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A slightly mathematical riddle.
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Post by
Gnoktish
TOOO MUCH MATH!
6171054912832631 + 366384 × 23# × n = {prime}, for n = 0 to 24
TAKE IT AWAY
, just hide it i'll do
anything
just make it
stop
PLEASE STOP! IM GOING TO HAVE A LOGICAL BREAKDOWN!
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
TOOO MUCH MATH!
6171054912832631 + 366384 × 23# × n = {prime}, for n = 0 to 24
TAKE IT AWAY
, just hide it i'll do
anything
just make it
stop
PLEASE STOP! IM GOING TO HAVE A LOGICAL BREAKDOWN!
But it's so beautiful!
You have to love how seemingly random things fit together so nicely.
Post by
484763
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Post by
Hyperspacerebel
On a side note, my favorite number is (1 + √5)/2
Hurray for
phi
!
Post by
Gnoktish
STOP STOP STOP
! HYPER THE CALCULAS FOR THE EQUIVALINT OF PIE AND THE SQUARE ROOT OF 58 IS JUST SO SIMPLE FOR THE COMMEN MAN TO GET WRONG!
Post by
410715
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Post by
484763
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
484763
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/conjunctions.htm
And don't mis-context the blue area read it until the end , your example doesn't meet them.
Again, not an authority. But even they support me!
"(1) would the sentence and paragraph function just as well without the initial conjunction? (2) should the sentence in question be connected to the previous sentence? If the initial conjunction still seems appropriate, use it."
(1) - No
(2) - Yes
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm
Again, not an authority. They are wrong. "...\se the comma, as it is always correct in this situation" is not true. There are times when a semicolon is needed, there are times with several punctuation marks can be used, and there are times when a lack of punctuation in preferred.
http://www.englishforums.com/English/TheAdversativeConjunction/hvlxk/post.htm
CyberCypher isn't an authority either, unfortunately. He does, however, volunteer a sentence that begins with
but
: "But of course the butler did it!"
http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk.html
Finally, you found an actual authority. Congratulations!
Now I want to point out a couple sentences found in and around Rule 4.
"But a writer should be careful not to construct too many of his sentences after this pattern (see Rule 14)." -Rule 4
"But whether the interruption be slight or considerable, he must never omit one comma and leave the other." -Rule 3
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
From the oxford pocket school dictionary year 2008
but
conjunction
however;nevertheless . I wanted to go, but I couldn't. (my comment:needs comma)
preposition
except . There is no one here but me . (If used as this you phrase has no sense)
adverb
only; no more than . We can but try. ( See the above)
Im guessing a modern Oxford dictionary would be correct, no?
What are you trying to prove? You're the one who was claiming I was using but as a preposition. You agree with me now that it is a conjunction? Great!
However, dictionaries don't help much when it comes to grammar questions. It doesn't mention commas anywhere in that definition, and rightfully so -- it's a dictionary.
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
As for the original question.
I believe the original version -- which makes sense with the laws of physics, I think -- is that an elderly lady is making candles, and, being very thrifty, notices that four units of candlewax are in a candle, but it only burns three of the units after being used; therefore, she takes the remaining units and melts four together into a "free" candle. How much wax (in units) does she need to make X number of candles? (in this case, 1600)
In this case, every fourth candle makes a free one, so 1600/4=400 candles are free; every fourth free candle spawns another, so 400/4=100 and 100+400=500 free candles; every candle thus spawned creates a total of 25 more free candles, thus 525 free; and those 25 created are worth 6 plus a unit (531), and those are 3 more (534). 1600 - 534 = 1066 candles paid for, and that is 4264 units of wax
That would mean
4716
iron bars in your version, correct?
I think I did it wrong; editing...
4264 iron bars?
Try approaching it differently. The problem defines "burning a candle" as burning up 3/4 of the candle (or 3/4 of the units as you put it). So if the goal is to burn 1600 of these 3-units, then we'd need a total of 4800 units to burn, correct? But we'd also need 1 more unit to complete that last candle, thus 4801 units in total.
Which is the answer provided back at the beginning.
Post by
484763
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Post by
Hyperspacerebel
stuff
I tried reading your post. I really did. But I really, truly, honestly can't make much sense of it.
Post by
484763
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
This is obviously pointless so I'll restate the rule and my evidence to support it and leave it at that.
In my case the issue is: "This would be correct, considering the wording of the problem. But I don't understand how melting down 4 bars gets you 1 bar."
Sentences may begin with conjunctions.
Rules:
There is a widespread belief—one with no historical or grammatical foundation—that it is an error to begin a sentence with a conjunction such as and, but, or so. In fact, a substantial percentage (often as many as 10 percent) of the sentences in first-rate writing begin with conjunctions. It has been so for centuries, and even the most conservative grammarians have followed this practice. Charles Allen Lloyd’s 1938 words fairly sum up the situation as it stands even today: “Next to the groundless notion that it is incorrect to end an English sentence with a preposition, perhaps the most wide-spread of the many false beliefs about the use of our language is the equally groundless notion that it is incorrect to begin one with ‘but’ or ‘and.’ As in the case of the superstition about the prepositional ending, no textbook supports it, but apparently about half of our teachers of English go out of their way to handicap their pupils by inculcating it. One cannot help wondering whether those who teach such a monstrous doctrine ever read any English themselves.”7 Still, but as an adversative conjunction can occasionally be unclear at the beginning of a sentence. Evaluate the contrasting force of the but in question and see whether the needed word is really and; if and can be substituted, then but is almost certainly the wrong word. Consider this example: He went to school this morning. But he left his lunchbox on the kitchen table. Between those sentences is an elliptical idea, since the two actions are in no way contradictory. What is implied is something like this: He went to school, intending to have lunch there, but he left his lunch behind. Because and would have made sense in the passage as originally stated, but is not the right word. To sum up, then, but is a perfectly proper way to open a sentence, but only if the idea it introduces truly contrasts with what precedes. For that matter, but is often an effective way of introducing a paragraph that develops an idea contrary to the one preceding it.
As used by literary authorities/figures:
"But a writer should be careful not to construct too many of his sentences after this pattern (see Rule 14)." - Strunk and White
"But whether the interruption be slight or considerable, he must never omit one comma and leave the other." - Strunk and White
"And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer / Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure, / Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first / Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread / Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss / And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark / Illumin, what is low raise and support; / That to the highth of this great Argument / I may assert Eternal Providence, / And justifie the wayes of God to men." - Milton
"But Mrs. John Dashwood was a strong caricature of himself; more narrow-minded and selfish." - Jane Austen
"But now there came from out the niche a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head." - Edgar Allan Poe
"But this extraordinary creature could transport itself from one place to another with surprising velocity; as, in an interval of three days, the Governor Higginson and the Columbus had observed it at two different points of the chart, separated by a distance of more than seven hundred nautical leagues." - Jules Verne
"But the lama strode out, head high in air, and pausing an instant before the great statue of a Bodhisat in meditation, brushed through the turnstiles." - Rudyard Kipling
All are notable literary authorities. You have yet to quote a single authority that says "Do not begin a sentence with a conjunction." I see lots of stuff about commas and whatnot, which is great -- I love commas -- but is irrelevant.
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
@Clydtsdk
Do you see what I did? I honestly can't say where you went wrong, but I'm very confident in my own answer.
Post by
484763
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
As I said, I'm leaving it at that. If you still disagree, then really there is no point.
On topic, the question has been answered , you have just stirred the pot a bit by getting physical logic into hypothetical math ( physics into quantum physics).
Yes, someone answered the question and I confirmed that there answer was correct (twice now). I however provided my own caveat, because the wording produced a strange scenario, and I mentioned as such. That is not 'stirring' the pot as you call it; it's rather called making an observation.
And for some reason i always imagine you as being a thin guy , dark hair and a couple of teeth missing (your avatar) is that somewhat similar to you?it's just i like changing my mental voice and image to that of the person im debating with.
6'2", 160 lbs, long wavy brown hair down a couple inches below my shoulders (usually in a ponytail), full set of teeth, and I sing baritone.
Post by
484763
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Post by
351418
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