Crack the code, solve the riddle, or answer the trivia

Fidicen said:
Turn it into an equation and the problem becomes simple. This is at least how I got it:

x=100+x/2 |*2
2x=200+x |-x
x=200

It's been a long time since I've had to do this at school, but I was helped by the fact that I encountered a similar (confusing) problem recently:

You're a farmer going to the market with 200 kilos (or pounds if you want) of cucumbers to sell. The cucumbers are 99% water (not really, but for the sake of this question they are). During the day some of the water evaporates, so in the evening after spending the whole day standing and shouting and selling your pathetic shrivelled excuses for cucumbers you return home with the same stock, except that now they only have 98% water. How many kilograms do you have left?
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198? Am I missing something with that? I must be missing something with that.
 
Yeah I'm confused. 1% of the original gross weight can't change because it's not water. So to lose an extra 1% of gross weight has to come out of 198. It ends up being 196. Then you add back in the 1% immutable weight.
 
sprinkles said:
1% of the original gross weight can't change because it's not water. So to lose an extra 1% of gross weight has to come out of 198.
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You're on the right track thinking about how much dry matter there is and still remains. But it's not only 1% of gross weight that's lost because as you keep losing water, the total from which the percentage is taken also gets smaller. 196 out of 198 is not 98%.
 
Fidicen said:
You're on the right track thinking about how much dry matter there is and still remains. But it's not only 1% of gross weight that's lost because as you keep losing water, the total from which the percentage is taken also gets smaller. 196 out of 198 is not 98%.
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but 196 of 200 is. We start off with water being 99% of gross. Therefore 98% should still be 98% of gross, not 98% of water net weight. That's changing things.
 
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The amount is changing, that's the point. As stated, at the end of the day the cucumbers are 98% water. But the total is no longer 200, so you can't take the percentage from what you had in the morning. That's the confusing part. I didn't ask what remains if you take away 1% and then again 1% out of 200, I asked what the total is after 1% changes into 2%.
 
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Fidicen said:
The amount is changing, that's the point. As stated, at the end of the day the cucumbers are 98% water. But the total is no longer 200, so you can't take the percentage from what you had in the morning. That's the confusing part. I didn't ask what remains if you take away 1% out of 200, I asked what the total is after 1% changes into 2%.
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Sure the total is not 200 but the total doesn't change until you've actually removed something. How much was removed?
 
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sprinkles said:
Sure the total is not 200 but the total doesn't change until you've actually removed something. How much was removed?
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That's another way of asking the same question. The total keeps changing throughout the day. It's not like you stand at the stall for a day with 200 kilos and then suddenly at the end of the day 1% is lost.
 
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Fidicen said:
That's another way of asking the same question. The total keeps changing throughout the day. It's not like you stand at the stall for a day with 200 kilos and then suddenly at the end of the day 1% is lost.
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You're still ending on a specific amount. How long it takes or the size of each subtraction does not change the end quantity. Since the solid matter of the cucumbers does not change, they are essentially a bucket. How much do you lose between a bucket that is 99% full and a bucket that is 98% full?
 
Fidicen said:
Turn it into an equation and the problem becomes simple. This is at least how I got it:

x=100+x/2 |*2
2x=200+x |-x
x=200
Click to expand...

@Gaze :)

Another way to solve the problem without turning it into a formal equation is to think in this way: if a plane weighs 100 tons plus half its weight, then 100 tons is one half, since a whole is composed of two halves.
 
sprinkles said:
How much do you lose between a bucket that is 99% full and a bucket that is 98% full?
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The weight of the bucket doesn't change, but the total does. How much is the total when the bucket stays the same but its weight is now 2% instead of 1% of the total?
 
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A train is traveling at its max speed of 70mph. It's on a long journey and the route heads through a massive forest. Soon the train crew is informed that there is a wildfire an hour behind it, which is traveling at a speed of 80mph due to strong winds pushing behind. It will catch up with the train before the end of the forest is reached, and roast everyone inside it.

What do you do?
 
Ren said:
A train is traveling at its max speed of 70mph. It's on a long journey and the route heads through a massive forest. Soon the train crew is informed that there is a wildfire an hour behind it, which is traveling at a speed of 80mph due to strong winds pushing behind. It will catch up with the train before the end of the forest is reached, and roast everyone inside it.

What do you do?
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229498-Marshmallows-By-The-Fire.jpg
 
Fidicen said:
The weight of the bucket doesn't change, but the total does. How much is the total when the bucket stays the same but its weight is now 2% instead of 1% of the total?
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I give up. I'm sure you're right but I can't figure it out. I might throw up if I keep thinking about it.
 
Fidicen said:
Use the hoverwheels and go back to the future. Or the past.

bttf02.jpg
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C'mon Fidi, you solved the plane one lightning fast. You got it in you!
 
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