Paul -- it said nothing about cutting off pieces. You're dealing with the entire uncut length of cloth. Okay, think of it like this: Someone has hand-woven a great long piece of cloth. He started it black at one end, ran out of black yarn, wove the center 8 yards gray, then found more black yarn, and wove the last quarter black again. There it sits, all 19.2 yards of it, the first third is black, the middle, 8 yards long, is gray, and the last quarter is black again. I think that the exercise is more in reading what is there, instead of jumping to conclusions. When it says "1/4 and 1/3" unless it says otherwise, that should mean 1/4 and 1/3 of the same whole, shouldn't it? The classic "jumping to conclusions" story problem is this: "Figure out much dirt is in a hole 2' long, 3' wide, and 2.5' deep." I was completely suckered by that one -- but I was about 11. Susan On 9/20/2010 7:44 PM, Paul McCloud wrote: > Somebody straighten me out here. Each time you remove some cloth, the > amount left over changes, and therefore the calculation of a simple > addition of percentages is wrong. If you have a board 12 feet long, and you > cut off a third, you have an 8 foot piece left. One quarter of it would be > two feet. So if you cut off these two feet, you'll end up with a 6 foot > piece. If you took a 12 foot board and cut .58 off (divide 7 by 12), > you'll have a 7 foot board. You have to compensate for the fact that you > already removed a third when you make the second calculation. Am I wrong? > This kind of question is made by people who have no real-life experience. > Bolts of cloth are made with repeating patterns, not with some black and > some grey. Nobody is going to make this kind of calculation. Dumb. And > some poor kid is going to get it wrong and be made to feel stupid because > it's a trick question. > Ok, so it's entertainment. What happened to the show, Are You Smarter > Than A 5th Grader? > Paul McCloud > San Diego > > >> [Original Message] >> From: Bruce Browning - The Piano Tuner<justpianos at our.net.au> >> To:<pianotech at ptg.org> >> Date: 09/21/2010 9:03:21 AM >> Subject: Re: [pianotech] OT: are you smarter than an 8th grader? >> >> Paul, >> sorry, 19.2yards >> >> >> >>> here it is am I'm having a brain fart: >>> >>> A bolt of cloth is colored as follows: 1/3 and 1/4th of it are black, > and >>> the remaining 8 yards are gray. How long is the bolt of cloth? >>> >>> Some of you can do this in a heartbeat, but I'm forgetting my simple >>> algebra. >>> >>> Thanks >>> Paul >>> Ps: the answer is not how much to order for a bench cover! > > >
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC