This is silly. First, it said there were 5 fingers per hand. And, we have no proof that one of those 5 billion people has no left hand fingers. Really, the answer would be 5^(5 billion).
This is not a realistic answer, as the assumption is every person has 5 digits per hand. This isnt an exercise in logic, just a way of the questioner to seem smarter than the questionee....
you fix the number of people on this earth, then you categorically say they have ( by defination) 5 fingers on each left hand. then when the answer is simplicity itself u introduce another variable i.e. one person could have no fingers on his left hand. that by defination is cheating.
Every one of these (Fact Section) questions is based on a FACT of life and so it would be a fact that some unfortunate soul has zero digits on the left hand.
I wish people would just enjoy these kinda things and not get all petty and pedantic when they get one wrong!!!
If you were to take into account how many fingers each different person had, then you would really be adding, not multiplying. If you wanted to multiply by zero, then that would mean that no one in the world had fingers on their left hand!
@ kylekard if you have no fingers how are you typing
the most accurate way to do this was take an average of the amount on fingers on every person in the worlds' left hand and then multiply that with 5,000,000,000
and the question stats that we are taking the number on "every" person's left hand, implying that we would be using a majority figure...not the random Nam veteran -.-
i understand what they're getting at here, but the way the question is worded does not lead me to multiply 5x5x5x5x5... 5 billion times. it directs you to "What would you estimate to be the result, if you multiply together the number of fingers on every person's left-hands?" "multiply together" implies adding them together, then mutliplying by 5 billion.
Learn the English language dude. "Multiply together" doesn't imply anything, it tells you to multiply the numbers. If it were instructing you to add them together then multiply the result by 5 billion it would have said "Add them together and then multiply by 5 billion."
Yes, I agree that the problem is poorly worded. The solution states that the answer "is" zero, as in it is a fact that the answer is zero and that they know for a fact that there is someone in the world with no fingers on their left hand. While this may be true (I'm sure there are left hand / left arm amputees), I don't think a problem such as this can make such a sweeping generalisation. It can only be an assumption that there are people in the world with no fingers on their left hand, so the solution shouldn't state that the answer "is" zero unless they can give factual evidence of a real person who has no left-hand fingers.
Comeon, out of 5 billion hands, one hand must have no fingers.
And anyway, it never made the assumption everyone had 5 fingers on their left hand, it just said the thumb counts as a finger.
I wish people would just enjoy these kinda things and not get all petty and pedantic when they get one wrong!!!
Im confused please explain the solution, how the heck could it be zero???????
2x0=0
5x0=0
100x0=0
1000x0=0
etc...
If you try to multiply anything by zero the answer is zero. Think about it.
If you have nothing and you multiply nothing by 50 you still have nothing.
the most accurate way to do this was take an average of the amount on fingers on every person in the worlds' left hand and then multiply that with 5,000,000,000
and the question stats that we are taking the number on "every" person's left hand, implying that we would be using a majority figure...not the random Nam veteran -.-
suck ma dick