HeadingNorth Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Slightly off topic a little. I was watching some quiz on telly recently when the question was"what is half of a half". Every one said a quarter,which was accepted. Surely the answer is always a half. The implied, but omitted, part is that you're talking about half of half of something; if you have half of half a cake, you only have one quarter of the cake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteMorris Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Slightly off topic a little. I was watching some quiz on telly recently when the question was"what is half of a half". Every one said a quarter,which was accepted. Surely the answer is always a half. In isolation and in literal terms you're right. The answer will always be a half. The esscence I suppose is that, if that half is part of a whole, then the answer will be a quarter. It's how the question is phrased. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lockjaw Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 That's a language issue rather than a mathematical one. Similarly, take two apples from three. What do you you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truman Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 That's a language issue rather than a mathematical one. Similarly, take two apples from three. What do you you have? Two apples.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lockjaw Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Two apples.. Aye. Language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matsalleh Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 No one won a load of money so It doesn't really matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tehs Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 What a tough quest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Shaw Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Another deceptive aspect. Shopkeeper buys goods for £500 and sells them for £750. What's the % profit? I'd say "50%". Shopkeeper would say "33.33%". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barleycorn Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Another deceptive aspect. Shopkeeper buys goods for £500 and sells them for £750. What's the % profit? I'd say "50%". Shopkeeper would say "33.33%". Yeah, so would I. The shopkeeper would be wrong as per the definition of profit. jb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lockjaw Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Yeah, so would I. The shopkeeper would be wrong as per the definition of profit. jb Nope. Percentage profit is calculated on the sale price. Language again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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