mayne@sun16.scri.fsu.edu (William (Bill) Mayne) (04/02/91)
The following problem was given as an illustration in an article [Credit will be given by emailed request]. I am doing a little research into the various styles of thinking and calculating people use for such word problems. I'd appreciate email from anyone who has not read or seen the problem solving the problem and *briefly* describing the method used, along with the newsgroup in which you saw this and your major (if a student) or profession. I'll eventually post or email to respondents a summary of responses and some additional explanation if there is interest. The reason for the cross posting is that one thing I want to see is the different descriptions and approaches people come up with depending upon the context in which they see the problem. Please don't spoil the experiment by posting solutions. *** PROBLEM *** Mary has an even number of apples. Twice the number of apples that Mary has plus the number of apples that John has is some (unknown) constant C. Suppose Mary throws half of her apples away. What should be done with John's apples so that twice the number of apples that Mary has plus the number of apples that John has is still C? Please include "Apples Puzzle" in the subject line of responses. Bill Mayne (mayne@cs.fsu.edu)