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PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME ITS A MATH PROBLEM!!! EXPLANATIONS WELCOMED

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME ITS A MATH PROBLEM!!! EXPLANATIONS WELCOMED-example-1
User Kardu
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2 Answers

9 votes
9 votes

Explanation:

it's not really a math problem per se, it is more like a regular riddle with numbers.

true, everything involving numbers is essentially math, but then what will you do in life with things like earning a salary, going shopping, checking a calendar and schedules for bus, train and flights or business meetings, sharing a pizza with friends, playing computer games, ...

life is for a big part numbers and therefore math.

so, don't be afraid, just use your brain and common sense !

let's think this through (just be strict, concentrated, and follow each line literally) :

5 fr. Band. means 5 tulgey woods.

which means 20×5 = 100 tumtum trees.

as there are 2 jubjub birds in 200 tumtum trees, that means that there is 1 jubjub bird in the given 100 tumtum trees.

as there are 5 jubjub birds in 1 slithy toves, but we have only 1 bird, that means we have only 1/5 slithy toves.

there are 5 slithy toves in 2 borogoves. that means 1 slithy toves in 2/5 borogoves. and 1/5 slithy toves in 2/5 / 5 = 2/25 borogoves.

there are 200 mome raths in each borogove. and we have 2/25 borogoves. that means we have

200 × 2/25 = 400/25 = 16 mome raths.

and there are 2 mome raths per jabberwocky. we have 16 raths. how many pairs of raths does that make ?

16/2 = 8 pairs of raths = jabberwocks.

so, there should be 8 jabberwocks.

you see ? that's all that was needed. this was like a labyrinth riddle, where you need to find the way from an inside starting point to the exit without crossing a line (or wall).

User VirtualTroll
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2.8k points
23 votes
23 votes

Answer:

8

Explanation:

The given ratios can be combined to a composite ratio using least common multiples.

Given ratios

We can identify each of the entities with a 2-letter designation:

TT - Tumtum tree; TW - tulgey wood; BS - frumious Bandersnatch;

ST - slithy tove; BG - borogoves; MR - mome raths; JW - Jabberwocky;

JB - Jubjub birds.

Then the given ratios are ...

  • 20 TT : 1 TW
  • 1 TW : 1 BS
  • 5 ST : 2 BG
  • 2 MR : 1 JW
  • 2 JB : 200 TT . . . . (reduces to 1 : 100)
  • 200 MR : 1 BG
  • 5 JB : 1 ST

Composite ratios

The path from BS to JW is unique, so we can work our way there one ratio at a time. Having done this once, we can go back and do it again with the least possible multiplier.

Here, that turns out to be 125 Bandersnatches. We can combine these to the composite ratio ...

125 BS : 125 TW : 2500 TT : 25 JB : 5 ST : 2 BG : 400 MR : 200 JW

Then the ratio of Bandersnatches to Jabberwocks is 125 : 200 = 5 : 8.

If there are 5 frumious Bandersnatches, there should be 8 Jabberwocks.

__

Additional comment

We know 1 JW : 2 MR and 200 MR : 1 BG. In order to get a common value of 200 MR in these ratios, we need to multiply the first by 100:

100 JW : 200 MR : 1 BG

Next, we notice the other ratio involving BG is 2 BG : 5 ST, which means we need to multiply by 2 again:

200 JW : 400 MR : 2 BG : 5 ST

The number of JB is 5 times the number of ST, so this extends to ...

... 5 ST : 25 JB

The number of TT is 100 times the number of JB, so we have ...

... 5 ST : 25 JB : 2500 TT

Continuing in like fashion, we get the composite ratio shown above. We originally worked this starting from BS. Reducing the JB/TT ratio from 2/200 to 1/100 helped eliminate an extra factor of 2.

User Wrobel
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2.5k points