semantic maths question

I'm doing a test for a friend. Struggling with the wording of this question

http://imgur.com/tZmPPL3

I get 18 but i can see how you can get 16 as well.

On June 06 2015 05:25 julep wrote: I'm doing a test for a friend. Struggling with the wording of this question http://imgur.com/tZmPPL3 I get 18 but i can see how you can get 16 as well.

neither 18 nor 16 is correct IMO.

4 1 1 4 4 = 14 is how I interpret it. But I suppose I could see 8 1 1 4 4 = 18

seems really easy. u get 4,4,4,1,1.=14. The proof is trivial, and left as an exercise for the reader.

i don't see how you would get 8,1,1,4,4=18

I'll give my proof anyway :D

Proof:

There are 5 offices. 3 offices require 4 times the amount of the other 2 offices.
The minimum amount of people that can be in an office is 1.
The minimum amount of people that can be in an office that is 4 times that of the smaller office is 4.

The minimum amount of people required for the 5 offices is: 1+1+4+4+4=14

QED

do you agree? The question seems like more of a reading comprehension test than a maths question.

^if u read it as the the square footage of the 2 offices combined you can get 18. 8 is equal to 4 times 1+1 and is equal to 4+4 so technically it's 4 times the size of 2 offices and equal to 2 other offices. My answer would be 14 too though

its just
3*4x+2*x=14 well not quite formulated like that but w/e

im curious how you can get 16 lol

1 + 1 + 8 + 4 + 4 i think after re-reading
so....18

a = 4
b = 1
c = 1
d = 4
e = 4



14 people

In my opinion, the word "combined" would need to be used to describe the comparison between the offices to make it 8, 1, 1, 4, 4

I dont see how the first office can be equal to 8 ? Even if OP means first office = last 2 offices then it doesn't become 18 overall but 4+1+1+2+2 = 10
How do u ever get 18 wut

On June 08 2015 23:05 Spitfiree wrote: I dont see how the first office can be equal to 8 ? Even if OP means first office = last 2 offices then it doesn't become 18 overall but 4+1+1+2+2 = 10 How do u ever get 18 wut

4 times the size of 2 of the offices put together. or 1,1,8. it's far fetched, I just threw it out there as a possibility. Think 14 is clearly the intended answer.

"1 office is 4 times the size of 2 of the offices"

This can mean 2 things:

1. There is an office A and it's size is 4x the size of another office B or C, Size of B = Size of C.

2. There is an office A and it's size is 4x the size of the sum of sizes of 2 other offices B and C. I believe this is the case what Daut meant when he got to 18. Problem is, that we dont know the ratio of sizes of office's B and C, because this interpretation doesn't imply that they are equally big, so we cannot come to a certain answer here.

Which means, the only possible answer is 14 (1 + 1 + 4 + 4 + 4). But the wording is really poor.

On June 09 2015 18:11 Joe wrote: "1 office is 4 times the size of 2 of the offices" This can mean 2 things: 1. There is an office A and it's size is 4x the size of another office B or C, Size of B = Size of C. 2. There is an office A and it's size is 4x the size of the sum of sizes of 2 other offices B and C. I believe this is the case what Daut meant when he got to 18. Problem is, that we dont know the ratio of sizes of office's B and C, because this interpretation doesn't imply that they are equally big, so we cannot come to a certain answer here. Which means, the only possible answer is 14 (1 + 1 + 4 + 4 + 4). But the wording is really poor.

if we take it to mean 4x the sum of 2 other offices and the same size as 2 others, the minimum it can be is 1,1,8,4,4. the minimum size will be when they are equally big, i.e. if they are unequal and have values 1,2, it will be 1,2,12,{2 offices that add to 12}. i still think it's an absurd way to read into the question, the answer is very clearly 14.

If there were 3 offices of size 4, then it would be "3 offices are 4 times the size of 2 of the offices", no?

I love how OP posted this and just never bothered to come back here. Feels like a social experiment where we are the monkeys in the cage :D