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I remember my dad giving me the following problem on a long distance car ride: An A4 sheet of paper, when folded in half, becomes an A3 sheet of paper with the
by shalmanese 13y ago
I remember my dad giving me the following problem on a long distance car ride:
An A4 sheet of paper, when folded in half, becomes an A3 sheet of paper with the exact same ratio of long side to short side. Given this information, can you figure out the what the ratio is?
I must of spent 3 hours of that car ride doodling on a piece of paper trying to nut out that problem with no additional information or tools, ultimately unsuccessfully.
To this day, I think that was when the light switch went off for me about math as a creative problem solving endeavor and not just a rote series of calculations.
- potash 13y agoInteresting, I'd never thought about this before. In case you (or anyone else) are still wondering... If an A3 sheet is X units by Y units (with X the long side) and A4 is 2Y units by X units then their ratios are X/Y and 2Y/X, respectively. If these are equal we have 2Y/X = X/Y cross multiplying gives 2Y^2 = X^2 rearranging and taking a square root (X and Y are positive) gives X/Y = sqrt(2).
- adnrw 13y agoI think you mean A5, not A3 (A3 is bigger than A4)
- minikomi 13y agoDefinitely don't want to detract form the sentiment of this post with pedantry but just as a point - the numbers count up as you get smaller ;) [1] [1] https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/forum/uploads/56/A_size_illustration.png https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/forum/uploads/56/A_size_...