Metropol

This maths test can predict your all time hero, and the person you most aspire to be like. Try it without looking at the answers.

Pick a number between 1 and 9
Then x3
Then +3
Then x3 again.
You'll get a 2 digit number.
Add the two digits together to find the person you most aspire to be like.

1. Muhammed Ali
2. Alan Shearer
3. Bob Marley
4. Winston Churchill
5. Elvis Presley
6. Pele
7. John Lennon
8. Bobby Moore
9. Gary Glitter

..but what if you all time hero isn't on that list?

The mathematically minded will realise that the answer will always be 9.

It's the same maths as is used in the "I can predict the number you were thinking of" game.

DAMNIT NICK i was JUST about to post that!

Sorry; let's call it a draw!

I'd love it if someone good at math could explain how it works - presumably it's something to do withthe 9 times table (3x3=9) and the fact that every multiple of nine is taken from the components one 9, but that doesn't explain why the addition of 3 is necessary.

If you choose 10 to start with and ignore the +3 you get 90, so it just adds a layer of complexity to obscure the x9. That's why you're limited to 1-9 as the initial choice and not 1-10. The whole 9 times table "add the 2 digits together and get 9" thing only works for numbers up to 90.

Aha! So the +3 standardises the number based on how the 3x table works. Makes sense when you look at it that way. Well explained

No no, it's just there to make it seem more complex. You can ignore the add 3 and you'll still get 9 in the end, but having the +3 just limits your initial choice of numbers to 1-9 instead of 1-10 because (a*3)+3 is the same as (a+1)*3, if that helps.

It probably doesn't.

The 9 times table is interesting with any length of number, as it is always easy to quickly find out if a number is exactly divisible by 9.

Take any number of any length. I've just written down 516834 as an example. Add all the digits together and you get 27. Add the digits of 27 together and you get 9. 516834 is, therefore, exactly divisible by 9.

What's the practicle use of all this nonsense you are asking. Perhaps better suited to the TX Suite section, but, by international convention, all medium wave and long wave frequencies must be a multiple of 9.

It's, therefore, easy to quickly check that Radio 4 on 198kHz is a valid frequency because 1+9+8=18, 1+8=9. Gold in Birmingham is on 1152kHz. 1+1+5+2=9.

Is it a bad thing that even though I detest Gary Glitter, I still like some of his music?