Math knowledge of the general population?

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

Their claim was that gravity is not a thing it is just things stratifying based upon their density.

Time to re-run a classic:

Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory | Der Zwiebel

[preda]

Let the top of the ship A, the eye B, then the cord AB touches the earth circle in exactly one point T when the ship "starts to become invisible". Thus AB is tangent to the circle, and thus the radius OT is perpendicular to AB. Applying Pythagoras twice in triangles AOT and BOT:

Let's say |OA|== R+a, |OB|==R+b, (a== height of the ship, b==heigh of the eye),
Pythagoras: |AT|==sqrt(a*(a+2R)) ~= sqrt(2*R*a) (because a<<R).

Thus: sqrt(0.03*R*2) + sqrt(0.001*R*2)==4*sqrt(30)+sqrt(16), approx 25.8

Edit: mistake in approximating sqrt(30) :)

[lycorn]

https://www.theonion.com/evangelical...lig-1819567984

[lycorn]

Originally Posted by preda

Let the top of the ship A, the eye B, then the cord AB touches the earth circle in exactly one point T when the ship "starts to become invisible". Thus AB is tangent to the circle, and thus the radius OT is perpendicular to AB. Applying Pythagoras twice in triangles AOT and BOT:

Let's say |OA|== R+a, |OB|==R+b, (a== height of the ship, b==heigh of the eye),
Pythagoras: |AT|==sqrt(a*(a+2R)) ~= sqrt(2*R*a) (because a<<R).

Thus: sqrt(0.03*R*2) + sqrt(0.001*R*2)==4*sqrt(30)+sqrt(16), approx 25.8

Edit: mistake in approximating sqrt(30) :)

The diameter is 8,000 miles, not the radius.

[Uncwilly]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedford_Level_experiment

[The Carnivore]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

So, you keep trig tables in your head?
And you can't use an equation? So no math to do math.....

You can use any equations that you know of.

[retina]

Originally Posted by The Carnivore

Math knowledge of the general population?

Suppose you picked a whole bunch of American adults at random and asked them the following question:

I'm sorry but you lost me there. What do you want, "general population" or "American adults". They are not the same things.

The general population includes all people from all countries and territories of all ages. And "American adults" are a tiny subset of that from one country, one age group, and a different level of education competence.

[The Carnivore]

Originally Posted by retina

I'm sorry but you lost me there. What do you want, "general population" or "American adults". They are not the same things.

The general population includes all people from all countries and territories of all ages. And "American adults" are a tiny subset of that from one country, one age group, and a different level of education competence.

I meant American adults.

I did write "general population" originally, but gave it some thought and changed it to "American adults" in the post. But I forgot to change the thread's title.

[The Carnivore]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Why waste time with idle hypotheticals when you can actually be out gathering some data? I suggest you procure some $100 bills and actually conduct the experiment you propose

Hmmm, this may be a good idea for a GoFundMe campaign...

Originally Posted by lycorn

LOL... The folks from FES would need to start their answer by explaining how the ship could disappear at all.

I doubt that there are enough flat earth believers to meaningfully affect the results. Even if there are two million of them, that's still less than 1% of the American adult population.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by The Carnivore

I meant American adults.

Sorry to break this to you, but the "Great" US of A is no longer all that important...

(We're letting you think you still are, while we activate programmed contingencies.)

Edit: Also, just for the record, Santa Clause doesn't exist (except as a metaphor). And Jesus was statistically likely to have been black (or, at least, not terribly white).

[The Carnivore]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Sorry to break this to you, but the "Great" US of A is no longer all that important...

It is when you're living in it!

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Thus my answer rounded to the nearest int is that the ship will be (2.8+15.5) ~= 18 mi away from the observer at the point the top of its mast sinks out of sight.

That took me the better part of an hour, so I would surmise that of a random sampling of adults, for sure < 10% would win the $100 ... probably < 1%, but I don't want to overestimate my own abilities.

Yeah, you're probably right. I did some research on this and can't believe how many people are bad at math:
https://phys.org/news/2018-03-high-a...hematical.html

"Suppose, a litre of cola costs US$3.15. If you buy one third of a litre of cola, how much would you pay?
...
The results (as seen in the table) allowed us to create an estimated range for the percentage of the adult population who would be able to answer the cola question correctly.
...
Four in every ten adults in places like England, Canada, Spain and the US can't make this straightforward calculation – even when they had a calculator to hand. Similarly, less than half of adults in places like Chile, Turkey and South Korea can get the right answer."

Ouch!