A mathematical conundrum

Do this amazing mathematics exercise.

It will take only 20 seconds. What you have to do is to follow the instructions. Do not read the outcome before having made all the calculations, ok?

Let’s start!

1. Decide the number of times you wish to make love during one week.

2. Multiply this number by 50.

3. Add to the result 44.

4. Then, multiply by 200.

5. If, this year, you have already celebrated your birthday, add 104. If you have not celebrated it yet add 103.

6. Last step: to the result you have obtained, subtract your birth year (for example, subtract 1968, 1973, etc.).

Once you have made the subtraction, you should have a number with five figures.

So:

The first of the five figures points out the number of nights per week you wish to make love. Is it correct?

But that’s not all.

The last two figures correspond to your age.

The second and the third figure point out… the position you like the most while you are making love.

Note: This mathematical curiosity works only for this year (2004)

Go on, have a go – it’ll be interesting to see if it works for everyone.

[via non blogging Jane]

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 20th, 2004 at 4:15 and is filed under From the inbox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

6 Responses to “A mathematical conundrum”

erneylou
October 20th, 2004 17:24
1

it did work for me…:D
Carl
October 20th, 2004 17:58
2

If you pick 10 for the number of times you want to make love (OK, I was being ambitious!), you end up with a 6-digit number, but the curiosity still works, the first two digits being 10.
David
October 20th, 2004 20:30
3

I’ll just be all boring and mathematical and confirm that it only works as described if, yes, you choose a single-digit number in step 1. This is because, when you multiply out the expression it describes, you get 10000*x, where x is the number of nights you’d make love in a week, giving a five-digit number with x as the first digit.

And I think it’ll work in any other year if you change the 103/104 in step 5 appropriately [i.e. next year you'd used 104/105].

Hmm, I wonder if talk like this is why I don’t get any?
zeno
October 21st, 2004 07:52
4

right for the age, wrong for the position.
Gert
October 21st, 2004 13:06
5

All it shows to me is that my method of doing ‘difficult’ subtractions hasn’t changed since Infant 3…
Ruth
October 22nd, 2004 23:48
6

Glad that the position thing came out at 69 although I agree that it’s not my favourite. However, had it come out as 27 or 45 I would have been completely paranoid – don’t want to think there are positions out there I’ve never tried. But then don’t get me started on 53…