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#1 2008-01-15 16:41:58

duhbled
Member
Registered: 2008-01-15
Posts: 1

What number belongs to this table

Does anyone know how this is to be solved?

                                                       737
What other number belongs    2742           5721
                                                        ?

I have never seen this before and it was on my 4th graders math homework.  And I was a math major in college for a while....must be getting old.

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#2 2009-03-04 14:29:31

Garnell
Guest

Re: What number belongs to this table

Did you figure out this problem.


duhbled wrote:

Does anyone know how this is to be solved?

                                                       737
What other number belongs    2742           5721
                                                        ?

I have never seen this before and it was on my 4th graders math homework.  And I was a math major in college for a while....must be getting old.

#3 2009-03-06 02:17:46

John E. Franklin
Member
Registered: 2005-08-29
Posts: 3,588

Re: What number belongs to this table

Just guessing here.
Maybe 2742 + 5721 must equal the other two ??
5 721 + 2 742 - 737 = 7 726


igloo myrtilles fourmis

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#4 2009-03-06 04:18:34

JaneFairfax
Member
Registered: 2007-02-23
Posts: 6,868

Re: What number belongs to this table

The problem with such problems is: How do we know there is an answer at all? How do we know if those numbers were just randomly generated?

I can do a similar game for you, if you like.

Now, if I didn’t tell you that I had obtained those numbers from a random-number generator, you’d probably waste the rest of your life wondering what the nonexistent solution might be.

I think Mark Twain once played a trick on his fans the same way. He told them a riddle question that he had just made up in his head, for which he didn’t make up any answer. Everyone actually thought it was a real riddle and spent ages trying to solve it – and getting nowhere. Just goes to show how dumb some people can really get.

Last edited by JaneFairfax (2009-03-06 04:34:56)

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#5 2009-06-07 11:26:46

Newfoundking
Guest

Re: What number belongs to this table

You probably know the answer, but it is probably a strange question, the new math is screwed up...

Like here, every time you answer a problem in elementary school, not only do you need to show workings, but also explain how you did it in writing... And why Whatever the equation is equals whatever the answer is..down

#6 2009-06-07 12:10:36

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: What number belongs to this table

Hmmm;

  Not implying that any children are as devious as I was, but when I was a kid I used to write phone numbers like that, to keep others from understanding them. It worked.

Last edited by bobbym (2009-06-07 12:15:43)


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

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#7 2013-09-03 14:02:05

Dans
Member
Registered: 2013-09-03
Posts: 1

Re: What number belongs to this table

There is no single answer, but there are correct answers.  The first number listed is a thousand+700+40+a single integer.  The second the same with 700+30 and the third 700+20.  The answer (next number) is any thousand+700+10+a single integer - lets say 4713.

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#8 2013-09-03 14:38:25

bobbym
bumpkin
From: Bumpkinland
Registered: 2009-04-12
Posts: 109,606

Re: What number belongs to this table

Hi;

Welcome to the forum. The term correct answer is being stretched a bit here. That is really only one possible solution. Even saying 30 -> 20 -> 10 is a big leap of faith.


In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

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