A Strange Riddle

[Lady Arianrod]

I've seen a few riddle threads, so I decided to post this quick challenge that I found on a website:

The paragraph below is most unusual. How quickly can you find out what is so unusual about it? It looks so ordinary you'd think nothing was wrong with it - and in fact, nothing is wrong with it. It is unusual though. Why?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Gatsby was walking back from a visit down in Branton Hill's manufacturing district on a Saturday night. A busy day's traffic had had its noisy run; and with not many folks in sight, His Honor got along without having to stop to grasp a hand, or talk; for a mayor out of City Hall is a shining mark for any politician. And so, coming to Broadway, a booming bass drum and sounds of singing, told of a small Salvation Army unit carrying on amidst Broadway's night shopping crowds. Gatsby, walking towards that group, saw a youg girl, back toward him, just finishing a long, soulful oration ... "


The above passage is taken from the book "Gatsby" written by Ernest Vincent Wright in the late 1930's


Any guesses? You can post your guess with a spoiler tag in the thread or PM me.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

[spoiler]no letter e[/spoiler]

^_^

i got one i saw in a psychology textbook.

Inside a room there are 2 peices of string from the ceiling. When you grab one, you cannot reach the second one. Meaning they are farther than arms reach away. Now in the center there is a screwdriver, some matches, and and a marker. How can use these items to tie the 2 strings together?

[Lady Arianrod]

[spoiler]no letter e[/spoiler]

^_^

*hands you a cookie*

[Mr. SmartyPants]

yay cookie!!!

[Lady Arianrod]

Here's one for you math-minded people:

Which is bigger, pi^e or e^pi?

Prove it without using a calculator or by providing rote repetition of the digits. Prove it using an equation, etc.

[spiritusvult]

Found a few things that appear to be typos. Not sure if that's what you're talking about though.

[Fsiphskilm]

[quote="Mr. Sm

[Fsiphskilm]

[quote="Lady Ar

[Jasdero]

Here's one for you math-minded people:

Which is bigger, pi^e or e^pi?

Prove it without using a calculator or by providing rote repetition of the digits. Prove it using an equation, etc.

........*dies*

@_@ Death...

[Mr. SmartyPants]

You said they were "from" the ceiling, meaning they fell off from the ceiling, NOT they're hanging from the cieling.

So can't i just ... ... pick one up and walk over to the other and pick that one up?

Please tell me the answer to the riddle or I won't be able to go to sleep... I've got this thing with Riddles, an obsession.

sorry, yes the string is hanging from the ceiling! ill PM you the answer Volt

i have a thing with riddles to XD i love em so much

[Lady Arianrod]

Found a few things that appear to be typos. Not sure if that's what you're talking about though.

I copied the paragraph directly from a website, so there may be some typographical errors, but the solution is something else.

[Lady Arianrod]

[pi]^[e] > [e]^[pi]] = 3 (lets just take off the .14etc..)
and [e] = 2
then 3^2 = 9
and 2^3 = 8
pi^e > e^pi

if [pi] = 3
and [e] = 7
then 3^7 = 2187
7^3 = 343
pi^e > e^pi

... ... ... but...shoot, dang it... i dunnom plus i used a calculator, is this a trick question?

I don't think it's a trick, and I do believe that your final answer is right. However, on the site I got this from, the answer involved a ln equation.

That being said, I don't enjoy math that much so I'm not entirely sure.

[Icarus]

I would have gone Volt's route, but using the ln, you have

ln (e^PI) ? ln (PI^e)
PI ? e*ln (PI)
3.1415... ? (2.7182...)*ln(PI)
roughly 1. (edit: it's 1.1447)
3.1415 > 3.1117, so
e^PI > PI^e.

note, I had to use a calculator to get the value of e* ln(PI). I also used it to check the results, which I would have guessed wrong.

[SereneDolphin]

The question confused me. e is natural log, and usually is about 2.7ish, something like that. ln is linear log, or some kind of log, that I'm currently using in calculus and chemistry. From what I know about ln log, Icarus is right, without me using a calculator, cuz I don't have one right now.

I hate log, more than any other kind of math out there.

[Syaoran]

this is a math 12 question I think but if pi=3.14 and e^1=2.72 and then e^2=7.39 there for pi^e is greater than e^pi when e^2 is aplied

[Lady Arianrod]

this is a math 12 question I think but if pi=3.14 and e^1=2.72 and then e^2=7.39 there for pi^e is greater than e^pi when e^2 is aplied

Sounds right to me.

[Icarus]

this is a math 12 question I think but if pi=3.14 and e^1=2.72 and then e^2=7.39 there for pi^e is greater than e^pi when e^2 is aplied

I'm sorry, Syaoran, but that completely blew past me. Could you exlain it, please? I'm not seeing how e^2 has any bearing.

[Cap'n Nick]

I know this one! Hooray!

Inside a room there are 2 peices of string from the ceiling. When you grab one, you cannot reach the second one. Meaning they are farther than arms reach away. Now in the center there is a screwdriver, some matches, and and a marker. How can use these items to tie the 2 strings together?

[spoiler=teh answer]Assuming that the second string is just out of reach while grasping the first, one could tie the screwdriver to the end of the second string and set it swinging. If you needed more distance, the other string could also be set in motion using the marker. When the string swings back it will be closer than it was when it was hanging still from the ceiling and can be grabbed and tied to the other string.[/spoiler]

EDIT:

[spoiler=and if that will not work...]If the strings are too far away to reach even when they are set in motion, use the marker to draw an evil goatee on your face and set fire to the wallpaper with the matches. Not only will you feel a lot better, with luck the ceiling will collapse in manner that will leave the two strings close enough to each other to be tied. Everybody wins![/spoiler]

[Syaoran]

I'm sorry, Syaoran, but that completely blew past me. Could you exlain it, please? I'm not seeing how e^2 has any bearing.

well e is always to the power of 1 but you can chang the power when you want to. so if e^1=2.7183...., e^2=7.3891...., and e^3=20.0855.... the power is always getting bigger. So pi^e the #e is getting bigger. and e^pi, the #e is gitting bigger but the power is the same. so for example pi^(e^1)=22.4592...., pi^(e^2)=4714.8545...., pi^(e^3)=9672129983... and so on. but for (e^1)^pi it will be 23.1407...., for (e^2)^pi=535.4917...., for (e^3)^pi=12391.6478..... so as you will see pi^(e^n) is greater than (e^n)^pi when n>1. as you will know e is a natural number that occures in decay and groth equations. and yes it is a part of log's. normally e is always to the power of 1. but there are casses when e is to the power of 2,3,4,5, and so on. thus pi^(e^n) > (e^n)^pi.


*Note: I used a calculator to give you the exact value of the #e.

I hope this helps

[Icarus]

Okay, I get what you're saying, but when you put in (e^#)^PI and PI^(e^#), you change the problem considerably. It goes from being the relatively straight forward e^PI >PI^e to:

e^[(#)(PI)] <pi^[(E)(#)]

where # is some integer besides 1. Also, the way your going, you could have any number of # signs you want. If it says e, you can't stick in e^ (random number).

[Syaoran]

ya i know that e^pi>pi^e and I also know that if it says just e you can't stick in e^(#) but I just whanted to see if peopel would think outside the box like I did.