Word Problem - Annoying Fractions

Last Wednesday I gave a more wordy and analytical problem. This one is way more mathematical and not for the easily frustrated.

Here it is:
If you start off with 1/100 and add fractions increasing the denominator by one with each additional fraction, at what incremental fraction will the sum finally be greater than 1?

In other words (or should I say numbers), when will:
1/100 + 1/101 + 1/102 + 1/103 ... > 1?

New House

Guest written by our friend Mason Abbott

My husband and I have moved five times in the last five years, and we are so over it. We have had problems at every rental we were in, so we finally decided that it was time to buy our own home. We’re old enough now to know that we want to stay in San Antonio for the long haul, so it just made sense. My husband and I both have good jobs here, and our kids love their school, so it would be difficult to move. When we moved into our new house we were a little taken aback by how friendly everyone on our street was. They were coming by and dropping off foodand trying to get to know us while the moving truck was still there! I didn’t think areas like this existed anymore. We appreciated the gestures, but we were busy trying to move in and organize al of our things. One neighbor that stopped by would not leave. She kept on going on and on about this website, www.homesecurityfamily.com, and how we have to get a home alarm system from them. I started to think that maybe she worked for them! We even had to pretend we were running out for an errand to get this lady out of the house. I hope this doesn’t turn into a habit!

Word Problem – Figure out the Class Rank of Law Review Grade-Ons

So I know Jot by Jot has published several riddles. I will try to come up with some more, but now on Wednesdays I am going to try something a bit different. Every week I will try to give readers a word problem. It may tip towards more creative thinking or more on the math side.

Anyways, here it is:
There are a total of 150 first-year law students at the college of law. In the law school write-on competition, several of these first-year law students compete for positions on one of three law journals: Law Review, International Journal, and Environmental Journal. Students compete by submitting an essay.

There are two rounds to the competition:
Round 1 Best Essays:
Among the participants who competed, the top 15 students that wrote the best essays get a position on the Law Review. The next 50 students get spots on the remaining two journals with 25 students being placed in the International Journal and 25 students placed in Environmental Journal.

Round 2 Class Rank/Best GPA:
Law Review opens up 15 more spots. The 15 students that get added to law review are determined by the class rank. The 15 participants with the highest/best class ranks that had not already been placed on law review from Round 1 become members of the law review from this grade-on process. This includes people who wrote on to one of the other journals or participants whose essay did not earn them a spot on any journal. Thus, a total of 30 first-year law students become members of Law Review.

Here are some premises in trying to solve this problem:
*It is optional to participate in this competition.
*In order to be eligible for one of the three journals, a student must have participated in the competition.
*At least one student participated in the competition but in Round 1, had an essay that was not good enough to place in any of the three journals.

What is the lowest (worst) possible class rank of a student who graded on law review?

Do not assume anything that I have not listed above. Good Luck!

Sometimes ESPN Gets It Wrong

I absolutely love ESPN3 because it provides a free way for internet users to watch their favorite sports. I could not be happier with the fact that the ACC has been under contract with ESPN as it has allowed me to watch several of the Boston College basketball games online. Anyways, sometimes ESPN3 does “mess up.” On January 2, 2012 I watched at BC basketball game on ESPN3. The loading screen that was shown is displayed below. Does anyone notice a little problem?



Yeah, that would be pretty awesome if we had Raji for one more year.

Joe Paterno Dies at Age 85

Today is a sad day at Penn State state as the legendary Joe Paterno has died at age 85. He has quite a legacy as he has spent his entire coaching career at Penn State and holds the record for coaching the most consecutive seasons at a single school as a head coach. He coached Penn State last season, less than a year before his death. He was coaching his team to another winning season until he was fired after the indictment of longtime assistant Jerry Sandusky. Unfortunately, Joe Paterno's name will always be associated with Jerry Sandusky given the gravity of what Sandusky did while on the Penn State football staff. Paterno certainly deserves some blame, but Paterno shall also be remembered for all the good he did for the PSU football program.

What the Heck Is that Doing in My Freezer?

Today I did my much-needed grocery shopping run. I purchased only one frozen item, albeit a frozen pizza, and I noticed that there was no room in the freezer to fit the pizza. In a house of four people splitting a medium-sized refrigerator/freezer combo I was in disbelief (considering I did not have any frozen items in the freezer to begin with. Here is when you know that the freezer has never been reorganized...when you have food that has been left there that belonged to not the previous year's tenants or the even the year before that but the tenants from at least three years ago. Today I uncovered numerous very old items including this Turkey Bacon that was purchased over three years ago. For those who cannot read the date inscribed on the side of the package it says:
"USE OR FREEZE BY 10 23 08"

Wow! It's too bad this isn't wine, that would at least make the resale value nice. 3.5 years may not seem that long ago, but for meat, this Turkey Bacon is now practically an antique. It is interesting thinking what I was doing back in October of 2008...having the time of my life in Mexico.

I normally like asking all of my roomates before throwing something I think is old out, but this time there is no question that this Turkey Bacon belongs to nobody in sight.

Fixing the United States Postal Service

The United States Postal Service is in bad shape. It has already had to downsize and layoff several employees.

As it is now, USPS is bad bad bad. Last Tuesday, I went to my local post office simply to buy a stamp and mail a letter. I arrived at the post office at 1:38pm and I was shocked to find out that the post office was closed at that time. My local post office now closes at 1:30pm. I could understand this on a Sunday, Saturday, or even a Friday but Tuesday? I could not believe this recent change, especially considering 1:30pm is a pretty busy time of the day to make a postal run.

Today, the postal service is recognized as going through stormy seas. Republican house member Darrell Issa (Cal.) appears to support the downfall of the postal service in the sense that Issa and his bill are strongly against any postal bailout whatsoever. The bill calls for cuts in postal service, a reduction of service centers, and a reduction of labor benefits. This is in stark contrast to another bill titled the Postal Service Protection Act. Unlike Issa's bill, the Postal Service Protection Act is backed by Democrats in Congress as well as the postal workers themselves.

I am not member of Congress but I think there are a lot of simple solutions to fix the mess that the postal service is currently in:
1) Vending Machines: Post offices should be equipped with vending machines that dispense stamps (and possibly other items such as small envelopes). All of the post offices I know of in Phoenix do not have vending machines. I do not understand why this is, but it would solve a lot of headaches for customers who just need a stamp. Vending machines are an easy, quick, and cheap way of dispensing a necessary item for mailing letters. Vending machines may have a high initial cost, but they have virtually no labor costs. A vending machine should just be left in the lobbies of post offices so customers who need stamps can go to a post office even during after hours and still be able to mail their envelopes. Vending machines also reduce lines and the impatience of the people who currently have to wait in the personal service lines just to line get a stamp.
2) Increase Stamp Costs: Stamp costs should be increased to 50 cents and stay there for some time to come. This is a very sizeable increase and will generate plenty of additional revenue for the postal service. This also reduces the need to layoff workers. Demand for stamps is pretty inelastic so I doubt there will be much fewer stamps paid. Furthermore, what kind of number is 44 cents? The current cost of stamps is about as inconvenient as stamp costs get. Individuals have little use for the extra six cents, whereas the postal service can benefit immensely from charging each person more on stamps. Having stamps cost an even 50 cents will be a lot more efficient. At fifty cents a stamp, people do not have to get a calculator to figure out how much it costs to buy, say, six stamps.
3) Restore Hours: Post offices need to be open at least until 4 on weekdays. I know this is not the strongest point of mine because I cannot speak from an economic standpoint. However, every time I have gone to a post office in the afternoon, it has been quite crowded.

Love it

Guest post of the week by Bradley Guthrie

I went to http://www.satellitetvfamily.com/satellite-tv-spokane-wa at the suggestion of a colleague and I got all these channels I didn’t even know existed. I love that show Tori and Dean…I’ve been watching it since they bought a bed and breakfast but there’s something about them that I’m just so drawn to. They’re really cute and in love and I can tell that they like being with each other. I saw an episode the other day where Tori found out she was pregnant with their third and she told him as a Valentine’s Day gift – it was just adorable! They’re starting an “antiques” store with all this old junk Tori has had in storage and it’s just been hilarious. I can’t understand how someone could have THIRTY storage units full of furniture and stuff but you know, I guess that’s what accumulates when you’ve got millions of dollars and no hobbies other than collecting stuff. That’s something I guess I’m happy I never had the opportunity to do – I never had enough disposable income to hoard!

New Year Joke!

This one is very corny but it came from my New Year popper so expectations have to be low :)

Q. How did the human cannonball lose her job?

A. She got fired.

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a happy new year from California!

Discipline Matters

Image From ESPN

Dennis Erickson has "coached" his last game at Arizona State University if you can even call it that. The ASU football team has been criticized for being undisciplined, and the MAACO bowl game featuring ASU versus Boise State has exemplified ASU's problems. Quarterback Brock Osweiler has demonstrated a complete disregard for authority. Despite coach's orders he signaled the punting unit back to the sideline on a 4th and 4 just at midfield. Of course, ASU is unable to convert on that drive. On a later drive ASU drives to get within Boise State's ten-yard-line. The team fails to convert and on fourth and goal with the ball on the 1, Osweiler does not even pause to look over to the sideline. Instead, he unilaterally decides to go for it. Not once did he look to his coach who was calling for a timeout. ASU will get blown out this game and discipline has definitely been a factor.

DOJ After Joe Arpaio...but is anyone surprised?

Joe Arpaio never seems happy. In a recent interview with Fox News, he attributed his yelling to his Italian heritage. Given his track record, is anyone honestly surprised by the recent allegations that he has committed human rights abuses? In my opinion, Arpaio has been a disgrace to Maricopa County. I can only hope that he finally gets the boot.