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Author | Topic: Counter-Intuitive Science | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dr Adequate Member (Idle past 315 days) Posts: 16113 Joined: |
This one tells us more about morbid psychology than it does about physics. Asking you questions that you can't answer is not, I think, listed in the latest edition of the DSM; but if you write to them and ask nicely perhaps they'll put it in the next one.
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onifre Member (Idle past 2981 days) Posts: 4854 From: Dark Side of the Moon Joined: |
Air resistance is dependant on the shape of the object not the mass. True that; I should have been specific.
acceleration due to gravity is not related to the masses of the objects.
Isn't it directly proportional to the mass of the object under the effects of only gravity? And when you include inertia it would be, because the gravitational and inertial masses are equal for all objects thus irrelevant.Is that right? - Oni Edited by onifre, : No reason given.
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slevesque Member (Idle past 4671 days) Posts: 1456 Joined: |
Air resistance is dependant on the shape of the object not the mass. So a properly configured heavy object could fall slower than a lighter one. But you're right about it needing to be a vaccum (or two identically shaped objects) to show that acceleration due to gravity is not related to the masses of the objects. Two identically shaped objects will have the same air resistance, but won't fall at the same speed if they don't have the same mass ... This is why when skiing, a bigger person will still go faster even though he has more air resistance. Edited by slevesque, : No reason given.
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Dr Adequate Member (Idle past 315 days) Posts: 16113 Joined: |
I could tell you many strange stories of counter-intuitive math (my favorite of all my own theorems is the one that makes everyone cry: "That can't be true") but this one has the merit of being comprehensible to everyone who can do division.
The story goes (it doesn't matter if it's true) that at a certain university it was noted that in every single subject a higher proportion of the male applicants were admitted than the proportion of female applicants who were admitted. Everyone was all set for a big lawsuit when some smart alec observed that for the university as a whole a higher proportion of female applicants were admitted than male applicants. This sounds impossible. --- Now watch this. Suppose there are only two subjects taught, subject A and subject B. 10 male students apply to study subject A, and 5 get in.10 female students apply to study subject A, and 4 get in. 10 male students apply to study subject B, and 10 get in. 20 female students apply to study subject B, and 19 get in. 23/30 > 15/20. So much for the Fallacy Of Composition.
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sfs Member (Idle past 2564 days) Posts: 464 From: Cambridge, MA USA Joined: |
quote:Equal impulse, not equal force (or at least there's no reason to expect the forces to be equal). quote:Uh huh.
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Panda Member (Idle past 3743 days) Posts: 2688 From: UK Joined: |
The Monty Hall Problem seems to cause people a lot of grief.
quote: Luckily, when I first heard of it, it was from a very clever friend who successfully explained it to me in 30 seconds. I did once see a forum thread that dragged on for over a year with people constantly arguing back and forth about what the correct answer was.
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Dr Adequate Member (Idle past 315 days) Posts: 16113 Joined: |
The most intuitive explanation I can think of is this.
Suppose there were a thousand doors, you pick one, and then the host opens 998 out of the 999 that you didn't pick. Is there really a 1 in 1000 chance that the door he didn't open is the one with the car behind it?
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Panda Member (Idle past 3743 days) Posts: 2688 From: UK Joined: |
Dr A writes:
In the thread (mentioned previously) they went to far more effort than that (after trying your explanation and getting nowhere). The most intuitive explanation I can think of is this. They posted code (in various languages) so that people could see the actual results.They had graphs and Venn diagrams and...well, everything you could think of and more. But it is so counter-intuitive that some people never understand. It is annoying that I can't find that thread again. It was epic and epic fail simultaneously. Edited by Panda, : No reason given.
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RAZD Member (Idle past 1435 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
Yes, I remember it, because I was among those who were wrong at the beginning.
Simply put, the contestant will be wrong 2/3rds of the time, and the host will obligingly eliminate the other wrong choice. Enjoy. by our ability to understand Rebel American Zen Deist ... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ... to share. Join the effort to solve medical problems, AIDS/HIV, Cancer and more with Team EvC! (click)
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Panda Member (Idle past 3743 days) Posts: 2688 From: UK Joined: |
RADZ writes:
Succinctly put? Maybe. Simply put, the contestant will be wrong 2/3rds of the time, and the host will obligingly eliminate the other wrong choice.Simply put? Not so much. My favourite comment is:
If you switch, you halve your chance of winning a goat! *sadface* Edited by Panda, : No reason given.
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RAZD Member (Idle past 1435 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
add this picture then (worth a thousand goats)
Enjoy by our ability to understand Rebel American Zen Deist ... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ... to share. Join the effort to solve medical problems, AIDS/HIV, Cancer and more with Team EvC! (click)
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xongsmith Member Posts: 2587 From: massachusetts US Joined: Member Rating: 7.0 |
jar admonishes:
Doubt it, that was tried back in Message 67. ...but Dr. A did not reply saying "...wrong, not the answer." He might have missed it.That was my first thought as well. Here's my second thought: Just as the people in front of Dr. A were walking through the entrance door, the store manager, having given his warning to the shoppers inside that it was time to close, noted that it was in fact now time to close and hit the switch that locked the entrance doors just fractions of a second before Dr. A stepped on them. - xongsmith, 5.7d
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ringo Member (Idle past 442 days) Posts: 20940 From: frozen wasteland Joined: |
xongsmith writes:
In my experience, the doors are turned off by a switch at the top of the door by a manager who is standing right there and who then locks the doors manually. It seems unlikely that they would be closed in somebody's face with no explanation. Just as the people in front of Dr. A were walking through the entrance door, the store manager, having given his warning to the shoppers inside that it was time to close, noted that it was in fact now time to close and hit the switch that locked the entrance doors just fractions of a second before Dr. A stepped on them. "I'm Rory Bellows, I tell you! And I got a lot of corroborating evidence... over here... by the throttle!"
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xongsmith Member Posts: 2587 From: massachusetts US Joined: Member Rating: 7.0 |
It would be helpful if Dr. A could wag his finger at jar & myself, saying something like "Nice try, but Wrong."
Another possibility that would get a round of boos is that the door-opening mechanism broke just after the people in front got in."Boo" if that's case, although, if this was a real-life event, then it's okay. But I do see it as a riddle. Perhaps that assumption is False. - xongsmith, 5.7d
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Panda Member (Idle past 3743 days) Posts: 2688 From: UK Joined: |
xongsmith writes:
The answer is here: Message 69.
It would be helpful if Dr. A could wag his finger at jar & myself, saying something like "Nice try, but Wrong."
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