{"id":2,"date":"2019-12-09T18:08:16","date_gmt":"2019-12-09T18:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-admissions\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2020-01-04T00:11:10","modified_gmt":"2020-01-04T00:11:10","slug":"formula","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/admissions\/formula\/","title":{"rendered":"Math Is Fun"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n\n

You may have received a mailing from Macalester that poses a question. The letter reads: <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If the figurative \u201cdistance\u201d between Jim\u2019s \u201cideal\u201d college and College A is five times the square root of the \u201cdistance\u201d to College B, which college should Jim attend and why? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And on the envelope the problem is posed using a formula:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Some recipients of this letter have commented that the distance formula does not seem quite right. So we\u2019d like to explain ourselves.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The equation on the envelope is meant to represent \u201cfive times the square root of the distance between colleges A and B\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we were writing an equation to represent \u201cthe distance between colleges A and B\u201d, we\u2019d write:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But we want the expression to represent five times the square root of the distance between colleges A and B. So we:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Add a 5 at the beginning of the expression, meaning \u201cfive times\u201d and<\/li>
  2. Put the distance formula in parentheses and raise it to the \u00bd power to mean \u201csquare root of\u201d.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Why would we send out a letter that\u2019s so confusing? That\u2019s a reasonable question. The letter is meant to be a little bit over the top and have some fun with standardized test questions. Whether we have succeeded (and whether it\u2019s possible to have fun with standardized test questions) is up to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And if you made it this far, it\u2019s a good bet that you\u2019d benefit from learning more about Macalester. Expressed as a formula:

    uMacalester<\/sup> + (possibilities * \u221e) = macalester.edu\/reply<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    You may have received a mailing from Macalester that poses a question. The letter reads: If the figurative \u201cdistance\u201d between Jim\u2019s \u201cideal\u201d college and College A is five times the square root of the \u201cdistance\u201d to College B, which college should Jim attend and why? And on the envelope the problem is posed using a […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"template_2020_level_2.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1604,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions\/1604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/admissions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}