Fractions. Help sought please.

[deptfordmarmoset]

Just remember that, although theoretically, it can be done in reality it can't. If you have 1/2 an apple in your hand and you cut 3/4 of an apple off it this equals a trip to the hospital! Apart from that good on ya for accepting that you don't know but have the courage to find out.

Can be done in reality. You have £30, you need to pay £40, you've got a minus 1/4 straight away. Unless you go to Wonga or Cash Converters. In which case....

 

[ayceejay]

Yeah but marmo when you add interest to the lacking ten quid the difference grows. This was the big deal in Chinatown wasn't it? the increase of the vig. Do they cover loan sharks in the GCSE compo?

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Just remember five fourths of the population can't do fractions, so you are in good company!

That said, isn't four thirds something to do with circles and Pi and stuff?

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Yeah but marmo when you add interest to the lacking ten quid the difference grows. This was the big deal in Chinatown wasn't it? the increase of the vig. Do they cover loan sharks in the GCSE compo?

If I got the ratios right, then I believe I'm right. Once the payday loans people get their hands on it, you can end up -1 life.

 

[mcshroom]

Just remember five fourths of the population can't do fractions, so you are in good company!

That said, isn't four thirds something to do with circles and Pi and stuff?

Volume of a sphere = 4/3πr[sup]3[/sup]

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Volume of a sphere = 4/3πr[sup]3[/sup]

Spheres, not circles! I couldn't quite remember, so thanks.

 

[mcshroom]

Can't work out how to get a superscript to display on here though, so that should be 'cubed'.

 

[compo]

I only asked.............

 

[compo]

The difference is that you want to learn. That's nearly 100% of the problem solved. Great stuff. Well done for starting.

I think that really hits the nail on the head. Back in the early '80's I spent a year doing an electronics course to train as a TV engineer. I had to learn some maths for that, including some basic algebra. Because I wanted to do it I found it easy. My problem was, and remains, that I simply learned that if I do certain things I get the answer. I never learned why so slight variations on what I had learnt would leave me stuck. As for transposition of formula I gave up completely on that. The good thing is that I never had to use any of the maths in my work apart from a bit of Ohm's law. I am hoping that by starting again at the very basic level I will be able to fill the gaps in my knowledge and learn why and how things work out. The tutor assures me I will, and being retired I have all the time in the world to spend on the subject. Also with all the information and tutorials/revision guides now available on-line I have no excuse to not succeed.

Although I didn't receive a formal education, between the ages of 12 and 15 on the school farm I learned to drive a tractor, plough and harrow a field, (I could reverse a 4 wheel or 2 wheel trailer accurately), milk cows, help with calving and many other farming skills that I have never once used in my life since.

 

[thom]

The tutor assures me I will, and being retired I have all the time in the world to spend on the subject. Also with all the information and tutorials/revision guides now available on-line I have no excuse to not succeed.

In my opinion you will get there because in a sense you are there already. Maths can/should be a fun and curious endeavour wherever you sit on the spectrum of knowledge or talent. I did a math PhD because I loved the discovery part but to be honest, I had long since understood that there were smarter more able students than me. The motivation to study was enjoyment and curiosity, which is what you have. My supervisor (an Oxford professor, winner of prizes, eminent in his field etc etc ) once said that the problem with maths is that the more you know, the more you realise you don't know.
So it will always be as such - it is the process of learning and understanding, however simple or insignificant that may feel, that is the essence of maths.

One answer to your question about negative fractions though is as follows.
Suppose nobody had conceived of them before, then if you defined a normal consistent rule to make use of them, then that would be them created!

 

[rich p]

Bog off Thom.

 

[swansonj]

Just remember that, although theoretically, it can be done in reality it can't. If you have 1/2 an apple in your hand and you cut 3/4 of an apple off it this equals a trip to the hospital!

Three fisherman decide to divide their day's catch equally the next morning, then go to sleep. Next morning, the first to wake up notices that the number is not exactly divisible by three. But he throws one back in the sea which makes the remainder a multiple of three, takes his third share, and leaves. The second to wake up doesn't realise the first has gone. He also notes that the number now remaining is not divisible by three, but he throws one back, and is then able to take exactly one-third of those remaining and leave. Likewise the third fisherman.

Q: what is the smallest initial number of fish there could have been?

Mathematician's answer: -2. The first fisherman throws one away, leaving -3. One third of that is -1, so he takes -1 fish away, leaving -2 again. The other two do the same in turn.

 

[Dayvo]

My supervisor (an Oxford professor, winner of prizes, eminent in his field etc etc ) once said that the problem with maths is that the more you know, the more you realise you don't know.

I know sweet FA (arithmetic excepted)) about maths (long story), so with that theory you mentioned above, then I know a 'kin' LOT!

 

[Acyclo]

As usual Tom Lehrer has something excellent to say on the subject
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vetg7vWitTU

 

[Fnaar]

I was awful at maths at school, and didn't see its application to my life.
Then I realised that if I applied minus x minus = plus to my banking, I'd be quids in.
Unfortunately, that wasn't true