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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Time for a Puzzle: Which Weighs More (and Why)

"The trouble with measurement is its seeming simplicity."
  - Author Unknown

Salutations and a tip of my hat to you my friend!  May you be blessed with a healthy and eco-friendly day.

What we've got here is gold, a balance scale, and feathers.  But, why???

I know that this blog post doesn't fall within the boundaries of the "Chucky norm" but please allow me the variance.  Call it filler material.  Call it something different and fun.  Call it a total waste of your time.  If the latter hold true for you, then I now offer my apologies.

I woke up this morning pondering what to write today.  I truly don't have much to share with you.  I don't know what made me think about it but I remembered a high school algebra teacher who always included one extra-credit question on her exams.  She was a toughie and rarely did a student achieve 100% or better on her exams.

This one particular extra credit question (puzzle) I clearly remember.  After carrying this puzzle in my memory repertoire for many years, I am going to present it to you in two ways.  One, the way that she presented it to us and the other the way that I like to embellish it.

"Which weighs more?  A pound of gold or a pound of feathers?"

or

"I walk into my local Walmart store to purchase a one pound bag of feathers.  I leave the Walmart and go down the road to my nearest precious metals exchange.  I purchase one pound of gold.  I take both home and set them onto a balance scale.  Which weighs more (tips the scale) and why?"

Hi-dee hi-dee everybody-likes-a-puzzle-ho my friend.

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