Soldato
*mathsIt suggest that people need to go back to school to learn math
Settle a dispute?
- Thread starter Ace Modder
- Start date
Caporegime
You just need to take it literally
Two Hundred = 200
Divide = ÷
Half = 1/2 or 0.5 (depending you prefer fraction or decimal)
Add = +
Thirty = 30
Now put it together in this order (which require knowing basic maths)
200/0.5
That = 400
Plus 30
430.
There is no ambiguity. Unless you don't understand basic English and Maths
Two Hundred = 200
Divide = ÷
Half = 1/2 or 0.5 (depending you prefer fraction or decimal)
Add = +
Thirty = 30
Now put it together in this order (which require knowing basic maths)
200/0.5
That = 400
Plus 30
430.
There is no ambiguity. Unless you don't understand basic English and Maths
Caporegime
Half means 0.5
Half doesn't mean 2.
2 is written as Two
Half is written as 1/2 or 0.5
How did you get 2 from Half?
If you are given half a million quid, how much is that in numbers?
The question isn't written as "half of 200, Plus thirty". You would have completely missed the word, divide to get that. Either on purpose or accident, you left that out entirely.
Last edited:
Caporegime
No, it doesn't. Divide by half is a clear statement. Divide it by 0.5.
what does chatgpt say - she's good at maths maybe
‘Hallucinations’ are a critical problem9 for natural language generation systems using large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT1 or Gemini2, because users cannot trust that any given output is correct.
‘Hallucinations’ are a critical problem9 for natural language generation systems using large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT1 or Gemini2, because users cannot trust that any given output is correct.
Soldato
/thread.
Caporegime
Divide by half
Divide in half
They are different and will get you different answers.
The original question is BY half. If you then apply it as "in" half then you have read it wrong.
Divide in half
They are different and will get you different answers.
The original question is BY half. If you then apply it as "in" half then you have read it wrong.
half of what? a marsbar?
I'd need to determine what measurement your using for the 200 then scale it to a mars bar, cut the mars bar in half, add 30? sprinkles, percent, digits?
What does google say, "you and your mate are nerds and I refuse to settle such a pathetic dispute" ?
Last edited:
Actually, assuming all numbers integers. Then 200/0.5 would give a divide by zero error and the add 30 would be left hanging. What's that? half is obviously meant to interpreted as a floating point number? Where does it say that in the question? 
unless it crashes a calculator then it works perfectly and I've never seen a calculator crash yetActually, assuming all numbers integers. Then 200/0.5 would give a divide by zero error and the add 30 would be left hanging. What's that? half is obviously meant to interpreted as a floating point number? Where does it say that in the question?
Soldato
- Joined
- 23 May 2006
- Posts
- 7,663
it's 430 no doubt. divide by A half would be much better however but then that spoils the "trick" I guess.
unfortunately people are lazy when they talk and come up with their own meaning for things which are factually wrong.
hence I could care less*
I didn't do nothing
and my absolute most hated ...... that is sick!
all meaning the opposite of what people think it means
*I realise that one is a shortened form of a much longer phrase but it's still wrong.
unfortunately people are lazy when they talk and come up with their own meaning for things which are factually wrong.
hence I could care less*
I didn't do nothing
and my absolute most hated ...... that is sick!
all meaning the opposite of what people think it means
*I realise that one is a shortened form of a much longer phrase but it's still wrong.
Last edited:
Soldato
Yeah I agree. However 'half' on its own is not grammatically correct either. 'Half' is not a number, it should be 'one half', which is a number.
The whole thing is bobbins.
Anyway, numbers aren't even real so there is no point arguing about it. Numbers are just a manmade construct to help model and understand the universe and everything in it.
Last edited:
Caporegime
We are not really talking grammatically, we are talking about mathematically.
Half in maths is a number. The way it is written, By Half, is by 0.5. Like by a third is by 1/3. Or by a quarter is 1/4.
Your 2nd and 3rd sentences don't belong in this thread, it is a completely different topic.
Caporegime
No, you're talking about grammar. The translation of the words into a mathematical structure is a question of grammar, and the ambiguity comes from that translation. Grammar is descriptive rather than prescriptive, and like the silliness around double negatives the fact is that the most English speakers who might say "divide by half" will have intended the same meaning as "divide by two" or "divide in half"; just as most speakers who might say "I ain't done nothing wrong!" do, in fact, mean they did nothing wrong despite the howlings of prescriptivist grammar mavens.
There is no "right" or "wrong" way to interpret this kind of "maths" problem.
Last edited:
On a vaguely related subject, I always laugh when on the news they say, "Any today the Governor of the Bank of England reduced the base rate by half of one percent". What's wrong with, "That chief bank dude dropped the rate by half a percent".
Actually, I can sort of see why they say half of one percent now, just to avoid the buggeration factor of having to explain it as per this thread
Actually, I can sort of see why they say half of one percent now, just to avoid the buggeration factor of having to explain it as per this thread
Last edited:
Caporegime
There is a right and wrong because since this is a maths question, by half and in half are different.
Like a quarter and a third are different numbers.
Like you don't read the word divide and end up with a + (plus).
Yes, this is English Grammar, but the words here are in the context of maths, which each word has specific meaning. Like plenty of words in legal sense means different to a layman. As we are talking about maths, then we need to go in the meaning of the word in the world of maths.