I think I broke math...

[OneManArmy]

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


a = b

[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........................