[HN Gopher] Potato Paradox
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Potato Paradox
Author : throwaway98797
Score : 20 points
Date : 2022-11-28 00:41 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
| markisus wrote:
| Easier to visualize if you just plot it.
|
| Start with total mass is 100 kg, and 99 kg water, and 1 kg dry.
| Let x be the kg of water removed. Then the ratio of water to
| total mass is
|
| (99 - x)/(100 - x) Plot: https://imgur.com/a/oDaKLVo
|
| It's intuitive that until x becomes pretty large, there is
| negligible effect on the ratio.
| vkjlkdjfa3 wrote:
| there's no paradox, just a misunderstanding.
| Gunax wrote:
| I tend to agree, we need another word for 'tricky or misleading
| problem'.
| tanseydavid wrote:
| It rolls off the tongue ever so nicely though.
|
| Consider: _The Potato Conundrum_ is just not as fun to say or
| easily memorable (IMHO).
| excalibur wrote:
| Why are you assuming that leaving potatoes out overnight would
| change them from 99% water to 98%? Is your house directly
| adjacent to an active volcano? Why would you even measure that?
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(page generated 2022-11-28 05:02 UTC)