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Topic: Are you out of work? (Read 545 times) |
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Kitty
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Are you out of work?
« on: May 31st, 2003, 12:52pm » |
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Jones was complaining to Smith that he worked to much so Smith got a pen and paper and started to work it out.
"You never work more than 8 hours a day so let 2/3 of the year. Say a leap year (366) and you get...122. You never you into the office at weekends so it take off 104...that's 18. Then you have two weeks holidays in the summerso it is...4. And there are 4 bank holidays to consider. So i think you don't work at all  ."
How can this be posible? 
(Taken from a book published in the 30's.)
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If the human brain was simple enough for us to understand, we would still be so stupid that we couldn't understand it.~Kant (1724-1804)
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Sir Col
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impudens simia et macrologus profundus fabulae
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Re: Are you out of work?
« Reply #1 on: May 31st, 2003, 2:22pm » |
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I suppose it's because... 8 out of 24 hours equates to 1/3 of the day and 1/3 of 366 days is 122. However, taking off weekends means we need to remove 2/7 of 122 (about 34 days), not 2/7 of the full year (about 104 days). That is, 122–34=88 days, less two weeks holidays (10 working days) and four bank holidays means that Jones works the equivalent of 74 solid days! No wonder he's complaining.
It reminds me of a similar problem:
When their father died, the three sons were left 17 sheep and the will required they be split 1/2, 1/3 and 1/9 according to age. Not able to resolve this request they sought the council of their wise uncle, Sir Col. He offered one sheep, but insisted they return it. With 18 sheep, the eldest got 1/2 of 18=9, the middle son got 1/3 of 18=6 and the youngest got 1/9 of 18=2. As 9+6+2=17, the extra sheep was returned to their very wise uncle.
How can this be possible?
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redPEPPER
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Re: Are you out of work?
« Reply #2 on: Jun 1st, 2003, 7:17am » |
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That's because 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/9 is not 1, it's 17/18.
The split is not exactly what the father asked either. They did not receive 1/2, 1/3 and 1/9 of the original 17 sheeps, with 1/18 left for whoever can legally claim it. Instead, a sheep was added to make the division feasible without cutting sheeps into pieces. The sons got more than what their father intended them to have, and the person who was supposed to get the remaining 1/18 got ripped off.
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