physics, in Calculus, in Chemistry,
math is everywhere.
With the power of what we can’t use or see for our entire life,
With the twisted minds of the ones who think they are l33ter then us.
We, are, doomed, by th power of math…
(just got an F on my calculus test… T_T
my soul is heading to nowhere…)
@Kobayashi: One of my science teachers once told a student to put down Q when asked the answer to a test question. The student asked why and the teacher replied:
“Because it’s just as wrong as any wrong answer.”
In case anyone’s interested, here are some actual answers to some of the questions asked:
@KirbyM – Sally will see roughly 6.7 (WTF) squirrels on week 5, more than the other 4. The maximum is 10 squirrels on week 45, and the minimum is 2 squirrels on week 135.
@LKA – Not really a problem, but let’s have some more fun with deductive reasoning:
– In the future Sakuya will still have grey hair.
– Eirin has grey hair.
– Therefore, Eirin is future Sakuya.
@rune_devros – The force pulling the climbers down the side of the mountain is mg sin theta = 60 * 9.8 * 0.5 = 294 Newtons.
The force pulling them down the hard way is mg = 9.8 * 50 = 490 Newtons.
The second force is 196 Newtons greater, so they will accelerate downwards at a rate of F/m = 196/110 = 1.78 metres per second squared.
Most likely, though, they’re already dead of hypothermia.
@YoumuPiko – I had to do this one. You DARED me.
y = sin(2*0) 6 = 0 6 = 6.
Now that I have proven myself to be a mathfag, feel free to pelt me with either praise or (more likely) abuse and sharp objects.
I also do homework and birthday parties.
True, most of them are nowhere near remotely practical, like calculating the perfect baseball pitch or some other sports related formula.
Well someone named Bob maybe not but Sally hmm..
But that’s the only real life application for math
I will never know how to solve those kinds of problems.
*rimshot*
Hmm … how many tails does the cat have? >:3
my all-time favorite is using deductive reasoning
“If you like to live dangerously, you like to dance.
Rollerbladers live dangerously.
Rollerbladers like to dance.”
Yeaaaah.
Not really math, but my favorite one is from “University Physics” by Ronald Reese. It’s full of funny problems.
It had these two mountain climbers that were frozen in ice and trapped on a cliff. Then rather than help them, you had to figure out what would happen. Funniest problem I’ve ever seen.
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/6739/climbersqx3.jpg
wait – if it’s a function with SIN, then won’t we be seeing squirrel frags?
Now find the y-intercept of that equation.
LKA: Assuming the first two statements are correct, so is the third, in the model you gave; however, in the model you gave, neither of the first two statements are necessarily true.
A better example of faulty use of deductive reasoning is:
1. All cats die.
2. Socrates died.
3. Therefore, Socrates was a cat.
The faulty assumption being that just because all cats die, all things that die are cats.
Word Problems in General: I had a math teacher who had a really dumb girl argue with him over a word problem. Something like:
“Okay, so Mr. Wilson wants to put fencing around his yard. His yard is 53 yards by 24 yards, with a half-circle on one end. How much fencing will he need?”
“Why does he want to put a fence around his yard?”
“Maybe he wants to keep his dog in.”
“Why does a dog need a yard that big?”
“Maybe it’s Clifford, the big, red dog.”
“Couldn’t Clifford just walk over the fences?”
“Maybe he’s DEAD.”
After that, the default answer for most word problems became “Big, Red, Dead Dog”.
A cat is added
A cat is fine, too.
Math is everywhere.
Yet questions with total b_______ are everywhere, too.
That is, in Physics, in Calculus, in Chemistry,
math is everywhere.
With the power of what we can’t use or see for our entire life,
With the twisted minds of the ones who think they are l33ter then us.
We, are, doomed, by th power of math…
(just got an F on my calculus test… T_T
my soul is heading to nowhere…)
meow
@Kobayashi: One of my science teachers once told a student to put down Q when asked the answer to a test question. The student asked why and the teacher replied:
“Because it’s just as wrong as any wrong answer.”
JUM: “But that’s the only real life application for math” – What about Touhou games? They use a ton of this st– oh. << … >> … I see.
Necrophia: “A cat is added” – A Ran mimigasm comes to mind… X3
KirbyM, were your Flashes and the comments left on them always so technical?
(Whoops… tried to get past the “not able to post a less-than symbol” problem but messed up my HTML code. ><)
I was thinking of putting a witty comment here using a math problem but it’ll take too lon this’ll have to do:
KirbY flash=fun
:/
i got a headache with those equation.
why dont just write them in diary for how many cat you seen that day lol XD
So, how about some Schroedinger jokes already?
“… Physics joke. Don’t hear enough of those.”
In case anyone’s interested, here are some actual answers to some of the questions asked:
@KirbyM – Sally will see roughly 6.7 (WTF) squirrels on week 5, more than the other 4. The maximum is 10 squirrels on week 45, and the minimum is 2 squirrels on week 135.
@LKA – Not really a problem, but let’s have some more fun with deductive reasoning:
– In the future Sakuya will still have grey hair.
– Eirin has grey hair.
– Therefore, Eirin is future Sakuya.
@rune_devros – The force pulling the climbers down the side of the mountain is mg sin theta = 60 * 9.8 * 0.5 = 294 Newtons.
The force pulling them down the hard way is mg = 9.8 * 50 = 490 Newtons.
The second force is 196 Newtons greater, so they will accelerate downwards at a rate of F/m = 196/110 = 1.78 metres per second squared.
Most likely, though, they’re already dead of hypothermia.
@YoumuPiko – I had to do this one. You DARED me.
y = sin(2*0) 6 = 0 6 = 6.
Now that I have proven myself to be a mathfag, feel free to pelt me with either praise or (more likely) abuse and sharp objects.
I also do homework and birthday parties.
Nice Roukan. I’m in the “Bad at Math, Good at English” Crowd.
Bob: … Try reinforcement learning. Where equations decide how your little kid learns. >_
I think this everytime I read a math word problem and wish for them to just get to the freaking point.