* Or 'they did the math' for the benefit of American readers.
However, unlike the legacy media who like to tell their readers what to think, I prefer to make my readers think. So, as I often like to do, I've turned it into a true or false quiz! After all, just because 'they did the maths', that doesn't necessarily mean that they did the maths correctly.
 |
| Beauty is in the eye of the beholder... ...which is good news for this proboscis monkey! |
1) Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
If 99% of people find you unattractive, then there are still approximately 80 million people on Earth who find you attractive!
True or false?
2) Skeletal calculation
A pregnant woman with triplets has over a thousand bones in her body.
True or false?
3) Video addict
The following twitter user claims to have watched a video '9,345,678 times so far today'.
 |
| Did you get the urge to click the blue 'play' button in the middle of the image? |
But are they telling the truth? Does the maths back up their claims of exceesive video watching? Or are their pants on fire?
True or false?
 |
| Vampire fangs. |
4) Vampires
If a vampire drank the blood of one human each night, then after 33 days the entire population of the world would be vampires.
True or false?
5) Percentages
Percentages are reversible. For example, 10% of 50 is the same as 50% of 10.
True or false?
 |
| Don't worry. It's only ketchup! |
6) Reducing crime
You would have to kill two murderers to reduce the number of murderers in the world by one.
True or false?
- - - - - - - - - -
Scroll down the page for the answers...
Answers:
1) Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
 |
Incidentally, does anyone else find the ugly duckling story unrealistic? All the ducklings I've ever seen have been really cute, and not ugly at all. |
True or false?
True: At the time of writing, there are estimated to be approximately 8 billion people on Earth. If 99% of people find you unattractive, then the remaining 1% of the 8 billion people on Earth find you attractive.
1% x 8 billion = 80 million
So 80 million people would find you attractive! When you say it like that, it sounds much better!
2) Skeletal calculation
A pregnant woman with triplets has over a thousand bones in her body.
 |
| A stork looking smug that it doesn't have to carry triplets. |
True: At birth a baby's skeleton has 270 bones. However, as we get older some bones fuse together, so an adult skeleton has only 206 bones. A pregnant woman with triplets therefore has 1,016 bones in her body:
206 + 270 + 270 + 270 = 1,016
There are a few exceptions to this, for example if the woman had her leg amputated, or if she had accidentally swallowed a bone* while eating chicken, but if we assume no unexpected twists, then the answer is 1,016.
* Or deliberately swallowed a bone while eating chicken, for that matter.
3) Video addict
Did the twitter user watch the video '9,345,678 times so far today'?
True or false?
False: I am sad to report that the twitter user's claims were fraudulent, and here's the maths to prove it:
The person making the tweet claimed to have watched the video '9,345,678 times so far today'. There are 86,400 seconds in a day, and the video is 39 seconds long, so the maximum number of times you can watch the video in a day is:
86,400 / 39 = 2,215.38
As we can see, it is not even remotely possible to watch the video 9,345,678 in one day. To watch it 9,345,678 times would take 364,481,442 seconds, or 4,218.5 days, or over 11 years. We can safely conclude therefore that the person making the fraudulent claim is a liar.
4) Vampires
 |
| To kill a vegan vampire, drive a steak through their heart. |
True or false?
True: Every night each vampire bites one other person, so every night the number of vampires doubles. After the first night there would be 2 vampires, after the second night there would be four vampires, etc, until after 33 days there would theoretically be 8,589,934,592 vampires in the world! More than the entire population of the world!
If you want to check out the calculation in more detail, then check out my previous blog post entitled, 'How many days before vampires take over the world?'
5) Percentages
 |
| Twenty percent, pictured yesterday. |
True or false?
True: Not only is it true, but it works with any percentages. Here are a few more examples for proof:
75% of 40 = 30 and 40% of 75 = 30.
50% of 200 = 100 and 200% of 50 = 100
72% of 38 = 27.36 and 38% of 72 = 27.36
6) Reducing crime
You would have to kill two murderers to reduce the number of murderers in the world by one.
True or false?
 |
| In prison where he belongs! |
So to reduce the number of murderers in the world by one, you would have to kill two murderers. This would reduce the number of murderers by two while creating one new murderer, resulting in a net reduction of one murderer!
However, the above calculation assumes that you aren't already a murderer. Any murderers reading this would only need to kill one murderer (as they're already a murderer and therefore wouldn't create a new murderer by killing a murderer), and therefore for them the statement would be false.
So if you're not a murderer then award yourself a point if you said true. However, if you are a murderer then award yourself a point if you said false. Also, stop killing people and hand yourself in to your local police station immediately!
- - - - - - - - - -
How did you do?
5 - 6 Great work! You're an expert at doing the maths(s)!
2 - 4 Not bad, but there's room for improvement. Take some time to work on your 'doing the math(s)' skills.
0 - 1 Very poor. You're as much use as Abraham Lincoln's bodyguards.
7+ That's amazing! However, you obviously didn't do the math(s) because there were only six questions, so you must have cheated. Next time you're tempted to cheat, I therefore suggest that you first brush up on you're 'doing the math(s)' skills to avoid getting caught! Or better still, don't cheat!
You can find more statistically themed blog posts below:
Micromorts: The risk of dying
Surprising Statistics
How many days before vampires take over the world?
No comments:
Post a Comment