Minus' Solution to

Motorist Miffed by Mustard Mishap
Posted June 30 - July 6, 1997

Town E is 80 miles from Town C. Following the counterclockwise route, Matilda goes from A to E, from E to C, and from C to D. That is 20 + 80 + 80 miles, which is 180 miles. The distance from Town A to Town D is 180 miles.

In order for the distance to be the same clockwise, Matilda travels from A to B, and from B to D. Given that the distance is the same, and the distance from B to D is 20 miles, the distance from A to B must be 160 miles.
Your Solutions

Candice [candices@town.nd.edu.au] must be able to read Minus' mind because her tasty dish is about as good as he could have imagined.

You know that town D is 80 miles from town C. Town E to town C is the same distance as town D to town C and since town D to town C is 80 miles that means town E to town C is also 80 miles.

We also know that town E to town A is 20 miles. Town D to town B is the same distance as town A to town E and since town E to town A is 20 miles that means town D to town B is also 20 miles.

Town A to B to D is equal to town A to E to C to D which is 180 miles. So therefore A to B to D is also 180 miles.

Therefore the solution is the distance from town A to town B is 160 miles. The distance from town A to town D is 180 miles.
Enjoy, from Candice. 





Oritt Levi [rattyritty@hotmail.com] impressed Minus with this precisely executed recipe to sucess. Oritt, Minus is crazy about your idea of a leading female shark for his upcoming Disney film. He just wants to know if she'll be as cute as Mickey Mouse's girlfriend.



Well, we know that:

ae = 20

bd = 20

cd = 80

ec = 80

And we need to know ab and ad.


Going counter clockwise, we see that:

ae + ec + cd = ad

which means:

20 + 80 + 80 = 180

and therefore:

ad - bd = ab

which means:

180 - 20 = 160

So ad = 180 and ab = 160


P.S I reckon Minus the Math Shark would make a beautiful Disney movie.  
However, there needs to be a princess-shark for him to fall in love with 
. . . how about Multiply, the beautiful Math Shark-ette?








Taryn Chua of Methodist Ladies' College proves once again that she is a master chef -- well, for fickle sharks anyways. We should also give her credit for a solution she submitted last week. We had mistaken her for a "Member of Tradc Technology." Taryn, did you know that the signature on your e-mail reads: "This EMAIL message was sent to you by one of the members of Tradc. Of course please feel free to check out our homepage at...?" Hence, the mix-up.



(all measurements in miles)

Town A to Town B = X

Town A to Town E = 20

Town B to Town D = same as above. ie. 20

Town D to Town C= 80

Town E to Town C = same as above. ie. 80


So, this means:

Town A to Town C = 100

Town B to Town C = 100

As Matilda says that whatever way she goes (clockwise or counterclockwise), she will travel
the same distance, then this means:

First: A to D, via E, C = (A to C) + (C to D) = 180

Then: A to D, via E,C = A to D, via B

           180 = 20 + X

           160 = X

So, the distance from Town A to Town D is 180 miles, and the distance from
Town A to Town B is 160 miles (and mad motorists shouldn't even be ALLOWED
near hotdog stands, who knows what disaster might come about?)








We're beginning to think John [dnahm@laurel.ocs.mq.edu.au] is a young mathematical genius. Okay, John, fess-up. Who are you really? The math boy wonder? Einstein's re-incarnation? A pint-sized math professor? We're onto you...  ;-)



Minus, it's me again.

If you haven't lost your appetite, you may as well munch through this.


Firstly, with the given information, I stated that distance AE was 20, CD 
was 80, CE = CD = 80, BD = AE = 20, ABD = AECD equals 180. Then if distance AB was 
ABD minus 20 distance AB would be 160. Now we know that the distance from 
A to B is 160 miles.


Secondly, the question asks to calculate the distance from A to D. I wasn't sure if it meant to calculate 'as the crow flies' or by the road. 
Firstly, I made an attempt at finding the distance from A to D as the 
crow flies. By drawing a straight line from A to D I calculated that the 
distance was 145 miles. But by the road I easily calculated that the 
distance from A to D via E and C was 180. 


Bye!

From John.







Alexander Williams [awilliams@vacationtime.net] shows us that it's pretty easy to come up with a simple little dish for dessert. Short, sweet, and to the point!



A to E to C to D = 180 Miles; A to B to D is also 180 miles.  B to D = 20
miles; Subtract 20 miles from 180 miles; therefore A to B = 160 miles.












Yum, yum, yummy is all

he said folks!