About Me

In writing the "About Me" portion of this blog I thought about the purpose of the blog - namely, preventing the growth of Socialism & stopping the Death Of Democracy in the American Republic & returning her to the "liberty to abundance" stage of our history. One word descriptions of people's philosophies or purposes are quite often inadequate. I feel that I am "liberal" meaning that I am broad minded, independent, generous, hospitable, & magnanimous. Under these terms "liberal" is a perfectly good word that has been corrupted over the years to mean the person is a left-winger or as Mark Levin more accurately wrote in his book "Liberty & Tyranny" a "statist" - someone looking for government or state control of society. I am certainly not that & have dedicated the blog to fighting this. I believe that I find what I am when I consider whether or not I am a "conservative" & specifically when I ask what is it that I am trying to conserve? It is the libertarian principles that America was founded upon & originally followed. That is the Return To Excellence that this blog is named for & is all about.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Birthday Sum Quiz

In deference to the good sports in the readership who enjoy participating in the quizzes I present from time to time, but don't like ones with much math, please consider the following Birthday Sum Quiz.
 
I found the quiz on
the National Museum Of Mathematics website (www.MoMath.org) after it appeared in the WSJ. 
 
Readers who prefer to use logic (with just a modicum of arithmetic) will find this one enjoyable.  Please let me know how you work the problem.  I will post all correct answers or alternatively will send the solution privately to anyone who requests it if no one figures it out.
 
Birthday Sum Quiz
 
If you add up the two-digit year that somebody was born, the number of the month of their birthday from 1 to 12, and the day of the month of their birthday, we'll call that their "birthday sum." For example, somebody born in 1968 on Feb. 18 would have a birthday sum of 68 + 2 + 18 = 88.
 
What is the largest possible difference between birthday sums of people born on consecutive days?
 
Posted by ReturnToExcellence.net at 7:22 PM

12 comments:

  1. PBApril 23, 2017 at 10:33 PM

    Here is my solution.
    The largest number for a century is 99. The largest number for a month is 12, and the largest number of days in a month is 31.

    99+12+31=142.

    The consecutive birthday sum equals 00 for the year, 1 for birth day and 1 for the birth month.

    00+1+1=2.

    The difference equals 140.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RTEApril 23, 2017 at 10:37 PM

      Congrats - you hit this nail right on the head.

      Delete
  2. SC BusinessmanApril 24, 2017 at 6:14 PM

    After about 10 seconds (+/-) here is my answer:

    The highest would be Dec. 31, 1999 (99+12+31=142) and Jan. 1, 2000 (00+1+1=2)

    ReplyDelete
  3. JORApril 24, 2017 at 6:17 PM

    12/31/any year & 1/1/(any year + 1) = a difference of 40 .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RTEApril 24, 2017 at 6:20 PM

      Looks like this relationship holds up for all but the right answer. Look for that exception.

      Delete
    2. JORApril 25, 2017 at 7:58 PM

      Doug - 12/31/99 and 1/01/00 with a difference of 140.

      Delete
  4. HowKApril 26, 2017 at 10:40 PM

    This seems way too easy......140.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AlisonApril 26, 2017 at 10:41 PM

    140?

    ReplyDelete
  6. SRKApril 27, 2017 at 10:43 PM

    Asked several of my former students and the consensus is 140! They did it mentally - shame on me! Math is not my forte and I'm not willing to sic my mind on what is not that important to me. GULP!

    ReplyDelete
  7. DrBApril 28, 2017 at 11:20 PM

    It is 41.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RTEApril 28, 2017 at 11:23 PM

      You have the right idea - but think Y2K for the exception that is the answer.

      Delete
  8. EWMay 7, 2017 at 6:54 PM

    I also came up with 140, actually very easy starting with year 2000 for lowest.

    ReplyDelete

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