That scene was in Red Storm Rising, by the way.

It's also called the Buridan's Ass paradox; the philosopher (Buridan) suggested that a donkey, offered two equally delectable bales of hay, would starve to death because it couldn't decide which one to eat.

*wiggles her ears at him... I didn't know that about the ass... *chuckles...

V.

Rule 34 that one!

Did they bury the dead donkey in an ass hole? *Marks up a victory point for bad Furry jokes*

The two on the left are finite sums, the two on the right are infinite.

On the other hand, if you're given 'I don't know' as a possible answer on a multiple choice test, it's only wrong if you actually know the answer...

*laughs.... I barely made it past Plain Geometry...

V.

Too early for maths..

Always…

V.

Or the parable of the dog with two bones....

That one I’m not familiar with…

V.

There was a dog who had a nice big juicy bone and was trotting with it by the riverside, but he saw another dog with a bone and he thought it looked liker a bigger better bone and he wanted it too, so he let go of his bone to bark at the other dog, but the other dog was just his reflection and his bone dropped into the river and the dog was left with nothing.

I love it!

V.

Isn't this like an Aesop's fable or something like that?

This brings back so many unpleasant memories of how I felt during an Algebra class I attempted to take back in my Freshman year (requested a transfer the moment I had the chance.)

"You liars. No one is good with Maths!" - Brian Jacques, during his book tour for the Redwall novel 'Doomwyte'

*chuckles... most of those classes were unpleasant memories for me... I never could do numbers well, but when working in aviation, I had to during weight and balance checks, and actually got pretty good at it.

V.

This reminds me of Jr. High. 3 kids I knew, all tobacco chewers, got caught by the gym teacher who made them put the entire contents of their cans into their mouths and run laps around the gym... and they were not allowed to spit. Two of them, (Paul and Morgan) got dizzy and sick and had to run for the bathroom. But Freddy... Freddy just kept running and running until the bell rang. Then the coach/gym teacher stopped him and Freddy just stood there and swallowed the whole thing down... right in front of Harrison (name of Gym/coach)... and smiled that shit eating grin of his and asked if coach needed anything else? Boy had brass ones. rotfl

Now that sounds so much like my cousin John. Everyone just called him Zippy. He used dip all day in school and swallowed.

*laughs... my grandfather kept an old empty coffee can in the car for the times he couldn't open the door and spit on the road (red lights).

I never could understand the habit.

V.

Had to laugh at the math up front and the commentary on it. I'm also bad with math. Have much the same mental block surrounding it, has really held me back career wise, probably would have been an engineer with more of that aptitude. Now I just translate engineering outputs into even dumber stuff for techs... Who curse me and the engineers.

*laughs…

V.

That equation calculates the perfect amount of butter to spread on a hot slice of toast. I know this because I wrote it out and, when reading it, I accidentally let go of it and it landed face down.

*laughs... too true... I honestly don't even know what the symbols reflect - except utter nonsense...

V.

Where did you find the exercises? They're all approachable by the direct (or basic, as other books call it) comparison test, but three of the four would more properly be placed elsewhere in a textbook and none of them need to be done using that test.

On the other hand, the tests that came to mind for three out of the four only work because the direct comparison test is there in the background, giving them their authority. There's a lesson in that, I'm sure.

But I'm on break, usually I get paid to sit around thinking of ways to explain things to people. :>

*holds her snerkkkkkk.... oh hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.... you make me so happy Professor... only you could look at that equation and make total sense of out of it and I love you for that.

I have never been good with numbers - neverrrrrrrrr.... I found this on google and it inspired me to the words.

You're the best Hauke...

V.

Numbers are definitely not my strong suit either, never took you for the tobacco chewing sort!

And wow, Red Storm Rising, I read that a long time ago, actually on the recommendation of a teacher who caught me reading a thriller book in class....The Double Tenth by George Brown.

Its quite worrying the things I can recall and those I forget.

*laughs... welcome to my every day existence... I would read anything but my school books in school during study hall. One day I was in a very quiet room (we were not allowed to talk and a teacher sat there making sure) and I hit a line while reading 'Catch 22'. I shall never forget the line or the moment.

'Colonial Corm arose from his chair like a gigantic fart.'

I nearly choked to death trying not to laugh, and then managed to get excused to the restroom.

*smiles...

V.

heh actually Catch-22 is one of my favourite books as well, the sequel Closing Time wasn't nearly as good.