Math Problem taking the Internet by storm

skywalker · Apr 12, 2011

Originally Posted by Blackhood

Word problem taking the internet by storm!!!

I'm a serial killer murderer

Do I murder Serial killers, or do I muder people like a serial killer?

just polysemy, iirc...

rennavate · Apr 12, 2011

Originally Posted by Don Carlos

I'll wait on someone like Rach to weigh in on this one, as his jedi wordmastery probably exceeds my own. That said, I'd interpret this sentence as meaning that you are a murderer of serial killers, e.g., Dexter. "Serial killer," in this case, is a modifier of "murderer." Furthermore, the sentence "...do I murder people like a serial killer?" is technically incorrect. You should ask instead, "Do I murder people as a serial killer would?" It's a small and esoteric nitpick, but generally speaking, use "as" instead of "like" to describe an action. The word "like" in this sentence almost implies the question "Do I murder...a serial killer?" /nerdery
In that sentence, "serial killer" functions as an adjective to "murderer," thus the person is a murderer of serial killer. The other interpretation, which is possible, only works if the sentence is read in a grammatically incorrect way.

tagutcow · Apr 12, 2011

Originally Posted by gfreeman

Actually, Don, that's not quite right, either. In that sentence, "serial killer" functions as an adjective to "murderer," thus the person is a murderer of serial killer. The other interpretation, which is possible, only works if the sentence is read in a grammatically incorrect way.

"Serial killer" functions as an adjectival noun; it most certainly is not an adjective proper.

In any case, I don't think people listen to "Psycho Killer" and think the song is about a killer of psychos.

rennavate · Apr 12, 2011

Originally Posted by tagutcow

"Serial killer" functions as an adjectival noun; it most certainly is not an adjective proper. In any case, I don't think people listen to "Psycho Killer" and think the song is about a killer of psychos.
You're right; it's an noun adjunct. But it does modify (or can be interpreted to modify, which is why it's a poorly-constructed sentence as it invites ambiguity) the second noun, which in this case is "murderer." Adjectival noun/noun adjuncts function in the same way as proper adjectives (and by that I don't mean proper nouns converted into proper adjectives)... in this case it's kind of vague, yes, but the way I described it isn't technically wrong.

Don Carlos · Apr 12, 2011

Originally Posted by gfreeman

You're right; it's an noun adjunct. But it does modify (or can be interpreted to modify, which is why it's a poorly-constructed sentence as it invites ambiguity) the second noun, which in this case is "murderer." Adjectival noun/noun adjuncts function in the same way as proper adjectives (and by that I don't mean proper nouns converted into proper adjectives)... in this case it's kind of vague, yes, but the way I described it isn't technically wrong.
I don't understand how your interpreation is any different from mine, though. It seems we arrived at the same conclusion. Furthermore, there is no confusion about the song "Psycho Killer" because the song is using the (colloquial) adjective form of the word "psycho," meaning "crazy." "Psycho" is also a noun, but in the case of the song, it's an adjective and not an adjectival noun. Technically, the proper adjective is "psychotic," but colloquial usage has long made the shortened "psycho" into its own adjective. Contrast this example with a title like "American Psycho," which clearly uses the noun form of the word.

rach2jlc · Apr 12, 2011

The sentence needs hyhens and a comma. APA format would suggest that probably without the hyphens you need to read it by word proximity/location.

serial-killer murderer... then the dude kills serial killers.
serial killer-murderer... then the dude is a killer.

serial killer, murderer... he's a killer, talking to a murderer.

As it is, you could literally read it either way, but the lack of a hyphen for "serial killer," IMHO, would not necessarily make it an adjective, for example, "I teach English as a Foreign Language. I'm an English-as-a-Foreign-Language teacher."

I'm a serial killer murderer... in this way, it would SEEM that he's a multiple murderer who is simply redundant/superfluous in his synonyms.

rennavate · Apr 12, 2011

Originally Posted by Don Carlos

I don't understand how your interpretation is any different from mine, though. It seems we arrived at the same conclusion. Furthermore, there is no confusion about the song "Psycho Killer" because the song is using the (colloquial) adjective form of the word "psycho," meaning "crazy." "Psycho" is also a noun, but in the case of the song, it's an adjective and not an adjectival noun. Technically, the proper adjective is "psychotic," but colloquial usage has long made the shortened "psycho" into its own adjective. Contrast this example with a title like "American Psycho," which clearly uses the noun form of the word.
We do seem to be arriving at the same conclusion, I'm just being a hard-head. "Psycho Killer" (love the Talking Heads, by the way) could be interpreted as a "killer of psychos," although it's not likely to be. I guess I'm just trying to hammer the point that the likelihood of confusion arising shouldn't play into whether it's a good phrase to write or not (but rather the possibility), because like you said, "psychotic" killer is what it should be written as (but obviously has too many syllables for Byrne). rach2jlc's point about commas is spot-on, too.

munchausen · Apr 12, 2011

Can someone explain to me why some of you are performing the multiplication and division from right to left? I have never seen anyone do it that way.

Blackhood · Apr 12, 2011

They are using PODMAS which describe the order in which a calculation needs to be solved as: Parentheses Exponents (powers/roots) Division Multiplication Addition Subtraction Further reading

munchausen · Apr 12, 2011

In that mnemonic, division and multiplication are supposed to be equal, as are addition and subtraction, and the default of left to right takes over. Your link says as much.

dhc905 · Apr 12, 2011

+1 to guy who uses irregardless. He's gotta be right.

Originally Posted by Saturdays

really?

irregardless of the above the sequence to solving this is really depends if we are arranging the formula as 48/2 * (9+3)/1 or as 48/2(9+3)
is 9+3 part of the 48/2 fraction and in the denominator? or is it a separate fraction being multiplied to the 48/2 (or 24)

First way of doing this:
48/2 * (9+3)/1
24 * 12
288

Second way of doing this:
48/2(9+3)
48/2(12)
48/24
2

As you can see it really just depends on the composition of the numbers/signs, someone is clearly trying to mess with everyone's heads.

CASE CLOSED

Mblova · Apr 13, 2011

Bodybuilding.com has an 84 pg thread on this topic. http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=133389973

Kajak · Apr 13, 2011

Proving that BB.com is full of idiots

cross22 · Apr 13, 2011

djlukin · Apr 14, 2011

The answer is 288. Order of operations. 48/2 x 9+3= 24x12=288

Math Problem taking the Internet by storm

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