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Topic: Mathematical Principle needed unknown (Read 759 times) |
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B.R
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Mathematical Principle needed unknown
« on: Dec 27th, 2004, 12:33pm » |
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If I buy a certain 4 items priced at:
$1.20
$1.25
$1.50
$3.16
- To get the total of these figures, it does not matter
if the prices are added together as one would expect or
if the prices are multiplied. The total bill will be the
same: $7.11. What mathematical principle is being
displayed in this problem?
What'dya Reckon?
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Icarus
wu::riddles Moderator
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Re: Mathematical Principle needed unknown
« Reply #1 on: Dec 27th, 2004, 2:58pm » |
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The only principle I see is the principle that if you have at least as many unknowns as equations, you generally have solutions (not always - sometimes the only possible solutions for all but one of the equations turn out to all be outside the domain of the remaining equation).
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John_Gaughan
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Re: Mathematical Principle needed unknown
« Reply #2 on: Dec 29th, 2004, 11:43am » |
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Although I cannot see a direct relationship, this reminds me of the Golden Ratio.
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x = (0x2B | ~0x2B)
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Mathematical Principle needed unknown
« Reply #3 on: Dec 29th, 2004, 8:51pm » |
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on Dec 29th, 2004, 11:43am, John_Gaughan wrote:| Although I cannot see a direct relationship, this reminds me of the Golden Ratio. |
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With two variables we have
x1x2 = x1 + x2
This equation is satisfied by
x1 = Phi, x2 = Phi2
Of course, this 'solution' does not satisfy the physical constraints of the puzzle, which are (with n variables):
for i = 1 to n
100xi [in] [bbz]+
and
100[smiley=prod.gif]xi [in] [bbz]+
Given the first constraint, the chance of satisfying the second constraint decreases as n increases.
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| « Last Edit: Dec 30th, 2004, 8:27am by ThudnBlunder » |
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