Oct 06, 2008
RAY: This was sent in by a fellow named Jeff Ross. He writes:
"Last summer I went on vacation at an all-inclusive resort. Each day I was given a complimentary voucher, good for either a round of golf in the morning or a massage in the afternoon, but I could only have one or the other.
"Because I was on vacation I took my days at a leisurely pace. Five of the mornings I slept in and seven of the afternoons I spent lounging by the pool bar. Some days I golfed; some days I got a massage; other days I did nothing at all for the whole day. When I checked out I had only used eight of my vouchers."
How many days was he at the resort?
"Last summer I went on vacation at an all-inclusive resort. Each day I was given a complimentary voucher, good for either a round of golf in the morning or a massage in the afternoon, but I could only have one or the other.
"Because I was on vacation I took my days at a leisurely pace. Five of the mornings I slept in and seven of the afternoons I spent lounging by the pool bar. Some days I golfed; some days I got a massage; other days I did nothing at all for the whole day. When I checked out I had only used eight of my vouchers."
How many days was he at the resort?
Answer:
RAY: Here's the answer. We know he used eight vouchers on his vacation. So A plus B equals eight. Now let's look at the seven afternoons he lounged by the pool. On those days, he either played golf in the morning or did nothing for the whole day.
TOM: Yeah.
RAY: If golf is A and C is nothing, A plus C must equal seven.
Now five mornings he slept in, in which case he didn't play golf on those mornings. So five must equal B, the day, the afternoons he got a massage plus C, the days he did nothing.
So we have three little equations here. We have A plus B, equals eight.
A plus C equals seven. And B plus C equals five.
TOM: Brilliant!
RAY: If you add them all up, you wind up with 2A plus 2B plus 2C equals 20. So A plus B plus C must equal --
TOM: Ten.
RAY: Right, he was on vacation ten days. Of course you can substitute and find out the values of A, B and C which happen to be five days he played golf. Three afternoons he got the massage and two days did squat, like you, nothing at all.
TOM: I like it!
RAY: Who's our winner?
TOM: The winner this week is Frank Freeman from Greensboro, North Carolina. And for having his answer selected at random from among all the correct answers that we got, Frank is going to get a $26 gift certificate to the Shameless Commerce Division at cartalk.com, with which he can get a copy of our brand-new book, Ask Click and Clack.
It's a collection of our newspaper columns in which people ask us car questions, and then we largely ignore the question and write about whatever we feel like writing about.
RAY: Oh, kind of like what we do here on the show!
TOM: With the added bonus that you don't have to listen to us.
TOM: Yeah.
RAY: If golf is A and C is nothing, A plus C must equal seven.
Now five mornings he slept in, in which case he didn't play golf on those mornings. So five must equal B, the day, the afternoons he got a massage plus C, the days he did nothing.
So we have three little equations here. We have A plus B, equals eight.
A plus C equals seven. And B plus C equals five.
TOM: Brilliant!
RAY: If you add them all up, you wind up with 2A plus 2B plus 2C equals 20. So A plus B plus C must equal --
TOM: Ten.
RAY: Right, he was on vacation ten days. Of course you can substitute and find out the values of A, B and C which happen to be five days he played golf. Three afternoons he got the massage and two days did squat, like you, nothing at all.
TOM: I like it!
RAY: Who's our winner?
TOM: The winner this week is Frank Freeman from Greensboro, North Carolina. And for having his answer selected at random from among all the correct answers that we got, Frank is going to get a $26 gift certificate to the Shameless Commerce Division at cartalk.com, with which he can get a copy of our brand-new book, Ask Click and Clack.
It's a collection of our newspaper columns in which people ask us car questions, and then we largely ignore the question and write about whatever we feel like writing about.
RAY: Oh, kind of like what we do here on the show!
TOM: With the added bonus that you don't have to listen to us.
