I think I broke math...

[OneManArmy]

OK some of you may have seen this before.....shhhh!


a = b

http://hstrial-jwilliams6.homestead.com/files/fuzymath.jpg

[diluted]

im not sure but i think towards the end you dont divide both by B (2b = b). not sure though just skimming the problem.

[KoldFusion]

I'm not touching that one! :) *KoldFusion runs screaming into the other room* OH THE HORROR!

[Strygun]

The last step..you wouldn't do the 2b � b = b �b, you would have to do 2b � 2 = b � 2 (because the goal is to get 'b' by itself), which would just repeat the problem all over.


Or....
(For lack of knowing the ASCII for the equal sign w/ the slash thru it.. != means not equal.)

A != B

Plain and simple. A cannot equal B, at all. Then it would just be A, or it would just be B. You could say A=A or B=B but A!=B

[OneManArmy]

ok I did not just invent this up. and dividing both sides by b is perfectly legal (anything divided by its self is 1 )

[OneManArmy]

and A can equal b


remember letters are just place holders in algebra for "some number"

[diluted]

AHA


ok where it says a^2 - b^2 = ab - b^2


well that throws everything off. the way the problem gets broken down from here because of that is just way off.

in fact it seems like a = b shouldn't have gone through this problem-solving process in the first place.



edit: hmm i don't know. nothing seems to fit. why would it subtract b^2 in step 2 when it was never even a part of the problem? its so much easier if you use the same variable throughout or give it some kind of value.
another example of this is in step 4 - division by zero is impossible. and (a-b) is zero IF a=b. too many holes and discrepencies.

[Timormi]

its in the first part From step 2 to step 3. There is not b^2 yet, so you cant subtract it from both sides. In math you cant just add anything you want. It has to be already in the problem for you to do something with it.

[KoldFusion]

I did some thinking on this.... why did you input b for a? it may not solve the problem but that looks odd to me.... b/c i can't see anything wrong with your math....

BTW is this some sort of gag?

[Strygun]

Originally posted by diluted
edit: hmm i don't know. nothing seems to fit. why would it subtract b^2 in step 2 when it was never even a part of the problem? its so much easier if you use the same variable throughout or give it some kind of value.
Timormi said about the same thing as that quote..


I agree it should use the same variable, but it just shows that (in that step, b^2 = a^2

[OneManArmy]

remember, you can do whatever you want to a math problem as long as you do the exact same thing to both sides.


for ex.. if I have 3 = 3 and I add 100 to both sides

both sides are still equal 103 = 103....

[Strygun]

oops, nope..lol..thought I had solved it - it's been over a year since I had algebra..

[diluted]

i think the focus is on step 4. the way its factored out to isolate B is just wrong. something is inconsistent in that area.

[OneManArmy]

DING DING!!!!


the error is in step four, The factoring was all legal (FOIL method, and I factored out a b on the other side)

but you cannot divide both sides by (a-b) in this case


anyone care to tell me why?

[Lanizer]

Originally posted by diluted
i think the focus is on step 4. the way its factored out to isolate B is just wrong. something is inconsistent in that area.

I agree , step 4 is just wierdddddddddddddddddddd........................

[diluted]

is it bc division by zero like i said? ;)

[TheAvantGawk]

I don't want to sound like a complete moron if I'm wrong, but I'm bored. Is it because dividing by (a-b) is the same as dividing both sides by zero?

[TheAvantGawk]

sorry, diluted. beat me twice apparently, haha.

[JonnyK]

i suppose i'm good at math, since i'm in sophomore math as a freshman, but i still hate doing it, so i'm not even going to prove you wrong (even though i could using minimal brain power)

[diluted]

heh.

b(a-b) / (a-b)

maybe b needs to be distributed before divided.

[OneManArmy]

an Diluted wins a gold sticker!!!!!


we cannot divide by zero!!!!


thats twice in one night you've managed to impress me!! :thumbsup:



johnny...uhh... you suck...

[diluted]

I WIN I WIN I WIN
:eek:

awesome. hey dude get someone over at new dawn to email me. i sent an app like 2 months ago O_O!

[TheAvantGawk]

Can I get a silver sticker or something?

[OneManArmy]

sure thing diluted, stop by our IRC channel sometime,

#newdawn on the PSU server.


:D ok here you go

http://hstrial-bflower.homestead.com/files/star.gif
http://hstrial-bflower.homestead.com/files/star1.gif

[TheAvantGawk]

:)

[Hamma]

My brain hurts.

[AztecWarrior]

Yeah I'm in Geometry (Sophomore) as a Freshman, but we had the most boring teacher in the world for Algebra I last year. Retention is extremely low. The current teacher had to re-teach us how to simplify raidcals and to factor.

[MrVulcan]

I have not read any other posts, so I do not know if this is right, but here is my analysis:
I would say that you math is flawed due to:
in step 4, in that equation, you are deviding by zero (a-b = 1-1 = 0), and that gives you undefined, thus all math after that step is not correct

now that I have looked at them, i see that I was right! AWSOME!!! Life is good!

[OneManArmy]

:lol: god damn vulcans and thier logic... think they're all smart and stuff....

[Derfud]

Interesting, but i have to go, becuase time/space is collapsing, and a black hole just opened in my room.

[MrVulcan]

Originally posted by Derfud
Interesting, but i have to go, becuase time/space is collapsing, and a black hole just opened in my room.

ya, happens all the time, you just need to remember you quantum flux gate and watch in 1, that way you can reqwind the space continum around the anomalies, and return to normal space ;)

[Derfud]

I could do that, but it takes too long, a tachyon pulse is always the solution, i am wondering, is there anything it can't fix?

[OneManArmy]

a broken heart.... the one place a vulcans logic and the mysteries of the tachyon pulse has no effect...

[mr_luc]

someone probably said this

but, no division by zero sorry.

I didn't figure it out, my teacher pulled this on us at the beginning of the school year for College Algebra. :D

[Jaged]

Ahh, that makes sence. It all works until step 4. If both A and B were equal to zero, the second to last line would be equal though.

[mistled]

I know everyone decided that the problem was in step four, but we could have stopped at step two.

If a=b, then a^2=ab is equal to b^2=b^2

Since the result from subtracting b^2 would then be 0=0, we shouldn't ever get to step 4. ;)

[MrVulcan]

well, 0 = 0 is fair, and logic can continue past that in most* terms and situations, but you are right, most of the oddities in math come from 0=0; sqrt(-1); inf = inf; and devided by 0.

[Lexington_Steele]

Damn it I got to this thread late. :(

I knew where the error occured after the initial post.

[mistled]

yeah Lex, I didn't get home until after midnight, so I couldn't play either... so I just posted on the end like the thread wasn't over ;)

[Jaged]

Originally posted by {BOHICA}mistled
I know everyone decided that the problem was in step four, but we could have stopped at step two.

If a=b, then a^2=ab is equal to b^2=b^2

Since the result from subtracting b^2 would then be 0=0, we shouldn't ever get to step 4. ;)

Heck, why would we even have to get past step one? a=b is already in its most simplified form.

[Irnbru]

i agree with Jaged :D

[Sputty]

SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!!! KEEP MATH FROM THIS PLACE

[Irnbru]

math made the pc you are now on possible ;)