How's your maths?

[veggiechicken]

Where do the lugworms come into this?

[Kirk]

Think it depends on the use of "times" and how you interpret it.
Usually it is what do you need to multiply 9 by in order to get to 27, in which case it is 3. So people say "3 times". Remember those times tables?

However 27 is 18 more then 9, which is 2 9's more but that is generally an addition or summation not a product, as in "How many more 9's do I need to add to 9 to get 27." Then you get 2.

One seems to be a multiplication/product determination the other appears to be a summation determination. So there would be a difference.

So the question is open to some ambiguity, usually the person stating the question knows what they mean and the assumption made is that everyone else therefore knows what they mean, and they don't.

[Rocketron]

Not gardening related in the least but if it helps, pretend I'm asking about how much greater one set of pea plants is to another.

Simple simple question but I have 2 answers for it, provided by a) looking on the net and b) asking family.

So exact wording of the question is - how many times greater is 27 than 9?

My immediate response was 3 but someone else said 2 i.e you start off with 9 then need another 2 lots of 9 to make 27.

That started a bout of second guessing all round and a search on the net where loads of people said 3 and loads said 2.

So...what's your thoughts?

The important thing to realise here is that this is not a mathematical question.
It is an English Language question.
27 is two times greater than 9.
9 plus another 9 is 18, plus another 9 is 27.
Therefore two times greater.

[gardening_gal]

Where do the lugworms come into this?

I initially gave the edited version for the sake of quickness but with hindsight maybe the question was more gardening related than I thought.

[Alison]

The important thing to realise here is that this is not a mathematical question.
It is an English Language question.
27 is two times greater than 9.
9 plus another 9 is 18, plus another 9 is 27.
Therefore two times greater.

But in English language the term "times" means multiplication and so 27 is 3 times 9. Personally I don't see any ambiguity at all as it's exactly the same as if somebody talked about something being 3 times the price. 30p would always be 3 times 10p and 20p would be two times (or twice). You would never confuse the two.

[Martin H]

But in English language the term "times" means multiplication and so 27 is 3 times 9. Personally I don't see any ambiguity at all as it's exactly the same as if somebody talked about something being 3 times the price. 30p would always be 3 times 10p and 20p would be two times (or twice). You would never confuse the two.

Yeah, but there's a difference between 3 times as much, and 3 times more. Isn't there?

[Bigmallly]

I initially gave the edited version for the sake of quickness but with hindsight maybe the question was more gardening related than I thought.

The only time I want to see Lugworms in my garden is when I buy my first Beach Hut...................

[Jay-ell]

The ambiguity isn't from the use of times, but from the use of greater than.

[Jay-ell]

Where do the lugworms come into this?

They are currently split into two groups arguing about whether one group is three times the size or three times greater than the other

Lugworms are like that, never happier than when they're arguing.

[veggiechicken]

I'm still worried about the lugworms.
Were any of them harmed in the compilation of this question?

[veggiechicken]

Snap Jay-ell. Amazing that 2 people, at opposite ends of the UK, should be thinking about lugworms simultaneously

[veggiechicken]

I shall move seamlessly from lugworms to nappies.................
Just heard an ad on the radio for Pompous nappies - keeps baby "up to two times drier than" some other brand
So how dry is that?

[Bigmallly]

Twice as dry of course.....................