I first saw that one on QI. I thought it was wonderful then.

12 + 144 + 20 + 6 = 182
182/7 = 26
26 + 55 = 81 = 9 squared

Works for me. I had never seen this before, or the verse the goes with it, so I am assuming it was haberdasher's link that caused us both to read it in the last 24 hours.

No it wasn't Hab's link. Maybe we just both stumbled across it somehow in Wikipedia or something.

And just because, it is a better example, than my previous attempt to demonstrate that homophones aren't rhymes.

He asked, "What is that stick for?"
I said, "It's for hitting a Four,
Or better a Six
Right over the sticks."
But I've pointed this all out before.

No rhymes in lines 1, 2 & 5, just homophones. For the Americans I am talking about a Cricket Bat.

quote:

12 + 144 + 20 + 3√4
——————————— + (5 × 11) = 81 + 0
7

I still can't find it again, but the verse that went with it, went something like this:

A dozen, a gross and a score,
Plus three times the square-root of four,
All divided by seven
Plus five times eleven,
Is nine squared and nothing much more.

And then there's always W.S.Gilbert's "Anti-limerick:"

There was a young man from St Bees
Who was stung on the nose by a wasp.
.When asked, "Does it hurt?"
.He replied, "Yes, it does,
But I'm so glad it wasn't a hornet!"

Nothing but rhythm.

Math Mayhem

12 + 144 + 20 + 3√4
——————————— + (5 × 11) = 92 + 0
7

(92 = 9 squared)

Translation:

A dozen a gross and a score,
Plus three times the square root of four,
Divided by seven
Plus five times eleven
Is nine squared and not a bit more.

—Leigh Mercer, 1948

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tinman,

Oops. (5 x 11) is 55, not 66, and anyway 92 isn't 9 squared.

Arithmetic is tetchy that way.

quote:

(5 x 11) is 55, not 66, and anyway 92 isn't 9 squared.

Close enough for government work.

quote:

Originally posted by haberdasher:
. . . 92 isn't 9 squared.

No, I meant that 92 in the formula should be read as 9 squared. It appeared as 9 to the 2nd power on the web page, but when I copied it and pasted it on Wordcraft, it came out as 92. I guess I wasn't clear. I should have said "That 92 is supposed to be 9 squared" as I did in my earlier post.

Got it.

What they did before there were superscripts was to indicate exponents with a ^ sign; if it didn't work any other way you could write 9 squared as 9^2 .

I could if I knew how.

^ is a "capital-6" (shift-6). Try it! It doesn't get you the superscript, but it does get the caret.

Authors:

1. Shufitz
2. Kalleh
3. Sattva
4. Sattva
5. Sattva
6. Sattva
7. Geoff
8. Greg
9. Geoff
10. Geoff
11. Tinman
12. Tinman
13. Tinman
14. Tinman
15. Tinman
16. Tinman
17. Tinman
18. Tinman
19. Tinman
20. Tinman
21. Tinman
22. Tinman
23. Tinman
24. Tinman
25. Greg
26. Hab
27. Bob
28. Sattva
29. Sattva
30. Sattva
31. Sattva
32. Shufitz
33. Shuftiz

The BIG WINNER is Geoff! Congratulations!

I believe I have the authors right. Someone deleted their PMs, which meant they get deleted on my screen as well. Therefore, each of the limericks where I could find no author I attributed to that person.

Thanks for a great game! Geoff, you are up!

Congrats, Geoff.

Thanks. I'll post a new town tomorrow. Right now I'm too tired and smelly. Don't askwhy.

quote:

Originally posted by haberdasher:
^ is a "capital-6" (shift-6). Try it! It doesn't get you the superscript, but it does get the caret.

Thanks. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know that.

I didn't get around to voting this time. I had it narrowed down to 7, then to 3. It was tough deciding among those 3, but I finally picked #3, one of Sattva's limericks. #s 25 and 27, by Greg and Bob, were close behind. I even figured out who probably wrote them. I was going to vote Monday, but I was too late. And, yes, I was wrong about the authors, too. But congratulations to Sattva, Greg, and Bob for excellent limericks.

I've posted a new one under the heading of Limericky Snippets. I have one so far.

And, congratulations to you, too, Tinman, for writing so many! Too bad you did not get the chance to vote.