Can you determine the height of the table? Fun math problem
Hello everyone and welcome to my channel.
Today we will look at a very visual Math problem.
I request you to see if you can solve it visually and only then try solving it using mathematical concepts.
So here is the problem:
We have the image on the left that shows a table, a cat and a tortoise and a height - 170 cm.
And this other image on the right with the same cat and tortoise interchanged and another height - 130 cm.
Can you figure out the height of the table from these 2 pictures?
Please pause the video and try solving this problem.
And once done, return to the video and compare your solution with ours.
And dont’ forget to leave a comment if you have anything interesting to say.
Ok, welcome back.
We will first try solving this problem using algebra.
So putting our algebra hat on, we can see that we have 3 unknowns - the height of the table, the cat and the tortoise.
Lets represent this with some variables.
I will represent the height of the tortoise by t
height of the cat by c
and , please note this, carefully, height of the table by x, since this is the unknown we wish to focus on.
Ok, but looking at this left image we can say
x = 170 -c + t
And looking at this right image, we can say:
x = 130 - t + c
Now since these are 2 equations, we can add the values on both sides
So we can say:
x + x = 170 - c + t + 130 - t + c
And now, something very interesting happens. The t's and c's cancel out.
We get
2x = 300
or x = 150.
So the height of the table is 150.
Ok, guys, so this was the solution using Algebra.
Now let us try and solving this problem visually.
To be honest, I found it easier to solve using Algebra. But i am sure that for many, the visual approach makes more sense. So here it is.
I am going to place both the images side by side, like so.
Now I am going to draw 2 horizontal lines, like so.
Can you see that the the distance between the 2 lines is twice the height of a table?
So if x if the height of a table, we can see that 2x = 170 + 130 or 300
This means that x = 150
If you did not get it , its quite normal. I suggest that you pause the video and look carefully at both figures.
Good luck.
So guys, this brings us to the end of the video. Hope you found it useful.
Please let a comment and subscribe to my channel.
I make fun math videos
References:
• Viral logic test from China
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