Any maths buffs?

Is there a formula to solving such puzzles or is it just down to deduction?

And how the fuck is an 8 year old kid meant to work shit like that out?? I mean, come on! He's not Japanese! (or German!)

Is there a formula to solving such puzzles or is it just down to deduction?

What formula could there be if it's just numbers assigned to letters of the alphabet?

In English, it's usually pretty easy if there's a word with a single letter somewhere. There aren't too many possibilities as to what that could be. The clues given were also pretty obvious (they had to give the names, as they would be hard to deduce).

It's just a crossword with numerical clues

And how the fuck is an 8 year old kid meant to work shit like that out?? I mean, come on! He's not Japanese! (or German!)

You can find lots of number-letter crossword puzzles in kids' puzzle magazines. Had you ever done one before? They're really easy once you've done a few.

My wife is the puzzle buff but she's out. I'm going to try her out on it when she gets home. I love a cryptic crossword, but I made the mistake of thinking their would be a pattern in the alphabet, such as A=2, B=3, etc...

Thanks again, puzzlers!

Cryptic crosswords are impossible, I don't appreciate them being called "quick" in the papers.

I love finding the rhythm of the puzzle creator, his riddles and interpretations. It must be the difference between number minds and word minds!

1729

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24459279

^ went to see his talk about that book yesterday, there's a hell of a lot of maths knocking around in the Simpsons...

Could anyone please help on the below ?

Western Ltd plans to assemble and sell 30,000 giant teddy bears in 2011 at £40 each. Western’s costs are as follows:

Variable costs:
Materials £14 per bear
Labour £8 per bear
Overheads £8 per bear

Estimated fixed costs for the year £ 120,000

You are required to calculate:

(i) Western’s Ltd planned contribution for 2011
(ii) Western’s Ltd planned profit for 2011
(iii) The break-even sales value for 2011
(iv) The break-even number of bears to be sold
(v) The margin of safety for 2011 in sales value
(vi) The margin of safety for 2011 in number of bears sold

£1 fee

also......maths

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maths

£14+8+8=£30 per bear costs

So it's £10 profit per bear if sold at £40

(i) No idea what "planned contribution" is.

(ii) 30,000 bears at £10 profit each is £300k. Minus the £120k fixed costs = £180k profit

(iii) Break-even sales value would be enough profit (£10/bear) to cover the £120k fixed costs. So that's 12,000 sales required. The sales value of 12,000 bears is £480k.

(iv) So that's £120k/£10 profit per bear = 12,000 bears to break even.

(v+vi) No idea what "margin of safety" is in this context.

£14+8+8=£30 per bear costs
(iii) Break-even sales value would be enough profit (£10/bear) to cover the £120k fixed costs. So that's 12,000 sales required. The sales value of 12,000 bears is £480k.

It also depends on how the bears are manufactured. If you make them one at a time, then 12,000 is correct.

If you make all 30,000 bears up front, then you'd have to sell 25,500 before you got into profit (value = £1,020,000)

Yup, I answered it as a maths question, not a finance question.

To dredge up an old thread.

I was wondering if I could get some help. I'm hoping this thread title will be enough to diswayed the trolls.

I am interested in going back to studying. Most likely part time. But it scares the shit out of me. I want to study maths and perhaps economics. Or something along those lines.

I've been umming and awing for ages and really just need to get on with it.

What do I do? Where do I start? Is something like Open University good? Should I start afresh? Start from the beginning as it's been 10 years since I last studied? What's the easiest way to do it building block style?

Since I have a contractor job, I need something I can look at in bursts. Concentrate study book exam finish look at next.

What are my options? Anyone done it part time? As a mature student? Part time?

What are my options? Anyone done it part time? As a mature student? Part time?

Did a B.A. in Maths in 8 years (2005 to 2012) part time with the OU (whilst working full time, moving house, getting married and becoming a dad).

Total cost (then) was about £4k, now it would be ~£15k thanks to the tuition fee hike.

I found the early courses (1st year and 2nd year) quite easy, but then I had done A-Level Further Maths and I'm a maths geek (original degree was B.Sc. Comp Sci). Most courses I started the coursework (4 or 8 assignments per year) a few days before the deadline and they took me 4 or 5 hours each.

The third year courses took more effort (4-6 hours a week) where the OU recommends 8-16 hours a week (for a 30 credit module, effectively 1/4 of a year). Attending the tutorials (held at various places local to you) really helps but I couldn't make as many as I wanted.

Given the cost I'm not sure I'd recommend the OU, look around for other (brick) Unis offering distance learning; I've no experience of them to compare them to.

The OU is very accessible though. Various starts available depending on your current status: http://mathschoices.open.ac.uk/ has quizzes to help you work out where to start.

If you've got a previous qualification then you can claim credits to save you doing all of the really easy 1st year stuff. I claimed 50 1st year credits worth (each year is 120 credits) from my previous Comp Sci degree to save me doing the easy stuff again.

OU also good for bursts, you tend to get the assignments in advance in two separate dumps (posted and PDFs online). There's nothing stopping you doing all 2 (or 4) assignments from the block in one go and sending them in, then another burst when the second lot comes through. Then revise (if you can be arsed) and then exam.

Having done A-Level maths I barely broke a sweat doing the then equivalent of MST124, but it wasn't a waste of a year getting used to the system.

I had no exams for the 1st year courses, but 2nd/3rd year courses have exams (Porchester Hall for me), and there's usually a residential course (which is a bit of a laugh too) but the rules may have changed recently.

Really pushing it you could do it in 4 years with the OU, but that may be tough on top of a full time job and other activities.

I've got the old MST121 (now obsolete) complete set of course books from 2005 (and videos and random stuff) that I've been trying to sell (via http://www.universitybooksearch.co.uk/). Yours for £40 (inc P&P within the UK or £30 if you collect from SW15/SE1), obviously you can't just sit the exam as you have to enter the course (and pay £1250 nowadays).

8 YEARS?!!? I dont know if i have the patience for 8 years. Damn thats long. I could have had it by now if i started when i arrived but because 8 years scares me, i dont.

I am easily distracted. 8 years is a long time to dedicate yourself to something.

Currently studying Computing with the OU as I type this (have two exams in two weeks!).

I can echo everything that Greenbank has said. Though it will have taken me 5 years start to finish for the bachelors once I'm done. Shorter time frame as I chose to do more modules early, and as the early modules are easier it didn't take too much time.

As doing a full degree part time takes ages and ages you could consider doing a Diploma of Higher Education or Certificate of Higher Education with the OU http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/find/mathematics-and-statistics

They also offer something called the Open Degree where you can study a range of modules and get a bachelors by the end of it. If you are studying for studying sake this could be an interesting option.

8 years was the slowest you can do it really. As I said, I was working full time, moved house, got married and became a dad.

See also: http://www.londoninternational.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/lse/bsc-mathematics-economics

is that distance / online learning?

Are there shorter courses perhaps that focus on maths of finance or similar?

An intense part time course in Maths of Finance?

Diploma?

Mathematics (Diploma of Higher Education ) part-time course by evening study

This flexible evening study programme is ideal if you want to study mathematics at university level but do not want to commit to a full BSc Mathematics programme yet. With classess on just 2 evenings a week, this course provides an introduction to university-level mathematics that is less intensive than a BSc degree.

Upon successful completion of this Diploma of Higher Education, you can advance directly into Year 3 of our BSc Mathematics or BSc Mathematics and Statistics.