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Your Favorite Math/Logic Riddles?
shma asks: "Whether you're involved in the Sciences, Mathematics, or Engineering, you undoubtedly enjoy finding simple solutions to seemingly difficult problems. I'm sure you all have a favorite mind-bender, and who better to share it with than the Slashdot community? Post your own problems and try to solve others. Just one request: If you have figured out the solution, link to it in a post, rather than write it out where anyone can see it." What brain benders tickle your fancy?
"Here's a sample to consider: You're in a dark room with 50 quarters, 18 of which are heads up. You are allowed to move around the coins or flip some or all of them, if you wish. Problem is, it's too dark to tell what you're moving or flipping (no, you can't figure it out by touch either). Your job is to split the coins into two groups, each of which has the same number of heads up coins. How do you accomplish this?"
2 bad u r such a jerk, because the idea that math is obsolete for a large fraction of the population is an interesting idea..since a caclculator costs about a dollar to make, and since 90% plus of hte population can solve all of their math needs with a calculator, why do we bother teaching math before the second year of college ?
I think you could make a serious argument about this, if one wnated to get into a serious discussion of what "education" consists of, and how many people in the US really NEED to know algebra, or trig, or something ike that. I will bet dollars to donuts that surveyors, a profession traditionally associated with strong math, are BETTER if they don't know math because the computer makes fewre erros !!!!