Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Code Project
  1. Home
  2. The Lounge
  3. 2 + 2 = 5 ( Silly puzzle of the Day) [SOLUTION ADDED]

2 + 2 = 5 ( Silly puzzle of the Day) [SOLUTION ADDED]

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved The Lounge
questionasp-netcom
42 Posts 15 Posters 0 Views 1 Watching
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • R Offline
    R Offline
    Raj Lal
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    In a "Real" world, there are a lot of people, who takes 2 with 2 and make it a 5 Well the silly question is, Can a "mathematician in you" also do this ? TAKE two 2's and any number of mathematical operations AND make it EQUAL TO 5 Another question to ponder , Imagine you are standing in front of a mirror, facing it. Raise your left hand. Raise your right hand. Look at your reflection. When you raise your left hand your reflection raises what appears to be his right hand. But when you tilt your head up, your reflection does too, and does not appear to tilt his/her head down. Why is it that the mirror appears to reverse left and right, but not up and down? * there is no genius in google-dept Solution here[^]

    Omit Needless Words - Strunk, William, Jr.


    JumpyForum:CP Message board | Universal DBA | Ajax Rating | ExplorerTree | | Globalization in 20 minutes
    Web based project tracking

    R L C J M 16 Replies Last reply
    0
    • R Raj Lal

      In a "Real" world, there are a lot of people, who takes 2 with 2 and make it a 5 Well the silly question is, Can a "mathematician in you" also do this ? TAKE two 2's and any number of mathematical operations AND make it EQUAL TO 5 Another question to ponder , Imagine you are standing in front of a mirror, facing it. Raise your left hand. Raise your right hand. Look at your reflection. When you raise your left hand your reflection raises what appears to be his right hand. But when you tilt your head up, your reflection does too, and does not appear to tilt his/her head down. Why is it that the mirror appears to reverse left and right, but not up and down? * there is no genius in google-dept Solution here[^]

      Omit Needless Words - Strunk, William, Jr.


      JumpyForum:CP Message board | Universal DBA | Ajax Rating | ExplorerTree | | Globalization in 20 minutes
      Web based project tracking

      R Offline
      R Offline
      Rama Krishna Vavilala
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      Out of curiosity, where are all these puzzles coming from? Have you bought a book?

      R 2 Replies Last reply
      0
      • R Raj Lal

        In a "Real" world, there are a lot of people, who takes 2 with 2 and make it a 5 Well the silly question is, Can a "mathematician in you" also do this ? TAKE two 2's and any number of mathematical operations AND make it EQUAL TO 5 Another question to ponder , Imagine you are standing in front of a mirror, facing it. Raise your left hand. Raise your right hand. Look at your reflection. When you raise your left hand your reflection raises what appears to be his right hand. But when you tilt your head up, your reflection does too, and does not appear to tilt his/her head down. Why is it that the mirror appears to reverse left and right, but not up and down? * there is no genius in google-dept Solution here[^]

        Omit Needless Words - Strunk, William, Jr.


        JumpyForum:CP Message board | Universal DBA | Ajax Rating | ExplorerTree | | Globalization in 20 minutes
        Web based project tracking

        L Offline
        L Offline
        leckey 0
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        Quartz... wrote:

        Why is it that the mirror appears to reverse left and right, but not up and down?

        Because the plane that gets reversed is horizontal down the middle of the mirror because the mirror is horizontal. Say you place the mirror on the floor and you are looking at a person looking in the mirror. The person tilts their head down. Now it does look like the reflection is moving up and down and not left/right. It just depends if you are looking at the mirror in a vertical or horizontal perspective.

        _________________________________________________________________ Dick Cheney looks like a high school calculus teacher with persistent heartburn.

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • R Raj Lal

          In a "Real" world, there are a lot of people, who takes 2 with 2 and make it a 5 Well the silly question is, Can a "mathematician in you" also do this ? TAKE two 2's and any number of mathematical operations AND make it EQUAL TO 5 Another question to ponder , Imagine you are standing in front of a mirror, facing it. Raise your left hand. Raise your right hand. Look at your reflection. When you raise your left hand your reflection raises what appears to be his right hand. But when you tilt your head up, your reflection does too, and does not appear to tilt his/her head down. Why is it that the mirror appears to reverse left and right, but not up and down? * there is no genius in google-dept Solution here[^]

          Omit Needless Words - Strunk, William, Jr.


          JumpyForum:CP Message board | Universal DBA | Ajax Rating | ExplorerTree | | Globalization in 20 minutes
          Web based project tracking

          C Offline
          C Offline
          Chris Losinger
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          Quartz... wrote:

          But when you tilt your head up, your reflection does too, and does not appear to tilt his/her head down. Why is it that the mirror appears to reverse left and right, but not up and down?

          looking into a flat mirror reverses the Z axis, mentally: what points at the mirror in real life points out in the reflection. so we assume the reflection is of a person facing us, which would put his right arm on our left side, because that's true for real people facing us... but, it's not a person facing us, and it doesn't actually swap left and right. and it doesn't appear to swap up and down because we don't assume people facing us are upside down. but we do assume people facing us have their left on our right. we're just fooled by our assumptions.

          Quartz... wrote:

          2 with 2 and make it a 5

          no time for such foolishness. it's 5:30! time to go home!

          image processing toolkits | batch image processing | blogging

          R 2 Replies Last reply
          0
          • R Raj Lal

            In a "Real" world, there are a lot of people, who takes 2 with 2 and make it a 5 Well the silly question is, Can a "mathematician in you" also do this ? TAKE two 2's and any number of mathematical operations AND make it EQUAL TO 5 Another question to ponder , Imagine you are standing in front of a mirror, facing it. Raise your left hand. Raise your right hand. Look at your reflection. When you raise your left hand your reflection raises what appears to be his right hand. But when you tilt your head up, your reflection does too, and does not appear to tilt his/her head down. Why is it that the mirror appears to reverse left and right, but not up and down? * there is no genius in google-dept Solution here[^]

            Omit Needless Words - Strunk, William, Jr.


            JumpyForum:CP Message board | Universal DBA | Ajax Rating | ExplorerTree | | Globalization in 20 minutes
            Web based project tracking

            J Offline
            J Offline
            Joe Q
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            Quartz... wrote:

            In a "Real" world, there are a lot of people, who takes 2 with 2 and make it a 5

            Use extreamly large values of 2! Joe Q

            J R 2 Replies Last reply
            0
            • C Chris Losinger

              Quartz... wrote:

              But when you tilt your head up, your reflection does too, and does not appear to tilt his/her head down. Why is it that the mirror appears to reverse left and right, but not up and down?

              looking into a flat mirror reverses the Z axis, mentally: what points at the mirror in real life points out in the reflection. so we assume the reflection is of a person facing us, which would put his right arm on our left side, because that's true for real people facing us... but, it's not a person facing us, and it doesn't actually swap left and right. and it doesn't appear to swap up and down because we don't assume people facing us are upside down. but we do assume people facing us have their left on our right. we're just fooled by our assumptions.

              Quartz... wrote:

              2 with 2 and make it a 5

              no time for such foolishness. it's 5:30! time to go home!

              image processing toolkits | batch image processing | blogging

              R Offline
              R Offline
              Raj Lal
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              Chris Losinger wrote:

              Quartz... wrote: 2 with 2 and make it a 5 no time for such foolishness. it's 5:30! time to go home!

              its going to haunt you through the weekend :)

              Omit Needless Words - Strunk, William, Jr.


              JumpyForum:CP Message board | Universal DBA | Ajax Rating | ExplorerTree | | Globalization in 20 minutes
              Web based project tracking

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • R Raj Lal

                In a "Real" world, there are a lot of people, who takes 2 with 2 and make it a 5 Well the silly question is, Can a "mathematician in you" also do this ? TAKE two 2's and any number of mathematical operations AND make it EQUAL TO 5 Another question to ponder , Imagine you are standing in front of a mirror, facing it. Raise your left hand. Raise your right hand. Look at your reflection. When you raise your left hand your reflection raises what appears to be his right hand. But when you tilt your head up, your reflection does too, and does not appear to tilt his/her head down. Why is it that the mirror appears to reverse left and right, but not up and down? * there is no genius in google-dept Solution here[^]

                Omit Needless Words - Strunk, William, Jr.


                JumpyForum:CP Message board | Universal DBA | Ajax Rating | ExplorerTree | | Globalization in 20 minutes
                Web based project tracking

                R Offline
                R Offline
                Rob Graham
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                Quartz... wrote:

                Why is it that the mirror appears to reverse left and right, but not up and down?

                The mirror doesn't rotate anything. It reflects the image back without any rotation about any axis. A human observer looking at you from the mirrors location would have to rotate about his vertical axis, thus reversing his left and right from your perspective

                J R 2 Replies Last reply
                0
                • R Raj Lal

                  In a "Real" world, there are a lot of people, who takes 2 with 2 and make it a 5 Well the silly question is, Can a "mathematician in you" also do this ? TAKE two 2's and any number of mathematical operations AND make it EQUAL TO 5 Another question to ponder , Imagine you are standing in front of a mirror, facing it. Raise your left hand. Raise your right hand. Look at your reflection. When you raise your left hand your reflection raises what appears to be his right hand. But when you tilt your head up, your reflection does too, and does not appear to tilt his/her head down. Why is it that the mirror appears to reverse left and right, but not up and down? * there is no genius in google-dept Solution here[^]

                  Omit Needless Words - Strunk, William, Jr.


                  JumpyForum:CP Message board | Universal DBA | Ajax Rating | ExplorerTree | | Globalization in 20 minutes
                  Web based project tracking

                  M Offline
                  M Offline
                  mav northwind
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  Take two 2's to make a 5? Easy: Ceil(Sqrt(22)) :) Or isn't Ceil() a "mathematical operation" in your definition?

                  Regards, mav -- Black holes are the places where God divided by 0...

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • R Raj Lal

                    In a "Real" world, there are a lot of people, who takes 2 with 2 and make it a 5 Well the silly question is, Can a "mathematician in you" also do this ? TAKE two 2's and any number of mathematical operations AND make it EQUAL TO 5 Another question to ponder , Imagine you are standing in front of a mirror, facing it. Raise your left hand. Raise your right hand. Look at your reflection. When you raise your left hand your reflection raises what appears to be his right hand. But when you tilt your head up, your reflection does too, and does not appear to tilt his/her head down. Why is it that the mirror appears to reverse left and right, but not up and down? * there is no genius in google-dept Solution here[^]

                    Omit Needless Words - Strunk, William, Jr.


                    JumpyForum:CP Message board | Universal DBA | Ajax Rating | ExplorerTree | | Globalization in 20 minutes
                    Web based project tracking

                    E Offline
                    E Offline
                    Ed Poore
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    Can't remember the exact solution but I'm pretty sure it involves multiplying by infinity, adding something or other (because infinity + x is infinity) then cancelling out the infinities resulting in the imbalanced equation. I think anyway :scratches head:


                    I have no idea what I just said. But my intentions were sincere.

                    Poore Design

                    R 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • R Rama Krishna Vavilala

                      Out of curiosity, where are all these puzzles coming from? Have you bought a book?

                      R Offline
                      R Offline
                      Raj Lal
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      Actually i am constantly in a look for that "mysterious" kind of puzzles which have the "aha" solution. I have a huge collection of them, so far 80, Some of them are from books but also from a lot of other sources.

                      Omit Needless Words - Strunk, William, Jr.


                      JumpyForum:CP Message board | Universal DBA | Ajax Rating | ExplorerTree | | Globalization in 20 minutes
                      Web based project tracking

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • R Raj Lal

                        In a "Real" world, there are a lot of people, who takes 2 with 2 and make it a 5 Well the silly question is, Can a "mathematician in you" also do this ? TAKE two 2's and any number of mathematical operations AND make it EQUAL TO 5 Another question to ponder , Imagine you are standing in front of a mirror, facing it. Raise your left hand. Raise your right hand. Look at your reflection. When you raise your left hand your reflection raises what appears to be his right hand. But when you tilt your head up, your reflection does too, and does not appear to tilt his/her head down. Why is it that the mirror appears to reverse left and right, but not up and down? * there is no genius in google-dept Solution here[^]

                        Omit Needless Words - Strunk, William, Jr.


                        JumpyForum:CP Message board | Universal DBA | Ajax Rating | ExplorerTree | | Globalization in 20 minutes
                        Web based project tracking

                        J Offline
                        J Offline
                        Josh Smith
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        Quartz... wrote:

                        All you have to do is TAKE two 2's and any number of mathematical operations AND make it EQUAL TO 5

                        2 + 2 + 1 = 5 You never said that you can only use two 2's.

                        :josh: My WPF Blog[^]
                        We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle

                        R R 2 Replies Last reply
                        0
                        • R Rob Graham

                          Quartz... wrote:

                          Why is it that the mirror appears to reverse left and right, but not up and down?

                          The mirror doesn't rotate anything. It reflects the image back without any rotation about any axis. A human observer looking at you from the mirrors location would have to rotate about his vertical axis, thus reversing his left and right from your perspective

                          J Offline
                          J Offline
                          Josh Smith
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          Rob Graham wrote:

                          A human observer looking at you from the mirrors location would have to rotate about his vertical axis, thus reversing his left and right from your perspective

                          That makes a lot of sense. Nice one!

                          :josh: My WPF Blog[^]
                          We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • J Josh Smith

                            Quartz... wrote:

                            All you have to do is TAKE two 2's and any number of mathematical operations AND make it EQUAL TO 5

                            2 + 2 + 1 = 5 You never said that you can only use two 2's.

                            :josh: My WPF Blog[^]
                            We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle

                            R Offline
                            R Offline
                            Rob Manderson
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            (2 + 2) + 2/2 = 5 Using only 2's :)

                            Rob Manderson I'm working on a version for Visual Lisp++ My blog http://blogs.wdevs.com/ultramaroon/[^] My blog mirror http://robmanderson.blogspot.com[^]

                            J 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • J Josh Smith

                              Quartz... wrote:

                              All you have to do is TAKE two 2's and any number of mathematical operations AND make it EQUAL TO 5

                              2 + 2 + 1 = 5 You never said that you can only use two 2's.

                              :josh: My WPF Blog[^]
                              We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle

                              R Offline
                              R Offline
                              Raj Lal
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              Full points :-D Have a nice weekend

                              Omit Needless Words - Strunk, William, Jr.


                              JumpyForum:CP Message board | Universal DBA | Ajax Rating | ExplorerTree | | Globalization in 20 minutes
                              Web based project tracking

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • J Joe Q

                                Quartz... wrote:

                                In a "Real" world, there are a lot of people, who takes 2 with 2 and make it a 5

                                Use extreamly large values of 2! Joe Q

                                J Offline
                                J Offline
                                Josh Smith
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                Joe Q wrote:

                                Use extreamly large values of 2!

                                Is that like when I try to moderate my fook intake and cut a slice of pizza in half, but eat the "bigger" half? :-D

                                :josh: My WPF Blog[^]
                                We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle

                                J 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • R Rob Manderson

                                  (2 + 2) + 2/2 = 5 Using only 2's :)

                                  Rob Manderson I'm working on a version for Visual Lisp++ My blog http://blogs.wdevs.com/ultramaroon/[^] My blog mirror http://robmanderson.blogspot.com[^]

                                  J Offline
                                  J Offline
                                  Josh Smith
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #16

                                  Rob Manderson wrote:

                                  Using only 2's

                                  Bravo! :rose:

                                  :josh: My WPF Blog[^]
                                  We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • R Raj Lal

                                    In a "Real" world, there are a lot of people, who takes 2 with 2 and make it a 5 Well the silly question is, Can a "mathematician in you" also do this ? TAKE two 2's and any number of mathematical operations AND make it EQUAL TO 5 Another question to ponder , Imagine you are standing in front of a mirror, facing it. Raise your left hand. Raise your right hand. Look at your reflection. When you raise your left hand your reflection raises what appears to be his right hand. But when you tilt your head up, your reflection does too, and does not appear to tilt his/her head down. Why is it that the mirror appears to reverse left and right, but not up and down? * there is no genius in google-dept Solution here[^]

                                    Omit Needless Words - Strunk, William, Jr.


                                    JumpyForum:CP Message board | Universal DBA | Ajax Rating | ExplorerTree | | Globalization in 20 minutes
                                    Web based project tracking

                                    J Offline
                                    J Offline
                                    Josh Smith
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #17

                                    Quartz... wrote:

                                    Imagine you are standing in front of a mirror, facing it. Raise your left hand. Raise your right hand.

                                    This sounds like the first chapter to "The Introverts Guide to the Hokey Pokey[^]." :-D

                                    :josh: My WPF Blog[^]
                                    We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle

                                    R 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • R Raj Lal

                                      In a "Real" world, there are a lot of people, who takes 2 with 2 and make it a 5 Well the silly question is, Can a "mathematician in you" also do this ? TAKE two 2's and any number of mathematical operations AND make it EQUAL TO 5 Another question to ponder , Imagine you are standing in front of a mirror, facing it. Raise your left hand. Raise your right hand. Look at your reflection. When you raise your left hand your reflection raises what appears to be his right hand. But when you tilt your head up, your reflection does too, and does not appear to tilt his/her head down. Why is it that the mirror appears to reverse left and right, but not up and down? * there is no genius in google-dept Solution here[^]

                                      Omit Needless Words - Strunk, William, Jr.


                                      JumpyForum:CP Message board | Universal DBA | Ajax Rating | ExplorerTree | | Globalization in 20 minutes
                                      Web based project tracking

                                      P Offline
                                      P Offline
                                      PIEBALDconsult
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #18

                                      I really wish that only well-worded puzzles were posted. If this is from a book, please post the full, complete, exact text of the puzzle. Plus attribution would help.

                                      R J 3 Replies Last reply
                                      0
                                      • J Josh Smith

                                        Joe Q wrote:

                                        Use extreamly large values of 2!

                                        Is that like when I try to moderate my fook intake and cut a slice of pizza in half, but eat the "bigger" half? :-D

                                        :josh: My WPF Blog[^]
                                        We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle

                                        J Offline
                                        J Offline
                                        Joe Q
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #19

                                        Josh Smith wrote:

                                        Is that like when I try to moderate my fook intake and cut a slice of pizza in half, but eat the "bigger" half?

                                        No, that's helping whomever is going to eat the other half moderate their food intake...you're just being helpful! :laugh:

                                        J 1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • J Joe Q

                                          Josh Smith wrote:

                                          Is that like when I try to moderate my fook intake and cut a slice of pizza in half, but eat the "bigger" half?

                                          No, that's helping whomever is going to eat the other half moderate their food intake...you're just being helpful! :laugh:

                                          J Offline
                                          J Offline
                                          Josh Smith
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #20

                                          Joe Q wrote:

                                          you're just being helpful!

                                          Please explain that to my girlfriend! :laugh:

                                          :josh: My WPF Blog[^]
                                          We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle

                                          1 Reply Last reply
                                          0
                                          Reply
                                          • Reply as topic
                                          Log in to reply
                                          • Oldest to Newest
                                          • Newest to Oldest
                                          • Most Votes


                                          • Login

                                          • Don't have an account? Register

                                          • Login or register to search.
                                          • First post
                                            Last post
                                          0
                                          • Categories
                                          • Recent
                                          • Tags
                                          • Popular
                                          • World
                                          • Users
                                          • Groups