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Pole in lake


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There is a pole in a lake. One half of the pole is in the ground, another one third is covered by water and eight feet is out of the water. What is the total length of the pole in feet?

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use fractions....

lets use 6ths of fractions

3/6 is underground, 2/6 is in water

3/6 + 2/6 = 5/6

if 1/6 = 8ft.... then 8*6 will equal the total length

the length is 48ft.

simply done

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The pole's total lenght should be 48 ft.

since half is already in the ground, the 1/3 + 8 ft is out of the ground.

That's mean L /3 + 8 ft = L /2

8 = L/2 - L /3

L/6= 8

L =6*8 =48

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Where does it say that the 8 ft is above the water? I believe the 8 ft is the length of the underground pole(which is out of the water). hence 8+ 8= 16ft. The third that is covered by water is unnecessary info. :P

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There is a pole in a lake. One half of the pole is in the ground, another one third is covered by water and eight feet is out of the water. What is the total length of the pole in feet?

I too came up with 12 feet.

1/3 is in the water and 8 feet is out of the water.

8 feet = 2/3

1/2 of that is 4 feet

So each 1/3 is 4 feet

4x3=12 feet

It doesn't matter how much is in the ground as long as you know how much is in and out of the water.

Edited by Abby Normal
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I too came up with 12 feet.

1/3 is in the water and 8 feet is out of the water.

8 feet = 2/3

1/2 of that is 4 feet

So each 1/3 is 4 feet

4x3=12 feet

It doesn't matter how much is in the ground as long as you know how much is in and out of the water.

I see in your calculations where you've accounted for the 1/3 of the length that is in the water and the remaining 2/3 that are not in the ground. Where is the portion that is in the ground?

In US english, when you say something is "out of the water," it means that it is completely out of the lake or whatever body of water it is, and the space below it is not considered to be "out of the water." Also, when stated as: "One half of the pole is in the ground," it is understood to mean: "One half of the total length of the pole is in the ground." The second part of the statement, directly following the first part says, "another one third is covered by water " which is understood to mean "another one third of the total length of the pole is covered by water," however, the "of the total length of the pole" is not repeated because it is simply understood. Unless the OP specifies or clarifies, I think the answer should be 48.

What is not clear is if the pole is straight or if it changes shape like lost in space mentioned, a pole that bends

One half of the pole, (3/6ths) is in the ground.

Another one third of the pole, (2/6ths) is in the water, leaving only 1/6th remaining.

8 feet, our remaining 1/6th of the total length of the pole, is out of the water.

So if 8 feet is 1/6th of the pole, the total length of the pole is 8*6=48 feet.

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I see in your calculations where you've accounted for the 1/3 of the length that is in the water and the remaining 2/3 that are not in the ground. Where is the portion that is in the ground?

In US english, when you say something is "out of the water," it means that it is completely out of the lake or whatever body of water it is, and the space below it is not considered to be "out of the water." Also, when stated as: "One half of the pole is in the ground," it is understood to mean: "One half of the total length of the pole is in the ground." The second part of the statement, directly following the first part says, "another one third is covered by water " which is understood to mean "another one third of the total length of the pole is covered by water," however, the "of the total length of the pole" is not repeated because it is simply understood. Unless the OP specifies or clarifies, I think the answer should be 48.

What is not clear is if the pole is straight or if it changes shape like lost in space mentioned, a pole that bends

One half of the pole, (3/6ths) is in the ground.

Another one third of the pole, (2/6ths) is in the water, leaving only 1/6th remaining.

8 feet, our remaining 1/6th of the total length of the pole, is out of the water.

So if 8 feet is 1/6th of the pole, the total length of the pole is 8*6=48 feet.

It stated that half was in the ground. If something is in the ground then it is NOT in water. And we know that 8 feet is not in the water.

I say the the pole is sticking in the lake vertically and 6 feet is in the ground (half) and 4 feet is in the water (1/3) and 2 feet sticking out of the water. Which would be 8 feet out of water.

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There is a pole in a lake. One half of the pole is in the ground, another one third is covered by water and eight feet is out of the water. What is the total length of the pole in feet?

Has anyone thought that maybe the pole is not vertical? It could be along a steep shore of the lake at a diagonal.

I apologize for the crude drawing (I'm not very good with laptop touchpads), but this would be a way it could be 12'.

4' in W, 2' in A, 6' in G.

post-1668-1213103254_thumbjpg

Edited by MAD
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there could be 2 answers, one would be 48 ft, if you don't count the 8ft out of the water as part of the 1/2 in the ground..... then for the second you can very well count the 8ft as the part in the ground (out of water could very well mean in the ground), making the pole 16ft

Edited by rl_socal
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there could be 2 answers, one would be 48 ft, if you don't count the 8ft out of the water as part of the 1/2 in the ground..... then for the second you can very well count the 8ft as the part in the ground (out of water could very well mean in the ground), making the pole 16ft

bad math.... if you count the 8ft as part of the ground then it is impossible to account what fraction of 1/2 8 ft is... therefore i conclude the the only real answer will be 48ft

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I thought of another possible answer: 8'

The pole could be horizontal with 1/2 of its cross-sectional area in the ground and another 1/3 of its cross-sectional area in water, but the remaining portion of the cross-section would still be 8' long.

It is obvious that there are multiple answers to this question and it sure would be nice if the question-poser would clarify and/or explain what his thought process was.

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There is a pole in a lake. One half of the pole is in the ground, another one third is covered by water and eight feet is out of the water. What is the total length of the pole in feet?

48ft

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"There is a pole in a lake. One half of the pole is in the ground, another one third is covered by water and eight feet is out of the water. What is the total length of the pole in feet?"

Grammatically, there is only one way to read the statement. "One half of the pole is in the ground, another one third (of it - the pole) is covered by water and eight feet (of it) is out of the water. The words in parentheses are implied, UNLESS otherwise stated.- for instance, "one third of the rest...". We must always assume that the rest of the statement applies to the original subject, unless otherwise qualified. The answer, therefore must be 48 feet.

Edited by jimlyc
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"There is a pole in a lake. One half of the pole is in the ground, another one third is covered by water and eight feet is out of the water. What is the total length of the pole in feet?"

Grammatically, there is only one way to read the statement. "One half of the pole is in the ground, another one third (of it - the pole) is covered by water and eight feet (of it) is out of the water. The words in parentheses are implied, UNLESS otherwise stated.- for instance, "one third of the rest...". We must always assume that the rest of the statement applies to the original subject, unless otherwise qualified. The answer, therefore must be 48 feet.

We must assume the litigators have you in their pocket :P , they are bound to be busy with contracts worded in this manor - are you familiar with the phrase - Never assume anything!

This is one of my fav riddles - ambiguous

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There is a pole in a lake. One half of the pole is in the ground, another one third is covered by water and eight feet is out of the water. What is the total length of the pole in feet?

I don't understand why this statement is so hard to understand. Go with simplest and most logical answer.

it says, "another one third is covered by water." This DOES NOT mean one third of one half. If that's what the problem meant, it would have said, "another one third of what's left is covered by water," or something along those lines.

The way it's written, it is valid to add in the assumed words (in brackets in the quote following)

"One half of the pole is in the ground, another one third [of the pole] is covered by water and eight feet is out of the water."

That's how the English language works.

Now if you want to debate whether or not the half that's in the ground counts as "out of the water," go at it. I think it depends on if there is any water in the ground (which is probably a safe bet...)

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There is a pole in a lake. One half of the pole is in the ground, another one third is covered by water and eight feet is out of the water. What is the total length of the pole in feet?

24 ft

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i think its 15.9999 or 16 feet long.

you do 8ft out of the water x0.3333 in the water

8 x .0333 = 2.6666

take 8 plus the 2.6666

8 + 2.6666 = 10.6666

the take 10.6666 multiplied by the 1/2 thats in the ground

10.6666 x .5 = 5.3333

then add the 10.6666 to the 5.333

10.6666 + 5.3333 = 15.9999 or 16 feet

am i right? :wacko: to much math for me. :D

Edited by livestrong9008
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Wow, I'm sure going to bring this up the next time math ed people are debating about word problems...

I think the funniest thing about the whole flame war is that everyone is attacking people's "math" when the calculations everyone made are clear. It depends on the interpretation of the problem.

If I were writing this problem, I would expect the answer 48'. I probably wouldn't give more than half credit for 24', since any reasonable interpretation of the problem as written, interpreting "another" as "an additional," suggests that the amount in water is 1/3 of the whole pole. But with the argument given that the 1/2 is no more in the water than the 1/6 in the air, I'd give full points for 12'. It's the reasoning that's important, you see.

The people who'd take the biggest hit on my math tests, though, are the fraction-phobes, who can't deal with thirds because they MUST round them. Bah.

Mwahahaha! Now I've perpetuated the flame war!

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hmmmm.... methinks it's more than that.... Cos if 50% of pole is in the ground and 33% (one third) is in the water then only 17% is sticking out of the water. The eight feet represents 17% of the total length of the pole there fore the total length is 331 feet!

This problem cna be solved this way. Only using 16.66666666666% of x = 8.

8 / .16666666666 = 48

331? you're mind dangles from the cliffs of insanity.

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Let's stop arguing and let TEX provide us the right solution.

All three answers :48", 24" and 12 could be correct depending on how you interpret this puzzle.

If the 1/3 submerged in water, is 1/3 of the whole pole then 48" is the right answer as most of you have posted here.

If the 1/3 submerged in water, is 1/3 of the remaining half then 24" is the right answer.

Also, if the part covered in ground represents the remaining 8" part not in water (air + ground), then 12" is the right answer

:rolleyes:

Why don't we combine them both for the fun of it!

1/2 is in the ground. 1/3 of the remaining 1/2 (1/6) is in the water. Therefore 5/6 of the pole are not directly submerged in water, and measure a total of 8 feet. That makes the total length clearly 9.6 feet! ;)

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There is a pole in a lake. One half of the pole is in the ground, another one third is covered by water and eight feet is out of the water. What is the total length of the pole in feet?

Me think it is null. The problema say the pole is in a lake. It say nothihg about no pole in feet. If you swim up to it and hold with your feet, mayhap you can tell.

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Ok I read about 7-8 pages and got annoyed. So forgive me if i mention something that has been mentioned before.

All answers so far:

48: You say one third is of the whole length? I personally can't see how something can we in ground and water? Also it says another so its a fraction, things most people learn in like year 2

12: That is just stupid.

24: This is the correct answer in my eyes

32: Don't know where you got this really

8 = 2/3

1/3 = 4

8+4=12

the half in the ground (half means the same as the other half) = 12x12 = 24

Not trying to be mean it's just annoying me.

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