A little math test.

[Jimbo]

Please don't cheat on this. It means a lot to me. I will give the correct answer, along with an explanation after a few days, when everyone has a chance to give an answer.

I just want to know how many people on this site know a piece of info that I thought was common knowledge. Don't feel bad if you don't know, and admit it if you are guessing at the answer. It's pretty simple, and it's not a "Trick Question" or anything.

You are on a road that is straight as an arrow, running East and West,talking with another trucker. Your truck is pointing West, and the other trucker is pointing East. Both of you start wondering how far your radios can talk. Both of you drive 6 miles exactly, and turn right. You go 8 miles North, and the other trucker goes 8 miles South exactly. At that point, how far apart are your trucks??.

Like I said, please don't cheat. Do not, say..., use a ruler to draw a 12 inch line, and then an 8 inch line up on one side, and an 8 inch line down on the other side. Figure this out using your math skills only. I thought this was a very simple question, and said so to someone. They accused me of already knowing the question before I was asked. When I showed how I figured the question out, I was asked "...How many people do you think know that?". This is just a test to satisfy my curiosity. Be truthful, and honest in your answer.

Like I said, I'll give the right answer in a few days. Check back here to see what the answer is.

Thanks to all those who help me out with this.

Jimbo

[Gary]

My answer would be 28 miles apart

you each go 6 miles east to west =12 miles
you each go 8 miles after turning=16 miles
-----------
28 miles

[Jimbo]

Not Highway miles, but straight miles. If a plane was to fly in a straight line from your truck to the other, how many miles would it fly?

[Arky]

20 miles, I'll explain after Jimbo gives the answer :)

[Jimbo]

Here's a picture of the question

http://www.truckertech.com/sitebuilder/images/Math01-274x221.jpg

http://www.truckertech.com/sitebuilder/images/Math02-294x220.jpg

I'll put up the answer on Wed. morning.

[ladykw]

18 and I am just guessing. :classic: :classic: :classic: :classic:

[ATCO]

20 miles, I'll explain after Jimbo gives the answer :)

I think I'm going to agree with Arky on this one... I vaguely remember an equation for this kinda thing...

the answer lies with the Pythagorean Theorem regarding right triangles...

a sq. X b sq. = c sq

Arky... is correct 20 miles There are two triangles involved!

[Jimbo]

Tom, you have the right idea, but stated it wrong.

It is actually A squared, PLUS, not TIMES, B squared equals C squared.

A squared plus B squared is equal to C squared in all triangles with a right angle in them. That makes the right answer 20 miles. Arky is no "dumb trucker" as I see it. I will put the answer, along with pictures, up in a few minutes.

[Jimbo]

OK class, the answer is here, and I have found out what I needed to know. Thanks you so much for being part of this. PLease read past the answer to see why this was so important to me. I'll show you the answer, along with pictures. If you got it right, like Arky and Tom, bravo. If you got it wrong, use this as a learning experience. Lady KW was close, but this isn't horseshoes we're playing here, but to be so close shows she had the right idea. Gary didn't get the right idea of what I was asking, so I guess I failed in that respect, to set the question out properly.Atco didn't give an exact answer, but knew a good one when he heard it.

In figure 1 you see the problem in a visual way.
Figure 2 shows what you are trying to figure out
Figure 3 shows the formula that was used in figuring this out.
Figure 4 shows the numbers of the triangle, with the math in the upper right part of the pic.
Figure 5 shows the answer.

1>>>http://www.truckertech.com/sitebuilder/images/Math01-274x221.jpg

2>>>http://www.truckertech.com/sitebuilder/images/Math02-294x220.jpg

3>>>http://www.truckertech.com/sitebuilder/images/Math03-271x185.jpg

4>>>http://www.truckertech.com/sitebuilder/images/Math04-274x180.jpg

5>>>http://www.truckertech.com/sitebuilder/images/Math05-294x230.jpg

And now, the reason this meant so much to me.

I have been a trucker for my whole life. I was not a driver, but around trucks from a very young age. I started driving for a living 15 years ago. I am very proud of myself, and consider myself "Well Educated". Some of the things I consider common knowledge are becoming advanced learning by today's school standards. I learned the formula for this question back in the 6th grade. At 12 years old, I was taught how to figure this quiz out, and it has stuck with me.

I get so tired of people thinking that people drive trucks because they are too dumb to do anything else. Some drivers I have met are pretty smart, but love trucking. I love it when I am in an office for some reason, and hear the people there having a computer problem. When I give them a suggestion, they laugh it off. "How cute...the dummy trucker thinks he's going to help us with a technical problem". Later on, when the IT tech guy tells them the same thing that I did, it leaves them scratching their heads.

This test shows that in a rather small group of truckers, most, if not all, are pretty well educated. I will be saving this test for future use. I can't wait till someone refers to truckers as dumb. I'll give them the same test, and see how they do, then I can tell them how you guys did, and ask them why they are calling truckers dumb, when they are smarter than him or her.

Thanks for the ammo for my future arguements

[Arky]

I'll share my part of this quiz with you as well. I am actually not driving, but had intended to once I was laid off at my job as a toolmaker (overseas it went). Instead of driving, i was offered the opportunity to go back to school for 2 years and jumped on it!

That is why I knew the answer. I mentioned to Jimbo in the mod forum that the triangle he used is a mutliple of a very common triangle that is used as reference in many trigonometry books. It is a 3-4-5 triangle, only with this particular triangle, each side is multiplied by 2 and then there are two triangle in Jimbo's quiz. At least that's the way I worked it. The 3-4-5 tringle is simply a right triangle (90 degrees) that has sides of 3-4-5 in length. If you have two of those dimensions, you automaticly know what the third is.

Although I used a shortcut on this one, if this had been an uncommon shape, then Tom's formula (in it's correct form) would be the way to work it. As Jimbo stated (A squared + B squared = C squared).

Good quiz Jimbo!

[ATCO]

Arky and Tom, bravo.

What ! ? Am I chop liver? I said I agreed with arky for it being 20 mi, following Pathegeram thereom <sp>, the ONLY thing I got out of geometry I think....

Anyways, no biggie... I learned it somewhere, and I was never in Trig...
:wacko:

Good to know my math is still ok...

[Arky]

Yes ATCO, you are chopped liver!! :rofl: :rofl: Tom and I won and you didn't :harhar:




Kidding, of course :cheers:

[Jimbo]

Atco, I was just picking on you for going with Arky, but not being able to state the formula. "Atco didn't give an exact answer, but knew a good one when he heard it."

By the way, my girlfriend wants to know if you're free for dinner....say, Saturday. If you get here by 7, she could have you all cooked up, and swimming in onions by 8. :drool: