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Can you do algebra?
:::looks at math problem blearily, can't see any good reason for this kind of thing on a Monday morning:::No, I can figure out a problem with just an x, but not x AND y. Let's be reasonable here!
1st, subtract 2 from both sides:Y-3x = -2
then add 3x to both sides:
Y = 3X - 2
Yes, you solve for Y. By adding and subtracting though.Y = 3X - 2
That's the slope-intercept of a straight line. Generally Y = mX + b. Where m is the slope and b is the Y intercept.
In this case b = -2.
Heh, my son just asked why the hell do they teach algebra in school. I had to admit that since high school I've never had to do algebra, and I don't want to either! I hedged on my answer to him, and said that many occupations do require the use of algebra. I don't think he's going to pursue any of them tho.
Larry wrote: "1st, subtract 2 from both sides:Y-3x = -2
then add 3x to both sides:
Y = 3X - 2"
Oh, well, I could do THAT much. I thought RA was asking for an actual number...
y=-6x? i think theres somthing to do with making 3x 3x/3 but i forget..
No, David. It's 3X MINUS 2, not 3X TIMES -2.
:: sees algebra being done and runs away...with the ficus ::
but i thought you cant separate the three from the X, i forget its been a long time =( i may be thinking of something different..
I didn't separate the 3 from the X.Plug in, say, 4 for X. Then Y = 12 - 2
or Y = 10.
yea true, i understand a little better now.. i wish my memory wasnt so crappy, and i paid a little more attention in class math is one of those things i wish i had a better grasp of..
Where did Jaimie go with the ficus? I NEED that ficus!
I thought we had it chained to the wall.
I tend to just buy a lot of paint. Or go back to the store. I don't trust my ability to uniformly spread the paint so the can of paint actually covers 50 square feet.
Ah well. If that's algebra, well! Whaddya know! I DO use algebra. :)
If I'm at a restaurant and I need to figure out the tip, out comes my cell phone. It has a neat little button that I push... and it shows a little receipt-holder opening up and I can push in how much my meal was, and if I'm splitting the bill, and how much of a tip I wanna leave and and and and...Needless to say, math of any kind is NOT my strong suit. I will very seriously need to get a tutor for that part of the GRE.
Some teachers will give you half-credit for that! I think that is the only way I managed to pass high school math... if I couldn't solve it, I'd at least have the equation memorized, and I'd write it down somewhere on the test so the teacher would know I had studied, I was just stupid at math.
I can do tips in my head! Yay! But that's not Algebra, sadly...right?
Sure, it is, RA. You're figuring for x, x being 15% of the total, right?
It depends on the service, Larry.
Atta boy Larry, stick up for the wait staff.
Jackie "the Librarian" wrote: "It depends on the service, Larry."Oh absolutely.
Is there ever a situation where you do NOT tip, Larry?My mom always leaves a tip, although there have been a few times when the waiter/waitress has just been so awful that I personally would not have given a tip, or would have done so and then complained to the manager.
I remember a little algebra. I had to review it while studying for the GMAT. I am not very good @ it. I used to be in high school though.
Angie wrote: "Is there ever a situation where you do NOT tip, Larry?"heh this reminds me of reservoir dogs, with the speech about tipping with steve buscemi.. "i dont tip, i dont believe in it"
BunWat wrote: "If I am really unhappy with the service I leave a very small tip - like, a nickel. So the server knows I didn't forget I was just really unhappy. I rarely get bad service though. I've been pretty..."Most of the bad service I've gotten is usually due to the person cooking the food, rather than the waiter/waitress. In which case, I still tip because I realize that when one crucial aspect of the service falls, no one is able to do their job correctly.
However, I've had a few incidences where the waiters/waitresses have made sexist/racist/homophobic/transphobic and personal comments (usually about my hair) and it's really hard to leave a tip in those cases.
one time we undertipped the delivery guy and the next time i went out side i saw one of the mail boxes on its side.. we dont know for sure but my money was on the delivery guy.. one time one of my friends from college asked the guy up to his room and they had a beer and they talked about how he used to freebase drugs when he was in college.. that was about 3 in the morning about.. and i was trying to sleep.. fun times..
If you always order from the same place, it's very wise to tip the delivery guy a decent amount, because then they will get your food to you straight from the oven, and you'll be first even when there are several orders in the car.
yea thats why my friend was so friendly with the guys that delivered near school, i know i usually tip alright, i cant speak for the rest of my family though.. one time i was drunk and tipped the pizza guy a 20 =\
In this neck of the woods, it's quite common for folks to tip very low. I feel badly for hard-working staff who get little in the way of tips. Most people don't understand that's about all they make. Service has to be pretty bad before I'll not tip at all.
We went to a fancy restaurant in Philadelphia once for an anniversary dinner. The waiter had a large party near us and pretty much ignored us. When you're shelling out big bucks for a meal, you expect top-notch service. When I complained to the manager, she just dismissed it and said, "So don't leave a tip."
I told her it was HER waiter who ruined my event -- that SHE was responsible for that lack of service. She finally agreed to take off half of the bill, after I made a scene about it (I HATE doing that, too.) When I said we would never come back, she said casually, "I know."
Yeah, Richard gets so impatient and annoyed when he has to wait even just a little bit, and I can always tell when he's going go gonzo on the wait person when they get to us, so if I see it's not his/her fault, I will hiss at Richard to not be snippy.
Mod
we were doing such problems in middle school. algebra is easy. I am doing Statistics this semester and it is fun.
Ha that's the only math I excelled at! Totally got it. Isn't that weird? Loved it. Can't remember a darn thing now, except something about sine and cosine.
It's never too late to learn, Bun. In fact, I believe you can learn with greater ease OUTSIDE of a restrictive high school environment.
Eek... *running after Jaimie and the ficus*I actually did really well with algebra & geometry in school, but promptly forgot it all once I was out. I figure I have a few more years until Jessi learns it, although I was shocked that they are teaching them negative numbers and 'number sentences' in second grade. That's pretty much the precurser, right?
I think I'll just have a pat answer for her when she comes to me for help - "Math is hard. My cat's name is mittens." Hopefully, she'll go to her Dad instead. ;)
Jesus H. Christ. Whose idea was this???I am so freakin' anal that I immediately stopped reading to solve, came up with x = -2/3 and y = (maybe) 2 and then said, "Sc-huh-huh-rew this. I always hated algebra anyway and had a stinkin' hard time passing algebra 2. Now geometry....piece of pi."
Aren't you sorry you started all this, RA? Never mind. We all love you. I, however, am hiding for a while behind the ficus, self-exiled.
You know, I just tried to post a response to this and either a.) I was so distraught that I posted it in the wrong place and y'all are going to whisper behind your hands, "Look...Gail's just lost what she thought was a perfectly good mind." or b.) the computer gods wouldn't let me do it at all. Whatever, I hate algebra.
no algebra but i can climb the rope in gym like a spider monkey
I was kinda hoping Matt would show off his mad skills with math somewhere in this thread. :-|
Heidi wrote: "I was kinda hoping Matt would show off his mad skills with math somewhere in this thread. :-|"He did -- but he deleted it right away for some reason. But honestly, this one was just a simple straight line graph problem, and way belowh his capabilities, I'm sure.
Simple is in the mind (read that carefully) of the beholder, Larry.
Yeah it's on a relative scale. I know. This problem is extremely simple for a math major. I had to dust off some long-disused skills to get it. A more advanced problem (such as a quadratic equation) would have been a much different story.
I honestly envy your math skills, as mine are completely limited to geometry. Before I got my handy printing adding machine, so useful for those of us who are not only math inept but moderately dyslexic as well, I could add a short column of figures three times and get three different answers. Now when I'm away from my crutch, er, machine, I just round and estimate...easier if not *quite* as accurate. What's especially humiliating is that I have to use a line holder of some sort and compare the numbers that I entered to the numbers that I was supposed to enter, jussssst to make sure....
Y-3X + 2 = 0
Solve for Y intercept
Can you do this problem? I sure as hell can't. I think you're supposed to isolate Y on one side by...multiplying or something...
Man, I wish I could do algebra. Algebra is cool.