Shooter Grrl Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 A train leaves city A at 6:35 AM with a speed of 42 miles per hour. Another train leaves the same city A at 10:20 AM. If the second train catches the first at 1:15 PM, what is its average speed? It is assumed that the trains each move at a constant speed and without interruption. Answer - who the f**k cares! Okay - now that my widdle rant is over, can someone explain, rationally, why the hell I need to know this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Anderson Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 To figure out high hit factors. SA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted May 14, 2003 Author Share Posted May 14, 2003 Funny you should mention that - we actually had to write a damned paper explaining how we use algebra in our lives and I was able to write close to 1200 words on our sport Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 A shooter gets a hit factor of 11.0 on CM 99-41 and wants to know how it will turn out nationally. He looks up past results and finds a hit factor of 3.5 turned out to be 34%. What will his classifier percentage be for his new hit factor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted May 14, 2003 Author Share Posted May 14, 2003 I go to my email and open the one that Erik Warren sent me with the formula for figuring this out and I plug it into Excel and voila - there's the answer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liota Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 Kath, This sport is the first time I've used Algebra since high school outside an academic environment. Liota Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 SG, The point of Math is that you're using seldom-used reaches of your brain to solve problems. The problem with Math is that most educators only focus on "the answer" when what's really important is *how* you find the answer. It's the *how* that you will carry with you for the rest of your life. E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 Great. Send me a copy of that because everytime I want to figure out a classifier I have to re-invent the wheel and it takes me fifteen minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn jones Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 i want the formula too! lynn jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 LJ, you will have to pay me a royalty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 Steve, GMTA (Great Minds Think Alike), if but a few minutes apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 Nearly ALL my lights went on at once when I took Algebra in college. (The rest of them went on with foreign languages.) Math was a very, very cool experience. Still is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted May 14, 2003 Author Share Posted May 14, 2003 The problem with Math is that most educators only focus on "the answer" when what's really important is *how* you find the answer. It's the *how* that you will carry with you for the rest of your life. Hmmm - my newfangled online school absolutely positively requires us to send in our assignments WITH all the steps on how we got to the answer. And, we're graded on theory more than the "right" answer. I was doing REALLY well, until we hit these damned word problems yesterday.... it is MUCH easier to "get", if you can relate it to something you like (doing HHF's for example). But for the life of me, I can't correlate that train crap into something useful so it sticks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 If a swinging IPSC targets rotates at 54 rpm over a visible arc of 90 degrees 1.50 seconds after the activating popper is struck, and a second-rate Master Limited shooter fires two shots in .38 second, how many match points does he go down on the stage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted May 14, 2003 Author Share Posted May 14, 2003 Now remember, this is for second-rate Masters only.... Down 30! 2 misses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted May 14, 2003 Author Share Posted May 14, 2003 Oh yeah, one other thought.... I really do need help with the answer that I started out with - if someone cares to try to tutor a complete doofus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 The Math Ok the not so big secret is take the hf you got (say it is 5) take the percentage you got (say 75%) and turn the percentage into a decimal (.75) then take your HF (5) and divide it by your percentage (.75) and you get the HHF. In this example the HHF would be 6.66666666 (only the devil would try to hide the HHF since it takes 4th grade math to figure it out.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted May 15, 2003 Share Posted May 15, 2003 Fourth grade math somewhere else, maybe. It was eighth grade algebra in California. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimel Posted May 15, 2003 Share Posted May 15, 2003 Jimmy Buffet said (sang) it best..."Math Sucks!" (Beach House on the Moon, came out around 1999 or 2000) Great song! I endured math on through calculus and I will say it did help explain a lot of things and yes, I actually do use math, usually trig, now and then. I did NOT enjoy it. Stats, which uses math, I enjoyed. Straight math, no way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted May 15, 2003 Share Posted May 15, 2003 Kath, Since both trains left the same place at different times, and since both trains will arrive at the same place at the same time, the only difference is the speed with which they get from point A to point B. Since you know the time it takes the first train to travel A-B and its speed (42 mph) and you know the time it takes the second train to travel A-B you just need to figure out the speed of the second train. Your equation looks something like this: First Trains Travel Time x 42 mph = Second trains travel time x unknown speed. To solve: Multiply the first trains travel time by the miles per hour. This will give you an answer in miles for the length of the trip. Take that number and divide it by the second trains travel time and you'll have it's (sofar unknown) speed per hour. (This might get complicated slightly if you have to convert miles per hour into miles per minute to avoid dealing with odd fractions of an hour.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted May 15, 2003 Share Posted May 15, 2003 BTW, I have an answer, if you want to check here first.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck D Posted May 15, 2003 Share Posted May 15, 2003 When I asked my college advisor why I had to take algebra classes for a Pre-Law program...he told me math, especially algebra taught critical thinking skills. He was right in one aspect...it taught me how to handle the stress of performing the same damn task over and over and constantly getting a different answer. We're graded using the "partial credit" theory. Meaning if you get 1/2 the question right...you are granted half the points for the question on your exam. I wonder if I get half the law right in a Criminal matter would the Jury grant me 1/2 of a conviction? Monday is my final algebra exam for the rest of my life. Never again will I "chew pencils" until 2 in the morning over this stuff. What do roots,radicals,quadratic formulas and negitive exponents have to do with learning and using the Penal and Criminal Procedure Laws of N.Y. ? Nothing, that's what. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted May 15, 2003 Author Share Posted May 15, 2003 BTW,I have an answer, if you want to check here first.... The answer to that particular problem is 96 mph. And yes, I DO have to mess with the mins. And... if anybody cares, here's the formula to solve it 2 11/12x = 6 2/3 * 42 2 11/12 is the time between B leaving and catching A, and 6 2/3 is the time between a leaving and B catching it. 42 is the MPH of A. So... I finally got this type of problem - wooohooo. NOW, I have to figure the TIME's it's taking B to catch A - UGH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted May 15, 2003 Share Posted May 15, 2003 SG, the reason for writing down all your reasoning on how you got your answer (beyond "squinted upwards for a bit and it just came to me") is so the prof can give you points even if you're completely wrong. My dad's a college prof and he always told me that if he sees a bunch of decent work on a problem, no matter if its going off in the wrong direction, or the student forgot something important up front, he'll still give the student partial credit, so long as that work's there. No work, no credit. "If a 124gr bullet leaves a barrel at 1300fps, loses 30 fps per second and hits a popper four seconds later, how far away is the popper? Will the shooter request a calibration?" "If the speed of sound is 1000 fps and I shoot a 1100 fps load at a 40 yard steel plate, how long will it take the sound of the plate being hit to get back to me? What if I shoot a 800 fps load? (assume no air resistance)" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolan Posted May 15, 2003 Share Posted May 15, 2003 A train leaves city A at 6:35 AM with a speed of 42 miles per hour. Another train leaves the same city A at 10:20 AM. If the second train catches the first at 1:15 PM, Answer - who the f**k cares! Okay - now that my widdle rant is over, can someone explain, rationally, why the hell I need to know this? The answer is only important if you work for or ride Amtrak! The real answer is a GIANT TRAINWRECK! I struggled through Math in High School because the teacher didn't understand Math either. He could only explain a problem the same way the text book described it. Of course he was a great BasketBall coach which was the reason he was teaching Math instead of something important like Shop class. It wasn't until I took some remedial Math courses at the local Junior College where I had a real Math instructor that I started to understand. He taught the reasons why some old timer sat down and figured out Algebra or Geometry, or Trig. in the first place. He also taught how to 'read' math questions just the way Nik did. Unfortunately with me it seems that Math is NOT like a bicycle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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