Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
The Chocolate Calculator?
Dear Mathman,
I got this in my email. You should try it. It's amazing. How in the world could chocolate know my age?
Check it out below.
Sincerely,
Cal Orie
YOUR AGE BY CHOCOLATE MATH:
Work this out as you read .
Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!
1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10)
2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)
3. Add 5
4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator
5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759 ..
If you haven't, add 1758.
6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.
You should have a three digit number
The first digit of this was your original number
(i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week).
The next two numbers are YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)
THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2009) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS.
Dear Cal,
It's not really magic- unless you consider algebra and the distributive property to be magic. If you do, you probably haven't read this far...
Here's each step with the algebra behind it:
1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10)
We're going to call this "n" and it has to be between 1 to 9 because multiplying by 10 doesn't keep the place value consistent.
2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)
Now we have 2n
3. Add 5
2n+5
4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator
50(2n+5)= 100n+250 This step is key because the n will now be the hundreds place in a three digit number (100, 200, 300, etc.)
5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759 ..
If you haven't, add 1758.
100n+250+1759= 100n+2009 - this is the key move where you gave away your age according to this year. It is 2008 for those who haven't yet had your birthday since you haven't had it in 2009 yet so you need to keep the year straight. Think about it- I'm having a hard time explaining it right now.
6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.
100n+2009-the year you were born leaves you with:
100n+your age (the adjustment for 2008 makes more sense here).
So what you're left with is the number you started with in the hundreds place and the other 2 digits being your age (in the tens and ones place) since you subtracted the year you were born from 2009 (or 2008 if you haven't had your birthday yet this year).
THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2009) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS. We'll it will work other years, you just have to adapt the +1759 part.
Hopefully this didn't melt your brain like chocolate in the sun on a 30 degree Celsius day...
Stay radical Cal,
Mathman
I got this in my email. You should try it. It's amazing. How in the world could chocolate know my age?
Check it out below.
Sincerely,
Cal Orie
YOUR AGE BY CHOCOLATE MATH:
Work this out as you read .
Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!
1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10)
2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)
3. Add 5
4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator
5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759 ..
If you haven't, add 1758.
6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.
You should have a three digit number
The first digit of this was your original number
(i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week).
The next two numbers are YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)
THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2009) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS.
Dear Cal,
It's not really magic- unless you consider algebra and the distributive property to be magic. If you do, you probably haven't read this far...
Here's each step with the algebra behind it:
1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10)
We're going to call this "n" and it has to be between 1 to 9 because multiplying by 10 doesn't keep the place value consistent.
2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)
Now we have 2n
3. Add 5
2n+5
4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator
50(2n+5)= 100n+250 This step is key because the n will now be the hundreds place in a three digit number (100, 200, 300, etc.)
5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759 ..
If you haven't, add 1758.
100n+250+1759= 100n+2009 - this is the key move where you gave away your age according to this year. It is 2008 for those who haven't yet had your birthday since you haven't had it in 2009 yet so you need to keep the year straight. Think about it- I'm having a hard time explaining it right now.
6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.
100n+2009-the year you were born leaves you with:
100n+your age (the adjustment for 2008 makes more sense here).
So what you're left with is the number you started with in the hundreds place and the other 2 digits being your age (in the tens and ones place) since you subtracted the year you were born from 2009 (or 2008 if you haven't had your birthday yet this year).
THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2009) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS. We'll it will work other years, you just have to adapt the +1759 part.
Hopefully this didn't melt your brain like chocolate in the sun on a 30 degree Celsius day...
Stay radical Cal,
Mathman
Friday, May 1, 2009
Origami Saves Lives?
It's no secret that origami is popular at BJHS. The males work on perfecting the triangle, the females get more creative and fold notes in interesting ways. What you may not realize is that origami may save lives.
How?
Watch this:
So math is good for more than just keeping score during a paper football game.
Stay radical.
How?
Watch this:
So math is good for more than just keeping score during a paper football game.
Stay radical.
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