Professor Frederick adds: “Anyone who reflects upon it for even a moment would recognise that the difference between $1 and 10 cents is only 90 cents, not $1 as the problem stipulates. In this case, catching that error is tantamount to solving the problem, since nearly everyone who does not respond ‘10 cents’ does, in fact give the correct response.”
The correct answers are:
5 cents
5 minutes
47 days
Still puzzled by all of this? Thankfully, Presh Talwalkar, the author of The Hoy of Game Theory: An Introduction to Strategic Thinking explained how to work out the correct answers on his blog, Mind Your Decisions.
Say the ball costs X. Then the bat costs $1 more, so it is X + 1. So we have bat + ball = X + (X + 1) = 1.1 because together they cost $1.10. This means 2X + 1 = 1.1, then 2X = 0.1, so X = 0.05. This means the ball costs 5 cents and the bat costs $1.05
If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, then it takes 1 machine 5 minutes to make 1 widget (each machine is making a widget in 5 minutes). If we have 100 machines working together, then each can make a widget in 5 minutes. So there will be 100 widgets in 5 minutes.
Every day FORWARD the patch doubles in size. So every day BACKWARDS means the patch halves in size. So on day 47 the lake is half full.
Having tried to find the answers myself, must admit, I’m one of the 83% :0)
I got all 3 correct but I have seen something similar before. It’s not a test of maths as it is simple mental arithmetic. It’s a test to see whether you have read the question properly.
When I ran off lots of stats I often had to knock the requests back because of vague language. One of the most common phrases I used was “What do you mean by average?”
I got all three correct. But I made sure that I took the time to read the questions through thoroughly. I messed up my History GCE paper by not reading it correctly.
Drew the short straw and working the easter weekend.
Had several people this morning wishing me a happy easter. I honestly don’t remember wish people happy easter as a kid, so am curious, when did this become a thing?
