Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

CalBoy

macrumors 604
May 21, 2007
7,849
37
A bookshelf has three encyclopedia volumes: A-I, J-R, and S-Z. They are in the usual order, left to right on the shelf. The covers are 1/16" thick. Each book has pages numbered 1 to 1000. Each sheet of paper is 1/250 of an inch thick.

If a bookworm chews its way from page 1 of the A-I volume through page 1000 of the S-Z volume, how far did it travel?

(You may decide whether or not the bookworm ate the starting page and the ending page; use whichever assumption makes your computation easier.)

6.25 inches

I got this as well, but something about this whole thing makes me think that Doctor Q is going to do something clever and show us how wrong we are. :p
 

Zwhaler

macrumors 604
Jun 10, 2006
7,093
1,565
I don't see why this is at all hard. It seems very simple to me.

7 girls --> 14 legs
7x7 = 49 backpacks
49x7 = 343 big cats --> 1372 legs
343x7 = 2401 little cats --> 9604 legs
14+1372+9604 = 10990 legs in total

I did the exact same thing. Got it on my first try :) Im cool :rolleyes:
 

yippy

macrumors 68020
Mar 14, 2004
2,087
3
Chicago, IL
Doh!, you guys are right, you only need 500 pieces of paper to get 1000 pages.

In that case the answer is 6.25"
 

SilentPanda

Moderator emeritus
Oct 8, 2002
9,992
31
The Bamboo Forest
There could be 501 pages per book if, after opening the cover you see that the first page facing you is blank, flipping that you see pages 1 and 2, then 3 and 4, until you get to the end which has 999 and 1000. Flipping 1000 would leave a blank side of the page. Which would be 501 pages per book. They might do that in order to not have the ink rub off from page 1 or 1000 onto the harder outside of the book. Poor little inch worm would have to inch 3/250ths further!

:D
 

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
44
Andover, MA
Explanation (highlight to see):
The books (square brackets indicate covers):

[A-I][J-R][S-Z]​

The amount chewed through:

][J-R][​

Why? Because the first page of A-I is to the right on the shelf, and the last page of S-Z is to the left.

So four covers plus, as has adequately been explained, 500 pages.

4x(1/16) + 500x(1/250) = 4/16 + 500/250 = 1/4 + 2 = 2.25".

As per Nermal. I just felt it was time to explain. :)
 

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,640
4,039
New Zealand
I was kind of hoping Q would come along and say "Nermal's right, now figure out why" but you had to go and ruin that, didn't you? :p
 

CalBoy

macrumors 604
May 21, 2007
7,849
37
As per Nermal. I just felt it was time to explain. :)

I knew I wasn't right for some reason. :eek:

I got this as well, but something about this whole thing makes me think that Doctor Q is going to do something clever and show us how wrong we are. :p

You ruined the prophecy jsw! Only Doctor Q was to show us the way! :eek:
 

aquajet

macrumors 68020
Feb 12, 2005
2,386
9
VA
Why? Because the first page of A-I is to the right on the shelf, and the last page of S-Z is to the left.

To be fair, Dr. Q said the volumes were "in the usual order, left to right". He didn't say anything about whether or not any of the volumes were shelved upside down.
 

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
44
Andover, MA
I was kind of hoping Q would come along and say "Nermal's right, now figure out why" but you had to go and ruin that, didn't you? :p
Fine, fine, I white-texted it. :)

I just wanted your brilliance to be proven correct.
You ruined the prophecy jsw! Only Doctor Q was to show us the way! :eek:
You assume we're different people, now, don't you?
To be fair, Dr. Q said the volumes were "in the usual order, left to right". He didn't say anything about whether or not any of the volumes were shelved upside down.
You make a good point - they might also have been laid flat, in which case we'd need the width and/or height of the paper as well as information about the binding, which wasn't provided.
 

fridgeymonster3

macrumors 6502
Jan 28, 2008
493
13
Philadelphia
I got the answer on my first try. It was pretty easy; however, I don't think we should be bragging it was easy since it is for 5th graders. I mean, come on, post something challenging! :D
 

CalBoy

macrumors 604
May 21, 2007
7,849
37
I mean, come on, post something challenging! :D

Ok, since you asked. ;)

There are 3 doors. Behind 1 door lies immense wealth and riches. Behind the other two lie certain death.

A guard asks you to choose a door and you pick #2. The guard then reveals to you what's behind Door #1 and you see that behind it was one of two chances of certain death.

The guard now asks you if you would like to change your selection from Door #2 to Door #3.

Mathematically is there a probability increase that benefits you if you change doors?

BTW, I don't know the answer to this, but I've seen it thrown around a few times
 

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
44
Andover, MA
Mathematically is there a probability increase that benefits you if you change doors?
Yes!

Edit: damn it! Darned kids forcing me to make them fruit smoothies and slowing down my response time. Grrr. In a few months, though, I shall prevail!
 

Doctor Q

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 19, 2002
39,789
7,526
Los Angeles
Can you prove which is larger, e^pi or pi^e, using properties of those numbers rather than simply computing the exponentials?

It's a real question, not a trick. I had this problem on a test. If only I could remember the answer!
 

kosmo

macrumors newbie
Apr 14, 2002
18
0
Atlanta
Ok, since you asked. ;)

There are 3 doors. Behind 1 door lies immense wealth and riches. Behind the other two lie certain death.

A guard asks you to choose a door and you pick #2. The guard then reveals to you what's behind Door #1 and you see that behind it was one of two chances of certain death.

The guard now asks you if you would like to change your selection from Door #2 to Door #3.

Mathematically is there a probability increase that benefits you if you change doors?

BTW, I don't know the answer to this, but I've seen it thrown around a few times

Yes, your odds are increased by changing doors as "odd" as that seems. The first time you select a door you have a 1/3 chance of picking the right door and a 2/3 chance of picking the wrong door. After a wrong door has been revealed to you, the door you picked still has a 1/3 chance of being right however the other door now has a 2/3 chance of being right. Change doors!
 

fridgeymonster3

macrumors 6502
Jan 28, 2008
493
13
Philadelphia
Monty Hall problem...real creative :p. Now if one of us explained that in a simple format without links to wikipedia (or borrowing any of their descriptions/examples) that would be much more impressive. My father taught statistics & probability at a graduate school and explained it in very simple terms before wikipedia existed which made it easy (not that me the psychology major, law school student could understand :D).

Pick any of these and report back with the answer!

sure i'll solve those and get back to you.....in say, when some else figures them out, I pounce on their answers, and post them here first ;)
 

WildCowboy

Administrator/Editor
Staff member
Jan 20, 2005
18,390
2,829
Now if one of us explained that in a simple format without links to wikipedia (or borrowing any of their descriptions/examples) that would be much more impressive.

What, you're looking for real effort out of us?! :p

Why reinvent the wheel when Wikipedia already has a good, thorough explanation? ;) :)
 

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
44
Andover, MA
Can you prove which is larger, epi or pie?
This is quite easy to do visually with no math.

Epi:
EpiPenDemo-770152.jpg

Pie:
Pie-Lady.jpg

I think the visual cues allow it to be easily shown that the Epi is much smaller than a typical pie.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.