And can't solve this

994 = (M x .15) - M

Someone help me. I obviously need to study algebra again

5/14/2011 8:59:52 AM

994 = -.85M ?

5/14/2011 9:04:52 AM

I too suck at math

5/14/2011 9:07:25 AM

994 = (x * .15) - x

Multiply within the parentheses.

994 = .15x - x

Subtract the implied 1 from .15.

994 = -.85x

Divide 994 by -.85, and...

x = -1169.41176

5/14/2011 9:08:27 AM

You know the number will be be MUCH larger than 994...

5/14/2011 9:09:29 AM

Yay thanks

My brain got halfway there then said, "Guh fuck math!"

5/14/2011 9:09:49 AM

Quote :

"You know the number will be be MUCH larger than 994..."

Huh? No.

1) The answer is smaller than 994 because it is negative.

2) Ignoring the signs (which you are talking about), you are still so wrong. Whatever the answer is, 994 is 85% of it, so the answer is definitely not "MUCH larger" than 994.

5/14/2011 9:14:01 AM

^^Just did it with a better calculator, and there's a 5 on the end, by the way:

-1169.411765

[Edited on May 14, 2011 at 9:19 AM. Reason : I have no idea how calculators work.]

5/14/2011 9:17:02 AM

Quote :

"Just did it with a better calculator, and there's a 5 on the end"

OMFG... that changes everything now... thanks so much














































1169.4117647058823529411764705882

5/14/2011 9:20:14 AM

AHA, how do they work?

I seriously have no idea.

5/14/2011 9:23:28 AM

get out the ti-84

math 0

set equation to 0. (m*.15)-m-994=0

enter alpha enter

presto answer

5/14/2011 9:40:40 AM

every human should learn basic algebra.

[Edited on May 14, 2011 at 9:42 AM. Reason : ^ a monkey/dog/cat can do that... but till now no monkey/dog/cat has been able to do algebra.]

5/14/2011 9:41:17 AM

Quote :

"Hometown : NJ Class : Alumnus Major : International Politics"

Alumnus?

5/14/2011 9:55:34 AM

Considering most people "learn" Algebra like five years before they go to college, wolfpackgrrr's difficulty here has nothing to do with NC State. She just forgot, and now that she's been reminded, it's probably all coming back to her now.

But if I touch you like this...

And if you kiss me like that...

5/14/2011 10:14:18 AM

She's a girl, what do you expect.























Ducks and covers.

5/14/2011 10:22:30 AM

There were moments of gold

And there were flashes of light

5/14/2011 10:26:08 AM

I came in here to make the girl joke

5/14/2011 10:37:42 AM

Quote :

"Considering most people "learn" Algebra like five years before they go to college, wolfpackgrrr's difficulty here has nothing to do with NC State. She just forgot, and now that she's been reminded, it's probably all coming back to her now."

No. Algebra is not a list of facts that, once known, can be forgotten just like all the African capitals someone might memorize in 8th grade geography.

If you forget it, you never knew it, and probably shouldn't have passed in the first place. It's logic and manipulation of symbols according to certain rules. The same skills are repeated over and over and over and over for years. With problems like this, the same skills were used in almost every math problem for at least 4 classes (pre-algebra, Algebra I, II, and Geometry, at least).

Forgetting this stuff would be like a basketball player forgetting the rules of basketball. Yes, your skills advance over time and you move beyond knowing the rules, but every time you play the same rules are known and reinforced. If you forget it, you never knew it.

5/14/2011 10:42:16 AM

HAHAHA I wish I could see you in person so I could laugh in your face.

5/14/2011 10:46:56 AM

^^I put "learn" in quotes for a reason.

But good looking out on the useless lecture.



There were nights of endless pleasure...

It was more than any laws allow!!!

5/14/2011 10:47:11 AM

i forgot the house number of the house i lived in when i first moved off campus

i guess i never really knew that house number after all

5/14/2011 11:02:33 AM

Quote :

"i forgot the house number of the house i lived in when i first moved off campus i guess i never really knew that house number after all"

You probably wrote down or used that address fewer times in the course of your stay there than the number of times the skill in the OP is used on a single homework assignment.

5/14/2011 11:06:40 AM

I can't believe this fool is trying to draw an analogy between rules to a physical sport (or anything physical) to basic algebra operation, and seriously trying to defend his claim. You can teach a monkey to play basketball, and perhaps even teach that same monkey basic algebraic arithmetic as well I would imagine.

5/14/2011 11:14:37 AM

Quote :

"Considering most people "learn" Algebra like five years before they go to college, wolfpackgrrr's difficulty here has nothing to do with NC State. She just forgot, and now that she's been reminded, it's probably all coming back to her now. "

Bingo. I haven't taken a course requiring algebra since 2002 and my current job doesn't require anything beyond basic addition and subtraction. I've always had a mental block when it comes to math and unless I'm using it on a daily basis I forget it. I'm not afraid to admit that.

5/14/2011 11:19:14 AM

Boom.

p.s. It's funny how a thread like this is acceptable but if somebody posted that they forgot how to read...wait, how would that work?

5/14/2011 11:21:00 AM

Quote :

"I can't believe this fool is trying to draw an analogy between rules to a physical sport (or anything physical) to basic algebra operation, and seriously trying to defend his claim. You can teach a monkey to play basketball, and perhaps even teach that same monkey basic algebraic arithmetic as well I would imagine."

It's worse than that.

This stuff is more simple than tying your shoes. And in the course of 4 math classes, it's a skill that has been used almost as many times in your life (if you actually do the assigned work). To forget it is to be willfully stupid.

Seriously? .15M - M? Then divide on both sides?

[Edited on May 14, 2011 at 11:24 AM. Reason : a]

5/14/2011 11:23:51 AM

Quote :

"No. Algebra is not a list of facts that, once known, can be forgotten just like all the African capitals someone might memorize in 8th grade geography. "

Yes it is. I forgot that shit back in 8th grade when I took it, and I've never needed it in the real world since. If I actually cared about math, maybe I would have continued taking a college math class beyonds STATS, but I don't!

5/14/2011 11:27:16 AM

Quote :

"I've never needed it in the real world since."

Yes, you have.

5/14/2011 11:28:50 AM

Nope. Other people or computers do it for me.

5/14/2011 11:31:37 AM

Quote :

"if somebody posted that they forgot how to read...wait, how would that work?"

Much like magnets.

5/14/2011 11:31:40 AM

I had a brain fart one day and forgot half my ABC's

5/14/2011 11:48:44 AM

The original problem ITT is a textbook problem testing several things (do you understand the 'imaginary 1' in from of M and do you understand to make M*0.15 into M0.15), and is not a real problem you might encounter in real life, like using chemistry math to create a 0.1 N solution from a 12.1 N stock solution using c1 * v1 = c2 * v2

5/14/2011 12:05:26 PM

I've noticed Women can get by without knowing anything, bonus points if they are hot..

5/14/2011 12:11:07 PM

Yeah I had completely forgotten about the imaginary one. That would have prevented my brain fart

5/14/2011 12:22:22 PM

women don't care about how the world works

5/14/2011 12:23:34 PM

Quote :

"The original problem ITT is a textbook problem testing several things (do you understand the 'imaginary 1' in from of M and do you understand to make M*0.15 into M0.15), and is not a real problem you might encounter in real life, like using chemistry math to create a 0.1 N solution from a 12.1 N stock solution using c1 * v1 = c2 * v2"

I would argue that the question : meat is on sale for 9.94/lb and it's 15%off; what was it's original price? (this is almost the exact same question. Sorry for dropping negatives and reducing by 2 factors of 10) is very valid. Especially in Business. So.. if you can't turn that (4th grade?) word problem into a mathematical statement and solve it with some accuracy then you're missing a life skill.

5/14/2011 12:36:10 PM

^agreed, I am not sure what % of us who are amazed that this is difficult are engineers but I'd hope that wouldn't be a factor in who can solve this type of problem.

5/14/2011 12:44:00 PM

Its not really the algebra in question, its the arithmetic of solving a textbook problem by simplifying it into usable chunks of information. 9.94 lb = x - x0.85 is really not all that practical (to 99% of the people) because either the price of the meat fits your budget or not - this determines its purchasibility, and the previous price before the sale price more than likely is an independent argument relative to its current price at which you may or may not purchase.

5/14/2011 12:54:17 PM

Much more important is figuring out the unit cost of various packages.

5/14/2011 2:13:27 PM

how exactly is that ^ hard again?

5/14/2011 3:49:22 PM

Quote :

"Hometown : NJ Class : Alumnus Major : International Politics"

Alumnus?

5/14/2011 3:52:26 PM

yeah, and they bitch about having to take non-major courses, wait those are engineers . . .

5/14/2011 3:55:50 PM

If you've ever seen a total on a bill for something that included tax and wanted to know what the total was before tax, you have done this problem. The only difference is a minus sign. So yeah, not having had algebra for a decade should not be a hindrance to figuring this out.

But sometimes it's just easier to ask the internet.

5/14/2011 4:02:06 PM

^ Exactly

5/14/2011 4:10:03 PM

.

[Edited on May 14, 2011 at 4:43 PM. Reason : ...eh.. not really what I wanted to say.. so I'll delete it...]

5/14/2011 4:42:11 PM

nvm, dyslexia moment

5/14/2011 5:36:58 PM

where do you see x*x

5/14/2011 5:37:36 PM

Distributive property fail

5/14/2011 5:38:31 PM

of course you do. you're a girl. same goes to G.O.D

5/14/2011 5:43:13 PM

Quote :

"OF YOU DO"

i am also bad at math. i blame a lot of people for this, none of whom are myself, duh. first i blame public schools...i can't help it if i was sooooo verbally advanced that i was also placed into an advanced math group in 2nd grade when i SHOULD have been in the group with the inner city kids. but no one picked up on my incompetence. next, and this kind of goes along with public school, i blame the less than and greater than signs and the STUPID alligator analogy, which i never understood until like, last year. it eats the smaller number. wtf? now i am even more terrified of math. why can't you just explain it without animals involved, thanks. i also blame my 2nd grade computer teacher for letting me play oregon trail and dr. livingston i presume when CLEARLY i should have been playing math munchers. finally, i blame my mother, who was a math teacher and tutor. she was SOooOOOooo nice to all of her students but we had violent arguments when it came to FOIL and the quadratic equation. mucho yelling involved. and lots and lots of tears. as if math wasn't scary enough...you didn't even want to SEE my mother if you didn't get something. her eyes like popped out of her head and she'd start to tremble. it was so scary, i'm not even kidding.

i only ever excelled in geometry and statistics. don't ask me why. in 9th grade i made the fucking best polyhedra you ever did see. there was glitter involved. and decoupage. then in college statistics was one of my A+ classes. yet i can't do a simple algebra problem to save my life. seriously. i would die if i had to foil something.

ok i can foil...you know me and hyperbole...but i have some serious math issues. i changed my entire major in college from bio/premed to political science because i didn't want to take any calc. ohhhh how different my life could have been.


[Edited on May 14, 2011 at 6:06 PM. Reason : i too can edit]

5/14/2011 5:48:07 PM