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Here’s another one I did as a teacher.
There was one kid who couldn’t keep his mouth shut during tests (OK, maybe more than one- but one who was really loud) and I decided to use it against him.
For one question on a trigonometry test I had a picture of a triangle and under the base it said “x = 27” but on his test I put in a different page that said “x = ?”. The question was to “solve for ‘x'”.
Sure enough one guy raises his hand and says “Mr. Pepper, I think you made a mistake on number 7”. Looking down at my copy I said, “Whoops, I think I just gave everyone a freebie”. The class started chuckling except for this guy who said “there’s no way to do it”. Now the class was laughing. He just kept on going at how there was no solution.
After the test, when he figured out what happened he told me I was going to regret it.
Knowing him I probably did.
Why don’t we have a thread for each regent where students can post questions they don’t understand and teachers (and former teachers) can post the answers and explanations.
Here’s a tip I taught my trigonometry class to remember sine, cosine and tangent-
Sine = Opposite / Hypotenuse,
Cosine = Adjacent / Hypotenuse,
Tangent = Opposite / Adjacent.
The order of the three is the same on all calculators- sine, cosine and tangent.
To remember the letters O H A H O A, make a sentence- Oh Heaven, Another Hour Of Avi.
I find it amazing that some of them still remember it years later.
Not sure if this will make it past the mods but worth a try.
After the guy parks and they get out of the car, the guy realizes that there are three creeps drinking beer surrounded by a mountain of empty beer cans and bottles just a few feet away. As they try walking away real fast one of them approaches and asks for some money. The guy gives him a few bucks to get them away but then realizes that he just parked his car less than two meters from their living room. He then makes them a deal that if they watch his car until they come back and make sure no one touches it he’ll give them an additional five dollars. (In other words- go bother another car.)
After the date the guys are still there and want their five dollars, which the guy gave them. After letting the girl into the car one of the creeps went to a nearby wall and started to do something that people who drink that much beer have to do every five minutes.
Being the gentleman that he was, the guy stood in front of her window so she wouldn’t have to witness what was going on. The guy took off his jacket and pretended like he was holding it up to get ready to hang it up. Finally he opened the back door, removed the hanger he brought and hung up his jacket.
He then got into the car and started driving, being very impressed with himself at how he blocked the whole incident from her. She finally broke the silence and said “It’s a good thing you didn’t offer them another five dollars to wash the car while we were gone”!
They ended up getting married but he made it clear that she can feel free to clean the house as often as she wants but he’ll take care of washing the cars.
Dovv-
If you are pranking me and I catch you, I’m going to post your grades for everyone to see.
Dovv
Part of the prank was for everyone to write the same exact thing, word for word, to make it appear as if they all did it together, yet he didn’t see anyone talking to anyone else.
Dovv,
You were obviously not a student of mine.
A few short years before I became a teacher I was doing those things myself (to teachers who announced that they’ve been teaching for 45 years and they know all the tricks).
So I knew what to look out for and how to be on top of it.
Back to the original topic.
This didn’t happen in my class.
The English teacher announced that he was teaching them how to write a poem with a rhythm.
After a brief lesson he told them to try their own, saying he understood it was their first time writing a poem.
Some one said “Ride the train” and the whole class wrote the song from Journeys II.
The teacher (who wasn’t Jewish and never heard the song) was fascinated when he read the first paper to be handed in. Not only did it have the perfect beat but it also rhymed and had symbolism (the journey through life).
After reading all of them he assumed that one talented kid wrote it but he couldn’t figure out how the whole class copied it word for word without him noticing anything.
How about one from the perspective of the teacher?
I knew that there were some students who were going to take advantage of the multiple choice final that I was giving. I cut out a bar code from something and photocopied it onto the first page of the exam.
After handing out the exam I made sure to announce that they should check and double check that the number on the bar code matches the one on the answer sheet or it will be graded with the wrong answer key.
Oy, you should have seen some of those faces, I felt so bad for them.
Not really a shidduch story since it happened by the l’chaim.
Friend of the kallahs mother comes over to the chosson and says “I saw you before your kallah did. You probably don’t remember this but before your first date I saw you walking up the block towards her house. I was going to introduce myself but from the way you looked I didn’t think you would make it past the first date anyway.”
Not to be outdone the guy replied, “I actually do remember seeing you. I remember thinking, “Oh no, if that’s her mother I’m running out of there sooooooooooo fast!'”.
Are you in any position to call the offending institutions/ clients? They might not realize what kind of issues they are causing at the other end.
Guy is from out of town.
Picks up the girl, hails a taxi and asks the driver to take them to the Bronx Zoo.
The guy is horrified at the price (maybe he just assumed the Bronx Zoo was on 13th Ave?) and asks the girl if he could take her home by subway- she agreed.
After spending some time walking around the zoo and talking he leads her to the zoo tram and waits in line to buy tickets.
When it’s their turn he says, “Can I buy two tickets to Boro Park”?
They did not get married.
After a few years at a firm Reuven* felt he wanted to explore different opportunities. He went to let the boss know that he planned to leave the firm in two weeks (with the option of staying a little longer if necessary).
The boss wasn’t happy but he had one strange request- being that Reuven was a well respected employee he asked that Reuven not tell anyone that he was leaving.
The next Friday Reuven left work like he did every other Friday, just wishing everyone a good weekend (the boss offered to ship his personal belongings on Monday).
Once in the elevator Reuven spotted the receptionist and since he already “left” he felt he was allowed to tell her the news.
Upon hearing that he was leaving she burst into tears.
“I don’t understand”, said Reuven, “in all my years here the only thing I ever said to you was ‘good morning’ when I came in and ‘have a good night’ when I left”.
“That’s just it”, she replied, “before you came no one had any respect for me, they all thought I was [NOT WORTH REPEATING] and I suffered from constant verbal abuse. I was ready to leave and then you came along. Everyone respected you, they saw how you always greeted me with a smile and never used foul language and they began to treat me with respect (and watch their language).”
* Name has been changed since I didn’t ask for permission to repeat the story.
oomis1105-
That’s why I specifically wrote “monetary value”, how much is it worth as money (if you were to bring it into the bank for example).
Quarters issued in 1975 were dated 1776 – 1976 (as were half dollars and dollar coins).
Any quarter with a date of 1975 has a monetary value of $0.
$.01 + $.05 + $.10 +$0 = $.16.
(As a side point- dollar coins issued in 1975 have a different font on the reverse than the ones issued in 1976.)
One has four coins, a penny, a nickel, a dime and a quarter.
All are dated 1975.
What is the monetary value of the four coins?
volvie- I’m not as old as you think I am, the incident happened 10 years ago.
I wasn’t aware of any “picture mishagass” (doesn’t mean there wasn’t any) I just felt I needed to know what she looked like so I would know who to look out for.
(This was not to see if I found her attractive, it was after I already agreed to go out with her and she booked a flight. And for the record I insisted on flying out to her until she made a good argument as to why she had to be in New York anyway.)
I’m no expert in shidduchim but I’ll share with you a personal experience in getting a picture beforehand.
I had to pick her up from the airport and used the “excuse” that I had to know what she looked like or I wouldn’t be able to find her.
After taking one look at the picture I already decided that I wasn’t interested, but obviously I didn’t want to hurt her feelings and continued on with the date as planned.
Anyway, after everyone got off the plane there was only one frum girl on the flight and she was definitely not the one in the picture. We ended up going out a handful of times but it didn’t work out at the end.
Keep in mind that first impressions are very important and even if a bochur would happen to find a potential date to be attractive, a particular pose or portrait might not be his taste.
So, in my opinion, I think that the cons outweigh the pros and pictures should be avoided.
(I see no problem with a shadchan having a picture in her records to help her remember the person.)
The exact area is PI.
I posted this question in anticipation of today, Nerd Appreciation Day.
If I remember correctly the techniques used to calculate the area are from Calculus II.
The anti-derivative of f(x) = 1/(1 + x^2) is F(x) = tan^-1 (x).
Evaluated at the limit of x as x gets closer to infinity is (PI/2), evaluated at x as x gets closer to negative infinity is (-PI/2), (PI/2) – (-PI/2) = PI.
QED
Oy Vey, you must have a bad headache. A straight line along the y-axis is denoted by x = 0.
y = 1/(1 + x^2) is a function of x so it can not possibly be a vertical line!
The graph resembles the Bell Curve, but the area between the bell curve and the x-axis is 1.
Hope you feel better soon.
What is the area bounded by the x-axis and y = 1/(1 + x^2) (from negative infinity to positive infinity)?
yossi z.
Great to hear all the Mazel Tovs. Can’t wait until they’re old enough to join the CR Room. (Even if they don’t have RAS Syndrome.)
yossi z.
Welcome back. I also recently returned albeit part time.
How is you niece doing? (I think you posted a few months back that your sister had a girl.)
I can only try-
When we were learning the Megilla in 4th grade our Rebbe pointed out one of the places (?????? ????????? ??????? ???????) to show that even though His name is not mentioned anywhere in the Megilla, never the less He was still “lurking” in the background.
Four years later a cousin of mine who was a very talented Baal Korei was laining the Megilla for the first time. (He was also a recent Bar Mitzvah at the time but regrettably he didn’t continue his talent as he got older.) I teased him that if he really knows the whole Megilla inside out, backwards and forwards he should show me where the name of Hashem is hidden. To my surprise he showed me three additional places as well.
Here are the other three pesukim. I leave it to the reader to locate the name.
? ????????? ????????, ???-???-????????? ????–?????? ????????? ??????? ???????, ???-???????????? ??????-????????? ???
?? ?????-???, ????????? ?????? ???: ??????-???, ?????? ????? ????? ???-?????????? ???????????–???????, ????????? ?????????
? ??????????? ??? ??????????, ???????????? ????????, ???-???????, ?????????; ??????? ?????, ????????? ???-???????? ?????????? ???????????–???? ?????, ????-??????? ?????? ??????? ????? ?????????
It’s great to be back! Where did all my friends go? (I can’t even click under their name to see when they last posted.)
? ?????????? ???????? ????????? ??????-???????? ??????-??????????, ???? ?????? ????; ?????-??????????, ???????? ????? ???????????? ???????????, ?????-?????.
Look at the fist letter of words ????; ?????-??????????, ???????? (The name of Hashem is backwards. This is from ??? ?.)
There are 4 places in the Megilla (that I know of) where we find four words in a row where the first (or last) letters spell Hashems name (both forward and backwards).
Where are these Pesukim?
I was inspired to share this story after my kids told us about the tree that Avrohom Avinu had which would decrease its shade by lifting its leaves or increase its shade by lowering its leaves depending on who was sitting under it.
This shadchan kept on calling a guy about a girl but he never got around to looking into her and giving an answer. One day the shadchan calls and says that the girl drove down to go out with him (a five hour drive) and would like to go out in a few hours.
The guy explained that he didn’t even do the minimal research but in order to not hurt her feelings he would take her out, and do the necessary research later on if applicable.
He felt that she was a nice person but was not worth pursuing. She felt the same way (or so he thought).
The next Zman his chavrusa told him a great moshul he heard from his neighbor Rabbi _________.
“A guy trying to get married is like trying to find a beautiful tree in an orchard. There’s thousands of them and he can have which ever one he picks. A girl trying to get married is like trying to find a beautiful tree in the desert. There are none for miles in each direction. When you finally think you see one in the horizon and you schlep all the way out there it turns out that it was really a cactus!”
The guy recognized the name of the neighbor as the father of the girl who drove five hours to go out with him only to refer to him as a “cactus”.
Not to be outdone he gave a moshul of his own.
“Imagine this one beautiful tree in the vast desert with no other comparable trees in sight. Now this lonely tree had a major problem that stinky, sweaty camels would travel for hours just to bask in its’ shade and the tree would have a hard time getting it to leave. Finally it would leave and another one would come along. Eventually the tree had enough and when ever a stinky, sweaty camel would come along the tree would just pretend to be a cactus so the camel would just leave on its own.”
“WOW, that’s a great moshul” his chavrusa complimented. “When I tell it to my neighbor do I have to say it in your name?”
AZ-
I picked up a Yated this week to read the ad and I now have even more questions about the NASI Project than I had before.
To begin- what does the number 760 represent? Is that the amount of monetary prizes they awarded in the past two years? If so I don’t see that as much of a success that 760 matches were made in the past two years that were eligible for the prize. If the NASI Project set up the 760 couples then that would be impressive but the number 760 is too large to believe.
Secondly- the Kol Korei was not included in the ad. I’m still very curious to see the wording that was signed. Furthermore there was not a single name of any of the Rabbonim who endorse the NASI Project mentioned in the ad. (“Ziknei Yisroel” is a rather broad statement.)
Third- the e-mail address listed as the contact info implied that the NASI Project owned a domain name, if so the cost would be minimal to create a website that has a mission statement and a copy of the Kol Korei.
Fourth- The ad asked each family with children of eligible marriage age to donate $50 to the NASI Project, the address listed (for both the U.S. and Canada) did not contain the name of a human. For someone like me who only heard of the NASI Project from YWN and can not validate it’s legitimacy I find it very suspicious to see an ad they placed asking for a considerable amount of money with no name attached to the organization.
AZ-
(From a previous topic that has been closed.)
I do not read the Yated or Hamodia so I did not see the ads that NASI placed. I don’t know how much it costs to place an ad in either paper but I have a feeling that creating a minimal website with contact information as well as a copy of the Kol Korei signed by 70 (or is it down to 60 now?) Rabbonim would cost less than a single ad and would generate more publicity. I’m curious to see if any of the Rabbonim I see on a regular basis are on that list.
Please also note that I never said that your numbers are accurate (I said that numbers themselves do not lie, the people that tally the data can lie and people can use statistics to present the numbers in a way that is a “white” lie).
rebetzin-
You’re right, many boys are very picky, I should know- I was one of them.
But I didn’t go complaining to shadchanim that they weren’t doing anything for me (I never even asked any shadchan to put my name on their list- they always got my name from somewhere/someone else).
(If a shadchan would threaten my mother that unless I (or at times one of my brothers) go out with whoever they were suggesting they would never call back, my mother would remind them that she never asked them to call in the first place. I don’t know of any shadchan that stopped calling.)
As my father told me many times while I was dating, “You weren’t put in this world to end the shidduch crisis (or even put a dent into it). Your responsibility is to marry the person who you feel will be the best wife for you and the best mother for your children.”
People are complaining that girls are too picky since it’s when the girls get older that people begin to notice the “shidduch crisis”, not when the guys get older.
AZ-
Where can I get information about the NASI project. When I do a Google search the only relevant site that I see is YWN?
cherrybim-
Dr. Pepper – “Numbers don’t lie, they are what they are. The way they are presented is what may trick people”
So they do lie.
By “numbers” I mean raw data. Let’s take an extreme example 2 girls in the graduating class of 2000. Now, 9 years later, 1 is married and 1 is single.
There are ways to bias this data and make it look like a crisis:
“50% of the class is still single” or
“Out of the whole class only one girl is married”.
While each statement is technically correct I would venture that most people would consider them very close to a lie, if not an outright lie. The raw data itself (1 married, 1 single) is what it is and does not lie.
“I do know that the principle makes it his business to be at the weddings of as many of his students as possible.”
This is a poor way of conducting a statistical survey and the results would be meaningless. In addition, school personnel come and go and many graduates do not keep ties with the school for many various reasons. To conduct a meaningful study the researcher must use accepted methodology and research standards.
This kind of research is very discrete (either a status of “married” or “single”). The school my wife went to keeps updated alumni lists (for fundraisers) so it does not matter which school personnel came and went, the files are still at the school. Even if some students moved away without telling the school they probably have friends who know what they are up to. In the rare event that someone falls of the radar screen and can not be tracked then they should be removed from the grand total of graduates.
cherrybim-
Can someone tell me where these phony baloney statistics come from? I have ba”h seven daughters who have graduated and no school or organization has ever called to track or monitor their marriage status. I have also worked with statistics and numbers for just about my entire adult life and as I stated before, numbers can be manipulated to show just about anything. Oh, please spare me the tears this time.
Numbers don’t lie, they are what they are. The way they are presented is what may trick people which is why I am specially trained to look out for those types of malicious “statistics”.
(Of course the person tallying the numbers can be lying but I don’t think that is the case here.)
I agree with AZ on the numbers just not necessarily on the cause or solution. (AZ holds that the age gap is the root of the problem while I still feel that it lies deeper.)
My wife has many sisters and while I don’t know if anyone from their high school calls my in-laws on a regular basis to see how many are still single I do know that the principle makes it his business to be at the weddings of as many of his students as possible. (There may also be a few representatives from each grade informing the school of any changes in any students’ status.)
While we were engaged my wife called her high school and asked for the current address of everyone in her grade (not that all of them were going to be invited) and the schools files were up to date.
Just so no one loses any sleep over this.
A family has two children, there are 4 possible scenarios:
Boy Boy
Boy Girl
Girl Boy
Girl Girl
Since one of the children is a girl there are only three possible scenarios:
Boy Girl
Girl Boy
Girl Girl
Of those three scenarios only one has the desired outcome.
Therefore the probability is 1/3.
QED
(I remember this problem from a probability course. There is actually a massive machlokes between some really great math nerds, I’m not saying what side I’m on, but I knew that if truthsharer was asking this question he was probably not looking for the obvious answer.)
See you all in the morning.
truthsharer-
1/3
Do you want me to explain?
Put 8 small cubes together to make one larger cube. You now have 93 small cubes and 1 large cube or 94 all together. Each person gets 47 cubes which is an odd number.
QED
hiijacker-
Make two piles, one with 80 quarters, one with 20.
The pile with 80 quarters will have (t) tails and (80 – t) heads. The pile with 20 quarters will have (20 – t) tails and (t) heads. (0 <= t <= 20)
Flip over every quarter in the pile with 20 quarters and give me $25.
(The pile with 20 quarters will now have (20 – t) heads and (t) tails. (0 <= t <= 20))
Thanks
(Would you like my home address or is Paypal easier?)
YW Moderator-80-
I answered that without reading the question carefully because I had to run to Mincha. I realized later that the answer is incorrect.
Light one in the middle (or light both ends), it will take one half hour to burn.
When that is finished burning light each end and the middle of the next one and it will take 15 minutes to burn.
That should take 45 minutes.
Here it goes.
Mr. Product: I do not know the numbers.
=> Either none of the numbers are prime or one of the numbers is prime but not both. (If both numbers are prime then Mr. Product would just factor the product and have the number.)
Mr. Sum: I knew you didn’t knew [sic] the numbers.
=> The sum can’t be even. (Goldbach’s conjecture – Every even integer greater than 2 can be written as the sum of two primes. Therefore the sum can’t be even or it can be written as the sum of two primes which we know the numbers are not two primes. Sorry everyone but the proof is beyond the scope of this thread.)
=> One number must be odd and one number must be even.
=> The product must be even.
Mr. Product: Now I know the numbers
=> There is one unique way to attain that product using an odd number and an even number. (There is at least one other way, possibly more, to attain that product using two even numbers since one number must be composite.)
Mr. Sum: Now I know the numbers, too.
=> All of us in the CR also do!
4 & 13
There aren’t as many possibilities as you may think once you start throwing out possible pairs based on criteria. The upper bound is “red herring” as it will be the same answer regardless on whether it is 15 or 1,000,000. I tried an upper bound of 10 and found no solution. When I raised it to 15 I found this solution which I believe is the only solution regardless of the upper bound.
OK but it’s taking lots of self control.
(I have the whole answer now.)
I don’t have the answer yet, I only did as much as I could think of mentally while on the train this morning. The hint I wanted to give is just to notify others that a not-so-famous conjecture may be needed.
I haven’t solved it just yet but I think I’m getting there.
Does anyone mind if I give hint?
This is different for those in different circles, but I felt it was getting serious when we dropped the shadchan.
AZ-
In response to your reply to my post on the previous page-
Numbers are numbers and are facts, not opinions. (It is the way they are represented that is an opinion.) I always agreed with you on that.
What I always disagreed with you on (and still do) is the approach to solving this issue. (I do however respect you for taking ownership of this issue and sympathizing with everyone who is affected.)
In my opinion they best way to approach the problem would be for one competent person to take charge of the whole problem. Under that person would be people who would represent the different groups (the eligible men, the eligible women, the parents, the shadchanim and any other potential groups I may be leaving out). There groups will obviously be very large so they can be further split by region or in some other fashion.
The leaders of each group (or sub-group) should reach out to the members they represent and try to get their understanding of what aspects they feel are causing the gap. They should also ask them to think of ideas, no matter how ridiculous they may sound, to close the gap. Each leader should take all ideas and thoughts and discuss them with other leaders before submitting them to the person on top of them who will in turn submit it to the person in charge.
There are many different causes contributing to this “crisis” and the only way to solve it is to hear from EVERYONE.
I can only try-
Take seven Nickels (or any coin for that matter but preferably without ridges), put one in the center and the other six around it. Look closely and you will see a space between two of the coins. That space is twice the decimal of PI (multiplied by a constant).
Let’s say Mr. Director starts a pattern that is a family of concentric circles centered at the center of the table. In each subsequent circle the little space will get bigger and bigger until there is room for another quarter. Once there is an odd amount of quarters in a circle there will be a space for Mr. Director to place a quarter without a corresponding spot on the “other” side of the table.
QED
I can only try-
Change is good: II
I’ve been racking my brain all day on this one but can’t come up with the correct answer. I think this is probably the one you are looking for (although it is wrong).
I would go first.
To decide where to put the first quarter I would draw two straight, non-parallel lines on the table (with my trusty pencil of course) where each end of the line touches the circumference of the table. I’d then rip out my protractor that I always carry in my pocket protector and use it to find the midpoint of each line. Next I would draw a perpendicular bisector for each line towards the other end of the table. The point where the two lines meet is the exact center of the table.
The center of the first quarter is placed on the center of the table.
After Mr. Director places a quarter I would place a quarter on the exact opposite side of the table. Therefore if he has an empty spot to place a quarter there should be an empty spot on the exact opposite side. Hence I will be the last on to place a quarter on the table.
This will not work once the diameter of the table reaches a certain length which I can definitely not calculate while in the state of mind I am currently in. (It has to do with my favorite constant.)
I can only try-
OK I gave it an hour and no one answered.
Change is good: I
I would remove 1 on my first turn.
Each subsequent turn I would pick the amount that when added to the amount he took would equal 7. (If he picked 2 I would pick 5…)
Therefore 1 => 8 => 15 => 22 => 29 => 36 => 43.
There are now seven pennies left.
Any number he chooses to remove now will leave as little as one and as much as six left. I choose the rest and win!