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2020-08-17, 18:44   #34
The Carnivore

Jun 2010

5·41 Posts

Quote:
 Originally Posted by chalsall Simple datastream: How many play the lottery? Are they intending to donate to whatever the house is sponsoring, or do they instead think they might beat the house?
I play the lottery even though I'm well aware of the odds. It's entertainment, just like a movie or a sports game. You can't win if you don't play, so I'll pay $1 or$2 for a non-zero chance of striking it rich. It's my license to fantasize and daydream. Heck, GIMPS has worse odds:

With that said, I don't think I've ever spent more than $10 a year on lotto tickets. Personally, I don't think that losing 0.01-0.02% of your income is a big deal, even though some may think otherwise.......... 2020-08-17, 19:27 #35 ewmayer 2ω=0 Sep 2002 República de California 263F16 Posts Quote:  Originally Posted by The Carnivore "Suppose, a litre of cola costs US$3.15. If you buy one third of a litre of cola, how much would you pay?"
That depends on what cola costs packaged in 1/3-liter bottles. :) I don't even know whether cola comes in that bottle size anywhere in the world, so let's use the closest approximation based on some common US sizes, where here 'oz' of course refers to fluid ounce:

12.5-oz: $0.89 16-oz.:$0.99
20-oz: $1.49 1L (~28-oz):$1.89

So the pricing is at least monotone here - this is not always true - but nonlinear. See, there you go making hidden assumptions in your math word problems again. :)

Mod note: The sexy-numbers subdiscussion has been moved into its own thread and given an adults-only warning. :)

Last fiddled with by ewmayer on 2020-08-17 at 20:07

2020-08-17, 20:25   #36
The Carnivore

Jun 2010

5×41 Posts

Quote:
 Originally Posted by ewmayer 16-oz.: $0.99 20-oz:$1.49
That's odd. It's 6.19 cents per ounce for a 16-oz bottle, but 7.45 cents per ounce for a 20-oz bottle. Most things are much cheaper when bought in bulk.

It reminds me of a menu I saw at a local restaurant a few years ago. All kebabs sold there were roughly the same size.
6 chicken kebabs - $7.99 -Some other items- 6 steak kebabs -$9.99
-Some other items-
Combos:
6 steak kebabs & 6 chicken kebabs - $18.99 They went out of business the following year. Last fiddled with by The Carnivore on 2020-08-17 at 20:27 2020-08-17, 20:34 #37 Uncwilly 6809 > 6502 """"""""""""""""""" Aug 2003 101×103 Posts 25·3·7·13 Posts Quote:  Originally Posted by ewmayer 1L (~28-oz):$1.89
1L ~33.8 oz American.

Last fiddled with by ewmayer on 2020-08-17 at 21:04 Reason: Whoops! Dunno what I was thinking..."grams per ounce", maybe?

 2020-08-17, 23:53 #38 chalsall If I May     "Chris Halsall" Sep 2002 Barbados 2×4,643 Posts Sorry... Someone who's opinion I take seriously said I went a little too far in my "creative writing" last night. Sincerely, I never mean to cause offense. But as someone who tries to be funny, I will always test the limits.
2020-08-18, 12:45   #39
tServo

"Marv"
May 2009
near the Tannhäuser Gate

10000100002 Posts

Quote:
 Originally Posted by retina Not all draws have a negative expected return.
Indeed, as a retired couple from Michigan discovered.
He read about a new lotto game and then started to examine its rules closely. He found a flaw.
They bet heavily on it and were getting a 60% return.
When that game closed, they heard about a similar one in Massachusetts and started in on that one. There was a separate group at MIT who also betting on it.
The Michigan couple made 8 million dollars and the MIT group cleared 3.5 million.

Just think, if their mindset was to gloss over and automatically dismiss anything to do with lottery they would have missed this opportunity.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jerry-a...es-2019-06-09/

2020-08-18, 13:27   #40
Dr Sardonicus

Feb 2017
Nowhere

1101111101102 Posts

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Carnivore
Quote:
 Originally Posted by ewmayer 16-oz.: $0.99 20-oz:$1.49
That's odd. It's 6.19 cents per ounce for a 16-oz bottle, but 7.45 cents per ounce for a 20-oz bottle. Most things are much cheaper when bought in bulk.
If you think the example ewmayer cited is "odd," I can only conclude that you either don't do your own grocery shopping, or haven't been paying attention to pricing in grocery stores for quite some time.

Putting things in larger packages saves on packaging costs. Merchants used to pass these savings on to consumers, offering things in the "large economy size."

However, they began dispensing with this practice at least a couple of decades ago, and started charging higher unit prices for things in larger packages. This practice has become more widespread as time has gone on. My theory is, they're counting on suckers consumers simply assuming that the merchant will pass obvious cost savings on to the consumer, and not doing any smart checking.

Last fiddled with by Dr Sardonicus on 2020-08-18 at 13:36 Reason: fixing grammatical errors

2020-08-18, 13:46   #41
M344587487

"Composite as Heck"
Oct 2017

12228 Posts

Quote:
 Originally Posted by lycorn LOL... The folks from FES would need to start their answer by explaining how the ship could disappear at all.
The universal draw distance constant of course.

 2020-08-26, 09:58 #42 LaurV Romulan Interpreter     Jun 2011 Thailand 3×2,957 Posts Why do you need an hour for this? It is just simple area problem, write the area of the triangle in two ways, or apply Pythagoras in the two triangles and add. Edit: Geeezzz, four pages? Let me read them! Last fiddled with by LaurV on 2020-08-26 at 09:59
2020-08-26, 10:02   #43
LaurV
Romulan Interpreter

Jun 2011
Thailand

3×2,957 Posts

Quote:
 Originally Posted by retina Hey Siri, how much ... ? Okay Google, what is ... ? Alexa, ... ? Why bother to learn anything when someone else has already done the hard work?
Haha, coming from you, the "no JS" and "no IOT" guy, it seems soooo funny! I can't stop laughing.

2020-08-26, 14:44   #44
alpertron

Aug 2002
Buenos Aires, Argentina

31×43 Posts

Quote:
 Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus If you think the example ewmayer cited is "odd," I can only conclude that you either don't do your own grocery shopping, or haven't been paying attention to pricing in grocery stores for quite some time. Putting things in larger packages saves on packaging costs. Merchants used to pass these savings on to consumers, offering things in the "large economy size." However, they began dispensing with this practice at least a couple of decades ago, and started charging higher unit prices for things in larger packages. This practice has become more widespread as time has gone on. My theory is, they're counting on suckers consumers simply assuming that the merchant will pass obvious cost savings on to the consumer, and not doing any smart checking.
In Argentina merchants are required to indicate the price per kg or liter, so this cheat cannot be done.

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