My Fingers Challenge

[gaara4158]

Please answer this question with discrete numbers -- and please don't say ten.

How many fingers (thumbs included) does the average human have?

 

[ragarth]

7 + 3

 

[AV1611VET]

Please answer this question with discrete numbers -- and please don't say ten.

How many fingers (thumbs included) does the average human have?

11 --- and I can prove it.

 

[BananaSlug]

11 --- and I can prove it.

The dangly thing between the legs doesn't count.

 

[NailsII]

11 --- and I can prove it.

I'm intruiged.

Go ahead sir.

 

[maybenotcrazy]

Please answer this question with discrete numbers -- and please don't say ten.

How many fingers (thumbs included) does the average human have?

do you count the pinky as a finger? I mean you must have taken into account that thumbs aren't fingers in name but you made them so.
So I'll say 8 just to be an idiot.

 

[NailsII]

do you count the pinky as a finger? I mean you must have taken into account that thumbs aren't fingers in name but you made them so.
So I'll say 8 just to be an idiot.

Your little finger is still a finger, but the thumb is ever so slightly anatomically different.

 

[AV1611VET]

Please answer this question with discrete numbers -- and please don't say ten.

How many fingers (thumbs included) does the average human have?

11 --- and I can prove it.

I'm intruiged.

Go ahead sir.

Hold up both of your hands in front of you.

See those 10 digits? Start counting backwards with either hand.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6 + the 5 on your other hand = 6 + 5 = 11.

Easy ---

 

[NailsII]

Hold up both of your hands in front of you.

See those 10 digits? Start counting backwards with either hand.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6 + the 5 on your other hand = 6 + 5 = 11.

Cute.

You got me with that one.

 

[AV1611VET]

Cute.

You got me with that one.

 

[Hespera]

Creationist math gives us 11 fingers and so much more

 

[gaara4158]

Well yeah. They're more interested in following arbitrary rules than following logic and reality. Go figure.

 

[tansy]

Please answer this question with discrete numbers -- and please don't say ten.

How many fingers (thumbs included) does the average human have?

What's an average human?

 

[tansy]

Hold up both of your hands in front of you.

See those 10 digits? Start counting backwards with either hand.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6 + the 5 on your other hand = 6 + 5 = 11.

Easy ---

That works! - why does it work?,,,,doesn't make sense! aargh

Oh I think I just about got my head around it..with my husband's help! Aaagh! No wonder I was never any good at maths.

Anyhow....how many fingers HAVE we got? Is it really only 2 cos theyre all joined at the base or something? Or was the OP just being silly?
Ok ok - I suppose I'm just plain dumb!!

 

[Tammisto]

The average human has about 10.02 fingers when you concider that polydactylism is present in about 1 in 500 births on average. Allso, how should conjoined twins be taken into account, if at all, because some of them have only two hands with 5 digits each per two people. Should one fist find out what the average digits per person is with conjoined twins before fiting it into the average human statistic?

Yep, I'm bored.

 

[gaara4158]

The average human has about 10.02 fingers when you concider that polydactylism is present in about 1 in 500 births on average.

That's why I said discrete numbers. 10.02 is continuous.

 

[AV1611VET]

That works! - why does it work?,,,,doesn't make sense! aargh

It's because you're actually subtracting when you're counting down, not adding.

You can't subtract half-way, then reverse yourself and add, and come up with the same thing.

Look at it this way --- suppose I said start with your ten fingers and count down:

10, 9, 8 --- and the seven remaining fingers make 15!

You're switching tactics (from subtracting to adding) in the middle of the problem!

 

[Tammisto]

That's why I said discrete numbers. 10.02 is continuous.

In that case the answer is obvious. 42!

 

[gaara4158]

That works! - why does it work?,,,,doesn't make sense! aargh

Oh I think I just about got my head around it..with my husband's help! Aaagh! No wonder I was never any good at maths.

Anyhow....how many fingers HAVE we got? Is it really only 2 cos theyre all joined at the base or something? Or was the OP just being silly?
Ok ok - I suppose I'm just plain dumb!!

Don't worry, the answer is 10. I was making a point about how certain members ask questions, and then create rules about these questions that actually eliminate the correct answer.

Oh, and it works because you're working with the pre-determined numbers 10 and 5. Counting down from 10, you'll be at 6 when you run out of fingers on that hand, even though you've only counted 5 off. Adding 5 to 6 ends you up with the number 11. It's a sleight-of-hand trick

 

[tansy]

It's because you're actually subtracting when you're counting down, not adding.

You can't subtract half-way, then reverse yourself and add, and come up with the same thing.

Look at it this way --- suppose I said start with your ten fingers and count down:

10, 9, 8 --- and the seven remaining fingers make 15!

You're switching tactics (from subtracting to adding) in the middle of the problem!

Thanks AV... I always was bad at understanding maths - it must have taken my dad about half an hour when I was a young kid to explain that a fraction wasn't a set measurement like, say, an inch, before the penny dropped. Shame, I actually think maths is fascinating, that is when one actually understands how it works.