Calling all math geniuses!!!!

[MaggieMae]

This is way too weird for me to comprehend. Please tell me there is a mathematical formula.

YOUR AGE BY CHOCOLATE MATH

DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST!
It takes less than a minute...
Work this out as you read.
Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!


1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10).


2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold).


3. Add 5.


4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator.

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759...
And, if you haven't, then add 1758.


6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.


You should now have a three digit number.


The first digit of this was your original number
(i.e: how many times you want to have chocolate each week).

The next two numbers are:

YOUR AGE!

 

[Jon]

Yes, there's a formula. There always is. I don't have time to break it down right now, but basically the first few steps negate the number you chose for chocolate, and the last few steps calculate your age.

 

[Kalam]

Disclaimer: I'm not a math genius, but here's what I got. It works fine if you follow the order of operations.

If you've already had your birthday this year -
50(2a + 5) + 1759 – b = c

If you haven't -
50(2a + 5) + 1758 – b = c

where:
a = number of times you have chocolate per week (less than 10);
b = the year of your birth;
c = the three digit number.

 

[Valerie]

This is way too weird for me to comprehend. Please tell me there is a mathematical formula.

YOUR AGE BY CHOCOLATE MATH

DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST!
It takes less than a minute...
Work this out as you read.
Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!


1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10).


2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold).


3. Add 5.


4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator.

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759...
And, if you haven't, then add 1758.


6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.


You should now have a three digit number.


The first digit of this was your original number
(i.e: how many times you want to have chocolate each week).

The next two numbers are:

YOUR AGE!

Technically there's a formula for EVERYthing.

IF you take the baseline number of times you may want chocolate at zero, you have 5 x 250 = 1250

The given number of 1759 or 1758 is the key and it will change (by one digit) when you present this same puzzle next year...When you subtract 1250 (the base # at zero chocolate) you get 2008 (the year you turned your current age) and as JSanders pointed out the beginning process negates the chocolate part. Make sense?

 

[MaggieMae]

This is way too weird for me to comprehend. Please tell me there is a mathematical formula.

YOUR AGE BY CHOCOLATE MATH

DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST!
It takes less than a minute...
Work this out as you read.
Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!


1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10).


2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold).


3. Add 5.


4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator.

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759...
And, if you haven't, then add 1758.


6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.


You should now have a three digit number.


The first digit of this was your original number
(i.e: how many times you want to have chocolate each week).

The next two numbers are:

YOUR AGE!

Technically there's a formula for EVERYthing.

IF you take the baseline number of times you may want chocolate at zero, you have 5 x 250 = 1250

The given number of 1759 or 1758 is the key and it will change (by one digit) when you present this same puzzle next year...When you subtract 1250 (the base # at zero chocolate) you get 2008 (the year you turned your current age) and as JSanders pointed out the beginning process negates the chocolate part. Make sense?

YES!! Best answer. Now I'll pass it around to all the others in the office who were just as bewildered as I was.

 

[Valerie]

This is way too weird for me to comprehend. Please tell me there is a mathematical formula.

YOUR AGE BY CHOCOLATE MATH

DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST!
It takes less than a minute...
Work this out as you read.
Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!


1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10).


2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold).


3. Add 5.


4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator.

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759...
And, if you haven't, then add 1758.


6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.


You should now have a three digit number.


The first digit of this was your original number
(i.e: how many times you want to have chocolate each week).

The next two numbers are:

YOUR AGE!

Technically there's a formula for EVERYthing.

IF you take the baseline number of times you may want chocolate at zero, you have 5 x 250 = 1250

The given number of 1759 or 1758 is the key and it will change (by one digit) when you present this same puzzle next year...When you subtract 1250 (the base # at zero chocolate) you get 2008 (the year you turned your current age) and as JSanders pointed out the beginning process negates the chocolate part. Make sense?

YES!! Best answer. Now I'll pass it around to all the others in the office who were just as bewildered as I was.

So my number was 544 because I want chocolate 5 times a week!

 

[xsited1]

Disclaimer: I'm not a math genius, but here's what I got. It works fine if you follow the order of operations.

If you've already had your birthday this year -
50(2a + 5) + 1759 – b = c

If you haven't -
50(2a + 5) + 1758 – b = c

where:
a = number of times you have chocolate per week (less than 10);
b = the year of your birth;
c = the three digit number.

Correct! The first number is to be the number of times you have chocolate per week. Since this has to be in the 100s place, you must multiply it by 100:

50(2a) = 100a (Check!)

(It also has to be a single digit number, because if it were 10 or greater, this wouldn't work.)

The reason for 1758 or 1759 has to do with the current year. Notice you added 250:

50(2a + 5) = 100a + 250

What's the current year? 2009

2009 - 250 = 1759

If you were born in, say, 1989, your age would be 2009-1989 = 20 if you already had your birthday. If not, it would be 2008-1989 which is the reason for 1758.

 

[KittenKoder]

Since when does age go into negative numbers?

Number of times I want chocolate in a week: 0

Well, could go by month: 1

 

[Dis]

Since when does age go into negative numbers?

Number of times I want chocolate in a week: 0

Well, could go by month: 1

You obviously aren't female... Hell, even most men I know want chocolate more than once a week.

 

[KittenKoder]

Since when does age go into negative numbers?

Number of times I want chocolate in a week: 0

Well, could go by month: 1

You obviously aren't female... Hell, even most men I know want chocolate more than once a week.

No ... just never liked much sweet tasting anything or anything bitter. I love sour and salty. My friends think it's weird to though LOL ...

 

[xotoxi]

Since when does age go into negative numbers?

Number of times I want chocolate in a week: 0

Well, could go by month: 1

You obviously aren't female... Hell, even most men I know want chocolate more than once a week.

No ... just never liked much sweet tasting anything or anything bitter. I love sour and salty. My friends think it's weird to though LOL ...

How about chocolate covered pretzels or chocolate covered sour patch kids?

 

[KittenKoder]

You obviously aren't female... Hell, even most men I know want chocolate more than once a week.

No ... just never liked much sweet tasting anything or anything bitter. I love sour and salty. My friends think it's weird to though LOL ...

How about chocolate covered pretzels or chocolate covered sour patch kids?

Eew ... mixing sweet with anything but coffee ... blech! Especially chocolate. My diet:

Even amounts of meat and vegetables (ignoring anything with the "healthy" label and preferring farm fresh from the market), tons of citric fruits, and sunflower kernels, salted of course. Favorite meat: Beef jerky ...

... no room for chocolate ....

 

[MaggieMae]

No ... just never liked much sweet tasting anything or anything bitter. I love sour and salty. My friends think it's weird to though LOL ...

How about chocolate covered pretzels or chocolate covered sour patch kids?

Eew ... mixing sweet with anything but coffee ... blech! Especially chocolate. My diet:

Even amounts of meat and vegetables (ignoring anything with the "healthy" label and preferring farm fresh from the market), tons of citric fruits, and sunflower kernels, salted of course. Favorite meat: Beef jerky ...

... no room for chocolate ....

I'm off beef, at least for awhile, until I can get past the images in the movie "Fast Food Nation" which I watched over the weekend. I know the slaughter houses aren't pretty, but it's not usually something I think about when I bite into a BigMac. A few years ago, I couldn't eat chicken for months because I was following a truck in West Texas filled to the brim with live chickens. Until I approached the truck, I had thought it was snowing.