re: #235 John Neverbend

Wake up! Here’s a 7-8th grade math problem. Order the following 3 numbers from lowest to highest. Show working. Do not use a calculator.

1. 3^34
2. 15!
3. 2^51

For the uninitiated, a^b means a raised to the power of b. 15! is 15x14x13x12x…x3x2x1, but you knew that.

You cant take three from two,
Two is less than three,
So you look at the four in the tens place.
Now thats really four tens,
So you make it three tens,
Regroup, and you change a ten to ten ones,
And you add them to the two and get twelve,
And you take away three, thats nine.
Is that clear?

Now instead of four in the tens place
You’ve got three,
cause you added one,
That is to say, ten, to the two,
But you cant take seven from three,
So you look in the hundreds place.

From the three you then use one
To make ten ones…
(and you know why four plus minus one
Plus ten is fourteen minus one?
cause addition is commutative, right.)
And so you have thirteen tens,
And you take away seven,
And that leaves five…

Well, six actually.
But the idea is the important thing.

Now go back to the hundreds place,
And you’re left with two.
And you take away one from two,
And that leaves…?

Everybody get one?
Not bad for the first day!

Hooray for new math,
New-hoo-hoo-math,
It wont do you a bit of good to review math.
Its so simple,
So very simple,
That only a child can do it!
Now that actually is not the answer that I had in mind, because the book that I got this problem out of wants you to do it in base eight. but don’t panic.
Base eight is just like base ten really
If you’re missing two fingers. shall we have a go at it? hang on.

You cant take three from two,
Two is less than three,
So you look at the four in the eights place.
Now thats really four eights,
So you make it three eights,
Regroup, and you change an eight to eight ones,
And you add them to the two,
And you get one-two base eight,
Which is ten base ten,
And you take away three, thats seven.

Now instead of four in the eights place
You’ve got three,
cause you added one,
That is to say, eight, to the two,
But you cant take seven from three,
So you look at the sixty-fours.

Sixty-four? how did sixty-four get into it? I hear you cry.
Well, sixty-four is eight squared, don’t you see?
(well, you ask a silly question, and you get a silly answer.)

From the three you then use one
To make eight ones,
And you add those ones to the three,
And you get one-three base eight,
Or, in other words,
In base ten you have eleven,
And you take away seven,
And seven from eleven is four.
Now go back to the sixty-fours,
And youre left with two,
And you take away one from two,
And that leaves…?

Now, lets not always see the same hands.
One, thats right!
Whoever got one can stay after the show and clean the erasers.

Hooray for new math,
New-hoo-hoo-math,
It wont do you a bit of good to review math.
Its so simple,
So very simple,
That only a child can do it!

Come back tomorrow night. were gonna do fractions.
Now Ive often thought Id like to write a mathematics text book because I have a title that I know will sell a million copies. Ill call it tropic of calculus.