Basic math escapes some people

[backpacker]

Way back when I worked in a carry out, the cash register was the old mechanical type and it didn't calculate change. When they replaced them with computerized registers that calculated change, it drove me crazy. I would calculate change based on the total shown on the register. If the sale was $6.35 and the customer gave a $10 bill, the register would calculate the change as $3.65. I would look a the $3.65 and start giving the customer back $6.35 instead of $3.65. I finally told the manager I gave up on letting the register calculate the change and went back to calculating it myself. I told him there will be a lot less errors that way.

 

[seven_sins]

OK. The first one to add all the integers from 1 to 100 without using addition gets a can of cut string beans.

 

[pasacon]

OK. The first one to add all the integers from 1 to 100 without using addition gets a can of cut string beans.

5050, there's a formula for that... but you do have to add n+1...

 

[BRIOHAZARD]

Basic math escapes some people...


Basic ANYTHING escapes most people.

 

[seven_sins]

5050, there's a formula for that... but you do have to add n+1...

Congratulations. Here's how it is done. Write the numbers in sequence. Under the sequence, write them backward. The sum of each column is 101. There are 100 columns. So twice the sum is 100*101. Divide that product by 2 and you have the sum.

N(N+1)/2 = 100(101)/2 = 5050

It is said that Gauss derived the formula when a teacher punished him by making him stay after school and add the integers from 1 to 100. He wrote the sum using the above method. His teacher was astounded.

 

[USEDCAR]

I suck at math with out a calculator im taking basic math in college and thats raping me in the ass i can't understand anything for the life of me. Lets thank our wonderful public schools for the great work!

 

[Zu-Mendel]

I suck at simple math, but I'm an accounting major. I can easily figure out the consequences of a deferred tax liability on an income statement, but ask me to subtract 4603 from 68272 and I hope you have either a calculator or five minutes.

One thing though, 1337% of pi = 42

In other words, take a leet slice of pie and you will discover the answer to life, the universe, and everything.

 

[Yooper]

Trying to confuse kids who can't do basic math at a cash register has become somewhat of a sport for me.

There are advantages to getting older.

Now get off my lawn.

*mumbles to self*

 

[winterknight]

One thing though, 1337% of pi = 42

No. Just no.

 

[Sha-Rok]

The Bigger deal is that you paid with cash! WTF? Who carries cash and exact change?

 

[freefall]

Yeah, but rarely in Asian countries, especially on traditional markets. People count even faster than calculators here---except if they really never get into numbers.

 

[gsdx]

Ok, big deal. He made a mistake, double checked it and fixed it. Problem solved.

I don't know what your problem is, but it wasn't a mistake. He double-checked it after staring at the receipt and doing the math again in his head. He was still convinced he was right in returning 5 dollars change, even after I told him that 10.51 minus 4.51 equals 6.00 and not 5.00. He had to use the calculator to figure out that he was wrong and had fucked up.

 

[tidimus]

Mikami, I think you're missing the overall point.

If you are working with money, or really many things, BASIC addition and subtraction should not be so difficult that you HAVE to use a calculator to figure it out.

 

[wooffy]

The Bigger deal is that you paid with cash! WTF? Who carries cash and exact change?

People who don't like getting screwed by paying Interac or credit card fees. Plus its nicer for the retailer - they actually get to keep every cent of the payment you made. Minus the tax part, of course.

 

[Kester]

Give the guy a break, I say.

Not everyone is good a math, hell I failed every year and often have to use a calculator. You got your correct change, whats the harm?

 

[wooffy]

I will never carry a credit card again, as the recession screwed me over royally.

You and me both. I went from full-time self-employed with a great little photo studio space, to part-time self-employed with a small office and another part-time job, to being laid off from that part-time job. All in two years.

 

[teadrinker]

∀ε>0 ∃δ>0 ∀x(0<|x-c|<δ ⇒ |f(x)-L|<ε)

First you get us all excited about Fermat's theorem, and then you give us the Weierstrass limit definition!

But seriously... basic numeracy should be everybody's knowledge; mathematics (in its current form at school) is useless to all but a few, and painful to the rest. (I know, because I've been teaching university mathematics for years and years now).

Here's my favourite theorem:

-T.

 

[olivierwilde]

well back in college my math friend said 2 + 2 = 5 for greater values of 2. he was getting his masters.

 

[Corny]

come on .. back that up with some group theory

 

[teadrinker]

come on .. back that up with some group theory

Sure: this is from the proof of the Sylow theorems:

as I'm sure you'd recognise.

-T.