Saturday, November 05, 2005

Access to Millions of Brains

Hey Jellybeans,
Just like most of you, I'm new to blogging. I'm a little bit uneasy about this new technology...will I say something stupid... will it be a flop...BUT, I'm also excited by the idea that we have access to millions of brains from all around the world. People that we could never meet in our lifetime, that have similar interests and questions are right at our fingertips.
The other day I was marking the mathematical translation puzzles that you were creating and I came across several papers that made me think 'how do you translate that???'.
So... I did what I always do when I'm not sure about a math answer...I marked you wrong (just kidding :) I asked Mr. Kuropatwa. (Remember him, he's the man who lives across the hall). Anyways...he explained that somethings don't translate easily, just like any language there are some things that are difficult to express. Then he said "Why don't you blog about it??"
So, here it goes. Maybe somebody out there...more knowledgable than you or me...has the age old answer to the question...How do they get the caramel inside a Caramilk bar??? Oops, wrong question. How do you translate a mathematical expression that involves more than 1 set of brackets and various orders of operations?
For example: 3x (2x – 6 / 3) + (2x +1)^2
Note to jellybeans: ^ this symbol tells people that the 2 is an exponent because this program does not have that formatting feature.
My translation would be something like this: The sum of all of the difference of two times a number and six divided by three multiplied by three times a number added to all of two times a number and one to the exponent of three.
Problem: how do I show that I've closed the bracket so it doesn't sound like 3 is multiplied by 3x and the exponent is for the whole bracket not just the 1? Aaaaaarggghhh.
Good job on making those puzzles jellybeans, you've really made me think!!
Ms. Armstrong

3 Comments:

At 2:01 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Ms. armstrong!!
It's Marlowe!!
Love your blog.
Can you teach me how to make one??
I'm going to use the multiplication thing again.

 
At 4:43 PM, Blogger Darren Kuropatwa said...

Here's how I would do it:

six less than twice a number all divided by three, then multiply by three times the number added to one more than twice a number all squared.

Hmmm .... this could be interprested in several ways .... maybe some punctuation will help?

Six less than twice a number, divided by three, then multiplied by three times the number. Add the result to one more than twice a number all squared.

Tough question!

 
At 7:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

nuts.. mr kuropatwa beat me to the punch!!!!
hehe.. jus kdding.. still cant understand though...
heheheh.e.. translating is a good subject though...
loving it!!!

hehehhe....
did u find it yet ms armstrong!??!

 

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