64 replies to this topic

[goodswill84]

OR JUST DIVIDE 32 BY 2 AND YOU GET 16

[sunshipballoons]

Spoiler for Solution

Subtraction - solution
Once. After you subtract 2 from 32, you subtract 2 from 30, from 28, and so on.

This answer is wrong, and I'll prove it:

32-2 = 30
32-2 = 30

There, I proved that you can subtract 2 from 32 at least twice, even using the logic of the original solution.

Wait, I can do it a third time.

32-2 = 30

and a fourth...

[richmond89]

Subtraction - Back to the River Crossing Puzzles
How many times can you subtract the number 2 from the number 32?

Spoiler for Solution

Subtraction - solution
Once. After you subtract 2 from 32, you subtract 2 from 30, from 28, and so on.

Once, because then you would be subtracting 2 from a number different than 32.

Clever

[brainwwings]

17

[Theo]

This answer is wrong, and I'll prove it:

32-2 = 30
32-2 = 30

There, I proved that you can subtract 2 from 32 at least twice, even using the logic of the original solution.

Wait, I can do it a third time.

32-2 = 30

and a fourth...

The question is, "how many times can you subtract 2 from 32?" Not, how many time can you subtract 2 from 32, and 32?"

There are 2 ways I think of the number 32 in this riddle. One is thinking of the number as 2 blocks. One block with the number 3 and another with the number 2. Only one block exists with the number 2, so it only can be subtracted once.

Another is obviously mathmatical. Subtract 2 from 32 you get 30. The number 32 no longer exists and is replaced with the number 30.There is no part of the riddle that includes additional number 32's.


... i think i just sucked the fun out of this riddle.

[insidexraindrops]

Although rookie1ja's answer is quite clever, in reality you could subtract 2 from 32 an infinite number of times; the answer would be a negative.

[mollie]

Subtraction - Back to the River Crossing Puzzles
How many times can you subtract the number 2 from the number 32?

Spoiler for Solution

Subtraction - solution
Once. After you subtract 2 from 32, you subtract 2 from 30, from 28, and so on.

I disagree. You can subtract it as many times as you want. Watch:
32-2=30
32-2=30
32-2=30
32-2=30
32-2=30
32-2=30
That time, I felt like doing it 5 times.

[mollie]

Whoops didn't read all the way through. I'm not the first one to comment that. Sorry, all.

[rcammoore]

WARNING: the following answer is one of those "nitpicky" type answers, but I'm really just trying to inject some humor.

Several people have suggested that the answer is infinite because you can subtract 2 from 32 once (32-2 = 30), and then you can do it again (32-2=30), and then you can do it again...as many times as you want.

There's a flaw in this though - the question asks how many times YOU can subtract 2 from 32. It takes a discreet amount of time to do that calculation, although it is pretty quick. Given that the action takes a discreet amount of time, and YOU will only live for discreet amount of time, there is a limit to the number of times that YOU can subtract 2 from 32.

Assuming that a person devotes the rest of their life to doing just this:
It takes me about 2.5 seconds to say "thirty two minus two equals thirty" at a normal pace, but if you are a speed talker, or if you're doing it in your head, you can certainly do it faster. Even it's 1 second per transaction, it's unlikely that you'll live to be more than 150 years old, and anyone reading this riddle has to be at least 3 years old to actually be able to read it, so:
(150-3)years x 365.25days x 24hours x 60minutes x 60 seconds = 4,638,967,200 times.

So my answer to the question: roughly 4.5 billion times.

[Born to Win]

Only once..
32-2=30
there is no 32 now for 2 to be subtracted