charliesmum | (no subject)

This is one of the projects my boss wrote for this math curriculum he is doing. Since it is International Talk like a Pirate Day, I thought those of you who enjoy math problems might enjoy this.

I'd also like to point out that I contributed the poem. His was not good. He was very happy that I did that. Now my arm hurts from patting myself on the back.

Treasure Hunt

Captain Peter Easton was one of England’s most notorious pirates. With over 500 men and a fleet of 14 ships, he was also one of the most successful pirates. To hide his treasure from other pirates, including his own men, he devised a wicked scheme. His map to the treasure is simple to follow except for the last step. Unlock his riddle and find the treasure.

Not only was Captain Easton a notorious pirate, he was a brilliant thinker. He devised the following problem so that even if his map fell into the wrong hands, it was very unlikely anyone could use it to find the treasure. This riddle was found on the back of the map.

For ye who’ll seek my buried gold
Ponder my equation bold.
For hidden in the numbers there
Ye’ll find the path to the treasure rare,
if ye walk as many paces North
as ye find in the answer I’ve set forth.

Solve this equation to find out how far north you need to walk.

ETA: Um it's Rational Expressions, whatever that means.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That looks fucking impossible. Good poem though!

Do you know what x equals, so if I do manage to come up with an answer on the train I will know if I'm correct?

Yes, I have the answer. :)

Ok. I didn't want to put in time trying to solve it only to find out that I would Never Know For Sure if I was correct. :)

Cool! I love math problems.

After seeing the joy (heh) this problem was bringing to

jandyle tonight after dinner, I got on board and also tried to solve it. We got stumped together. Can you give us the answer? That darm x!

Nothing like maths to bring a couple together. :)

According to the worksheet, x=5.

If you want I'll send the thingy that explains how you are supposed to do this. It's all blah, blah, blah, blah, Ginger to me.

x=5? Man. We're obviously nerds for spending a good chunk of the night working on it. :P I don't know about her, but I'd like to see how it worked out. I got stuck on not remembering what to do with "x to the fourth." I should just stick to my writing teacher gig. :P Thanks for the solution!

I can email you the info that explains how to do it. I personally don't understand it at all. It's something to do with finding the Lowest Common Denominator, or something.

Yep, we did that! Maybe we made it too complicated. It was kind of nice to challenge my brain with it. :) I'd love to see it if you have a chance to email it: bluepoet-at-livejournal-dot-com.

Thanks. :)