We're surrounded by morons..

mikau · 2006-05-09 04:51:31

On who wants to be a millionare this morning:

Which of these square numbers is also the sum of two smaller square numbers?

A. 16.

B. 25.

C. 36.

D. 49.

This was a $16,000 question which are supposed to be the more difficult questions. The player frowned at it and asked the audience. The audience voted for 16, he went with them and lost.

Forget the child obesity epidemic, we've got a total mathematical illiteracy epidemic! Get America some math books!

Btw, is a square number officially defined as a square of integers? If not he might be able to make a federal case out of it, saying they did not specify it had to be the square integers. It could be 8 + 8. 8 is a square, not a square of integers but the square of a real number.

Last edited by mikau (2006-05-09 06:16:13)

stardust · 2006-05-09 06:40:30

That's so stupid.

mikau · 2006-05-09 06:51:15

Yeah a 6th or 7th grader should be able to figure that one out.

MathsIsFun · 2006-05-09 09:44:12

He was given 4 examples of square numbers, so he should have known what they are. He could then have taken each one in turn and tested it ... hmmm 16-1=15 NO, 16-4=12 NO, 16-9=7 NO, so it ain't 16.

(BTW some definitions include 0 as a square number, in which case they are all correct)

Patrick · 2006-05-09 10:12:32

how so?

Which of these square numbers is also the sum of two smaller square numbers?

How can you get a smaller square number,x, than any randomly chosen square number, y, by subtracting 0?

mikau · 2006-05-09 10:22:59

lol, but they said also a sum of two lesser square numbers, not the sum of two square numbers of equal or lesser value.

Yeah I mean how easy can it get? He had all the time he needed, its a multiple choice question, and all the numbers are less then 100. All you need to know to solve this is your times tables from 1 to 7!

I have a feeling he didn't know what a square number was.

But what I find even more disturbing is only about 20% of the audience voted for 25. Not good at all.

Last edited by mikau (2006-05-09 10:40:36)

John E. Franklin · 2006-05-09 14:13:48

Doesn't it feel great to be one of the elite members of the society, and I speak for myself as well, when I say, I have known about this number 25 for quite some time!

numen · 2006-05-09 16:53:29

Well, as long as you know what a square number is, the problem should be easy. So he probably didn't know (or forgot!). But I remember square numbers being introduced quite early in school... 20%? And I thought it was horrible around here.

Jai Ganesh · 2006-05-09 17:22:56

John E. Franklin wrote:

Doesn't it feel great to be one of the elite members of the society

Okay, its nice to know only 20% got it right! Elite us!
Its sometimes nice to know you belong to a very small group of the total population. Like, sometimes, when I need the motivation, I tell myself, I am one of the (probable) million people on the planet who can tell the value of pi to 35 places from memory! A million is a very small part of 6.5 billion, isn't it?
3.14159265358979323846264338327950288.....

Patrick · 2006-05-09 17:40:21

I saw a video on youtube or something, the other day, from a classroom. It was math class(basicly 19/20 were asian), and in the background, some guy was reciting alot(!!) of pi digits

Last edited by Patrick (2006-05-10 02:28:41)

Jai Ganesh · 2006-05-09 20:51:05

Patrick,
Would you like to be in this list?

justlookingforthemoment · 2006-05-09 22:40:48

That list is amazing. Imagine actually spending time to learn the whole thing.

Patrick · 2006-05-10 02:31:00

Well, I think I can beat the 6 year old (the one with 20 digits)

numen · 2006-05-10 04:53:57

I believe anyone can tell the first 50 from the top of their heads with enough practice, it's not that hard. But above 100, or even 10,000 I just don't understand. They can't be human

mikau · 2006-05-10 05:41:57

Yeah I think there are some maniacs out there that can do the formula for pi in their friggin head and continuously spit out digits indefinitly. I think theres only like two or three people in the world who can do that.

The one guy said he had like a siezure when he was six and was a genius ever since. Genius is a disease, its true.

"May the lord smite me with it.. AND MAY I NEVER RECOVER!"

Last edited by mikau (2006-05-10 05:43:13)

Patrick · 2006-05-10 06:08:33

I believe you're talking about Daniel Tammet, and the siezure your talking about is from epilepsy. I saw this documentary about him some time ago. He could calculate, what I would consider hard calculations, in his head. If he was to multiply 20342342 by 2394028340, he would see the two numbers as shapes, and graduately start to decypher the shape that was formed between these two shapes. That shape would then represent 48700143249972280. When it comes to pi, he had a very special 'relationship' to the number. He explained it as a landscape of mountains, where the gaps would represent a digit. Some expert in the field of brain analasys(or whatever they were) did a study on him, and found out what they thought to be the answer to the mystery. During that siezure he had when he was little, connections were made between two parts of the brain. One which handles maths, logic, etc. and one that handles emotions. .. That's how I remember it anyway

I guess what that means is, that he is actually doing the calculations in his head, but because of that connection that has been made, he's not aware of what exactly he's doing, he just feels the result.

*edit* That site also holds records in digits of

and e

Last edited by Patrick (2006-05-10 06:15:05)

numen · 2006-05-10 08:47:04

Lots of studies has been made about connections with the two brain parts, if we can use them both in a more effective way than today, there's a whole lot of possibilities I think

mikau · 2006-05-10 09:45:04

verily creepy!

justlookingforthemoment · 2006-05-10 19:53:54

Patrick wrote:

that site also holds records in digits of √2 and e

And also both while juggling! That is cool.

All these stories about memorising things reminds me of an old movie I saw ages and ages ago. I can't really remember much, but there is a guy who is a bit of a genius and one of his talents is knowing the phonebook back to front. When he meets people he already knows their phone number.

Patrick · 2006-05-10 20:57:34

Is it a little boy? if it is, I think I've seen it too

Math Is Fun Forum

#1 2006-05-09 04:51:31

We're surrounded by morons..

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Re: We're surrounded by morons..

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