Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Geometry problem that stumped the nation - and I admit defeat

I saw a book that features this problem here - it is a geometry problem that stumped the nation!

This looks just like a regular sophomore high school geometry problem... and I admit defeat after spending half an hour or so. The equations formed... just don't give enough information?!

Even some NASA scientists can't do this!

I didn't bother to follow the solution on the book that I can't come up with myself either.

But the brainteasers in the book... I got instantly turned off on the first one.

Question: Two U.S Coins adds up to 30 cents. One of them is not a nickel. What are the 2 coins?
Answer: One nickel and One quarter. Look, just one of them is not a nickel, but the other one is. Duh. I am not reading further.

3 comments:

Alex Mak said...

What will carpenters do in this situation? They'd measure it.
Get out the protractor and measure it. If it's too big? take a picture and measure that. That's the correct way to "solve" problems.

Brainteasers are pointless and uninteresting.

That is exactly the thing that turn off many children their interest in mathematics - a huge disservice.

Note: Geometry and trig tricks only work for right triangles and parallel lines.

Unknown said...

You need to know alternate, corresponding, vertically opposite angles, sum of angles of a triangle, isosceles triangle and MOST important the theory on congruent triangles. With these knowledge you can try after constructing a few useful lines.

Unknown said...

You need to know alternate, corresponding, vertically opposite angles, sum of angles of a triangle, isosceles triangle and MOST important the theory on congruent triangles. With these knowledge you can try after constructing a few useful lines.