Is it intuitively obvious that one quarter of 3 is the same as 3 quarters?
Yes it is elementary school level arithmetic, but does it agree with our instinct. Think of it this way. You need to divide 3 cupcakes among 4 people. Is it immediately apparent that you can do this by dividing each cupcake in quarters and giving each person 3 of them?
Here is an Excel sheet to indicate what is going on. Each row represents one cupcake and each column represents what is given to each person.
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
22 Answers
It is to me, but I have a math brain.
I would cut two in half and one in four, but that’s because I like the idea of the bigger pieces.
That is nice because it involves less cutting. Only one person gets 3 different pieces..
I think the concept can be understood intuitively but the English makes it confusing. “one quarter of 3 is the same as 3 quarters?” of what? It isn’t 3 as that wouldn’t make sense.
“One quarter of each of three cupcakes is the same as three quarters of one of the cupcakes.” That may be a better way of putting it but I like @JLeslie‘s solution.
@LostInParadise No, everyone gets a half and a quarter. That’s how I would dole it out anyway.
You are right. I don’t know what I was thinking
It’s the same ¾ answer either way.
I was originally going to work with 5/6 and dividing 5 cupcakes among 6 people, doing this by dividing each cake into 6 parts and giving each person 5 of them. Using @JLeslie‘s approach, there is a much simpler solution. Do you see how to do it?
For those of us that are not innumerate, it is obvious, but the specific wording of the question is unusual and gave me pause to comprehend what was being said.
One cupcake for me, the others can figure the remaining ones out.
@zenvelo , We don’t ordinarily think of ¾ as dividing 3 by 4, but the fraction bar represents division. By definition, ¾ is 3 divided by 4.
Divide 3 cup cakes into 4th (4/4 + 4/4 +4/4). This equals 12/12 which equals 1.
One quarter of 1 equals ¼. Not 3 quarters.
In the same way that 6/2 equals 6 divided by 2 equals 3, ¾ is 3 divided by 4 equals 0.75.
In the problem I mentioned to divide 5 cupcakes among 6 people, you could divide each by 6 and have everyone take 5 pieces, but there is a simpler approach. Divide 3 into 6 halves and give a piece to each person. Then divide the remaining two into 6 thirds and give each person a piece. Each person now has ½ + ½ = 5/6
Hello. Mathtard here.
It’s not intuitive, to me. Not the way it’s phrased. I get it, after thinking about it for a second.
Just in case anyone missed it, the simplest way of dividing 3 cupcakes among 4 people is to cut two of the cupcakes in half and the remaining one in quarters. Everyone takes one half piece and one quarter piece. It requires a total of only 4 cuts, 2 for cutting the two cakes in half and 2 for cutting one into quarters. That may make for a good recreational math problem.
Thanks for correcting the typo. The neat thing about this problem is that, without actually doing the calculation, you can see that ½ + ⅓ must equal 5/6 because 5 cupcakes can be divided into 6 equal portions of (½ + ⅓) .
The original wording of the Q was confusing to me too. If I had not read the details, I’m not sure if I would have figured out what you were looking for.
Was this question designed by the DMV?...
I assume the Department of Motor Vehicle.
^Indeed. Hell on Earth. At least in America… Everything seems so frustrating, it just has to be intentionally difficult…
When should you start using your blinker for a right hand turn at a stop light or stop sign?
A. 44.875 cubits
B. 0.⁰000001 light-years
C. 12
D. Kill yourself
FUCK the DMV.
Answer this question 
Composing members:
0
