this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2023
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submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

https://zeta.one/viral-math/

I wrote a (very long) blog post about those viral math problems and am looking for feedback, especially from people who are not convinced that the problem is ambiguous.

It's about a 30min read so thank you in advance if you really take the time to read it, but I think it's worth it if you joined such discussions in the past, but I'm probably biased because I wrote it :)

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

as an engineer with half a PhD

As an engineer with a full PhD. I'd say we engineers aren't that great with math problems like this. Thus any responsible engineer would write it in a way that cannot be misinterpreted. Because misinterpreted mathematics can kill people...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

The oxford comma approach, I agree.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

As an engineer with a full PhD. I’d say we engineers aren’t that great with math problems like this

Yay for a voice of reason! I've yet to see anyone who says they have a Ph.D. get this correct (I'm a high school Maths teacher/tutor - I actually teach this topic).