Post the easiest question that 20%+ of 2+2ers will answer wrong(polls)

[hoterdoc]

[haakee]

[hoterdoc]

Assume there is a boat, tethered in its slip on the bay, and the tide comes in at a rate of one foot (elevation) per hour.

Assume that over the side of said boat, there is a ladder, whose rungs are exactly 12" apart.

Assume there are two rungs completely submerged, 1 rung EXACTY at water level, and two more rungs above the water . . .

o.k., seeing these written seems to be netting a lot fewer wrong responses than telling them verbally.

[jschaud]

[Assani Fisher]

[Assani Fisher]

[ QUOTE ]


[/ QUOTE ]winner.

[Assani Fisher]

[ QUOTE ]
If a man says to you, "Everything I tell you is a lie." Is he lying or telling the truth?

[/ QUOTE ]How did 7 people get this wrong?

[Morbo]

[Unoriginalname]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The square root of 4 is both 2 and "something else." Do you see why?

[/ QUOTE ]

Wrong. The square root of 4 is 2 and only 2. If the question were worded "what number squared is equal to 4?", then you would be right; there would be multiple answers.

[/ QUOTE ]
The definition of the square root function is the inverse function of f(x) = x*x. Which is basically - exactly as you worded it - what number squared is equal to 4?

So the square root of 4 is -2 and 2.

From http://mathworld.wolfram.com/SquareRoot.html : "Note that any positive real number has two square roots, one positive and one negative. For example, the square roots of 9 are -3 and +3".

In all fairness it does also say "In common usage, unless otherwise specified, "the" square root is generally taken to mean the principal square root.".

[/ QUOTE ]

The square root of a number CANNOT be both positive and negative. If it could, why would the quadratic equation contain "-b + or - the SQRT". It would be redundant to state "+ or -" if a SQRT could be both at the same time! And I don't know anyone serious about math that would say the square root of 4 is -2. If there's no negative sign, you assume it's the principle square root. If you're looking for the negative square root of a number, you put a negative sign before the square root. If the answer is both, you put a positive and negative sign in front of it. Maybe we need to get BruceZ in here.

This will be my last post on this topic as I already feel we've hijacked this thread enough.

[Solami17]

When posters say largest, do they mean land mass or population? Because there could be 2 different answers if this is the case.