Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic "Nobody likes a math geek, Scully..."

Okay, well maybe you're not a math geek. But maybe you can help me with something that has been bugging me ever since I was in grade school. (And that's a *long* time ago, campers!)

When I was in grade school, I read a little poem someplace. It goes like this:

Multiplication is vexation,
Division is as bad.
The Rule of Three doth puzzle me,
And practice drives me mad!

Well, I've never been very good at math, and only took the minimum requirements for high school and university graduation. Multiplication and division I know about, and can do with a little struggle. But I've *never* heard of anything in math called the Rule of Three. Can anyone who knows anything about math explain to me (in simple layman's terms) what it is?

Melisma (under her Rock, promising Lois and/or Clark clones to anyone who can answer - just state your preference )

i'd never heard the term before, but a quick net search turned up the answer. the best summary seems to be this one, which came from here.

so, if you see A/B = C/D you know that D = (B*C)/A

i can see why the rule isn't often named. we were taught how to manipulate fractions... multiply both sides by B or devide both sides by A or add and subtract or whatever you needed to do. it's just simple algebra. the "rule of 3" seems far too limited an approach.

anyway, hope that answers your question.

Paul

Um, Paul, thanks for the 'math geek' explanation - now what does it mean in English? And remember, I can't read math symbols very well - let's just say that I can read Korean characters easier...

No Lois clone for you yet - but have a chocolate Cat Grant to tide you over until you can do the translation

Melisma (seriously having to go get ready for Sunday evening classes, here under her Rock)

er, i'll give it a shot, mel. have to say, tho, that i've never been much for clones (or teri's looks, for that matter). just hope the chocolate cat grant is sugar-free...

anyway, let's say you have an equation that says 1/x = 2/3 and you wanted to know what x is. well, one thing you could do would be to multiply both sides by x.

x * (1/x) = (2/3) * x

now, x * (1/x) is 1, so we have

1 = (2/3) * x

then you can multiply both sides by (3/2).

(3/2) * 1 = (3/2) * (2/3) * x

(3/2) * 1 is (3/2) and (3/2) * (2/3) is 1. also 1 * x is x.

so, that tells us that

3/2 = x

the rule of 3 basically sums all that up and tells you from the start that x = (1 * 3)/2.

very silly to memorize that rather than learning a more general approach, but there you are.

not sure if i can explain it using more english and less numbers, since the concept is based on manipulating fractions.

Paul

Ah, okay then. Thanks... And yes, all my sweets are sugar-free - I'm a diabetic, you remember

Well if you don't want a Lois clone, what else might you like for a reward? One of these perhaps? under her Rock)