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View Full Version : Question: Maths and common sense.......



thewebmaster
13th November 2008, 01:49
I've just done our quiz on here on Geography and that got me thinking:yikes::yikes:...............thats it people start running now, me thinking usually leads to :censored:

Anyway, in the spirit of giving people a challenge, and in an arena where i have at least a slight (but only slight) advantage, this is a very simple maths problem. But one which serves to demostrate well how different people think about the same problem.

http://tomlowes.com/problem.jpg

Problem: There are three locations drawn on the picture, the boxes with A B C represent appliances, and the a,b,c represent sockets. You must connect appliance A to socket a appliance B to socket b and appliance C to socket c. Using 3 separate wires, you must stay within the biggest black rectangle(the room). The wires must not cross each other.


Once you've had a chance to think about it, you can see the solution HERE (http://tomlowes.com/solution.jpg), if it exists that is:wink.


Btw, since i'm always keen to motivate people to think about mathematics, if your really really interested:D, it actually links into topology in mathematics:icon_tong. Which computer scientists would have you believe is something to do with networks:wink, but actually extends to pretty much everything. From dough nutts to sub atomic particle arrangement, anyway enough mathematical stuff my head hurts:headbange...

Win2Win
13th November 2008, 09:34
Just use wireless electric the same way toothbrushes do :)

mathare
13th November 2008, 10:13
That's an easy problem - just move the appliances :splapme

Bill
13th November 2008, 12:01
My solution had A to a going over B and b to B going under A with C going round A then over B and back to c. In other words your solution inverted. Howzat Tom.:smileybigtmouth:

Win2Win
13th November 2008, 13:49
With the price of electric, I wouldn't be connecting them anyway :rolleyes:

thewebmaster
13th November 2008, 14:13
Yeah the arrangement of the two horizontal lines doesn't really matter, as long as you put them in first before you draw in the last line.

counterfeit
13th November 2008, 14:28
Just move the appliances - it's not really any less logical then the real answer because who knows if you can get under B??????

MattR
13th November 2008, 17:24
It's all irrelevant because health and safety would shut the place down with those wires everywhere.

John
14th November 2008, 02:50
Who puts two appliances in the middle of a room? :laugh

bigcumba
14th November 2008, 08:56
Who puts two appliances in the middle of a room? :laugh

A woman.


C - is against the wall, that's obviously the telly. A is the iron (on the ironing board) so she can iron while watching Supermarket Sweep on telly, and B is her electric vibrator, (cos the batteries don't last long enough) which she also uses while ironing and watching telly, especially when that nice man Dale Winton is on.... :yikes:

John
14th November 2008, 15:38
Speaking from experience big man? :laugh