STORM2K

My mother is one of those who forwards those chain-letter emails to me. Some of them actually are good. I've gotten quite a few laughs out of them. She sent me one today called the Chocolate Quiz, or something like that. And this actually works! Can anyone explain to me how this is possible? I'm stumped, lol.
...Jennifer...


1. Pick the number of times a week that
you would like to have chocolate. (try for more than once but less
than 10).

2. Multiply this number by 2

3. Add 5.

4. Multiply it by 50

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1754.... If
you haven't, add 1753 .......

6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born

***You should have a three digit number***

***The first digit of this was your original number***
(i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week).

***The next two numbers are ........ YOUR AGE!***

hmph...

A little high school algebra and some clear thinking is all thats needed.

If you've already had your birthday this year, the whole thing can be expressed as

(2X + 5)*50 + 1754 - B

where x is the number of times you eat chocolate, and B is the year of your birthday.

If you multiply out the first part, you get

100X + 250 + 1754 - B

simplifying, you get

100x + 2004 - B

So part of that calculation was just a not-so-clever way of disguising a factor of 2004, so that when you subtract the year of your birth, you will automatically get your age.

so this would reduce to

100X + A

where A is your age.

The number of times you eat chocolate had to be a single digit so that 100 times is would give a number like 300, 400, etc.

The final number would have your original number in the hundreds place, followed by your age.

If you haven't had your birthday yet, the calculation must be based on the number 2003. Hence the adjustment in the instructions.

It would be possible to devise an endless number of little ditties like this if you just do the math. This wouldn't work for people over 100.

Wow, thanks Ed. I'm impressed with your skills.
...Jennifer...