Student Writes Star Wars Math Problem, Abrams Solves It

[roseofbattle]

Student Writes Star Wars Math Problem, Abrams Solves It

One student wrote a Star Wars-themed word problem involving a kidnapped J.J. Abrams and rental fees.

Last week eighth grade student Cody Swanek wrote a word problem using elements of the Star Wars universe for an assignment in converting algebra expressions into word problems. Star Wars Episode VII [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/jj%20abrams] solved the problem and sent Swanek a personal reply.

Swanek's problem is as follows:

"J. J. Abrams is making Star Wars Episode 7. He rented three speeder bikes which was 700 imperial credits to start. He must pay 100 imperial credits to keep his speeder bikes daily. If he does not pay daily, Prince Xizor and other Black Sun members will kidnap J. J. Abrams, bring him to Mustafar, and sacrifice him.
J. J. Abrams is also paying 5 bounty hunters to keep separatist spies out. That costs 200 imperial credits to start, then 50 imperial credits for each bounty hunter every time they capture a spy. The Separatists send 2 spies every day.

In how many days does J. J. Abrams spend the same amount of imperial credits on speeders and bounty hunters?"

Abrams wrote to Swanek with the answer to the problem and then wrote a Star Wars word problem of his own.

"If I needed to hire passage to the Alderaan system at a rate of 17,000 credits a day - and had to travel 12 Parsecs at a velocity of 1500 times the speed of light, how much would this trip cost me? This, I think, is the real issue here."

Can you solve Abrams' math problem?

Source: Aggressive Comix [http://aggressivecomix.com/2014/10/8th-grader-creates-star-wars-math-problem-and-j-j-abrams-solves-it/]


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[Thorn14]

Must be a refreshing change from the thousands of 'YOU ARE GOING TO KILL STAR WARS' letters he gets a day.

 

[HaileStorm]

I believe the answer is around 5 shit tons

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

... Ok, I'm going to point out that it's stated that the separatists send two spies a day, and the Bounty Hunters get the 50 bonus if they CATCH two spies a day. The capture rate average isn't even defined (i.e: On average, the Bounty Hunters captures 5~7 spies a week).

Step your Variable definition game up, son. Some of us don't like ballparking it.

 

[P-89 Scorpion]

"One student sent wrote a Star Wars-themed word problem involving a kidnapped J.J. Abrams and rental fees."


Has anyone seen an editor, we need an editor here.

 

[Fasckira]

"If I needed to hire passage to the Alderaan system at a rate of 17,000 credits a day - and had to travel 12 Parsecs at a velocity of 1500 times the speed of light, how much would this trip cost me? This, I think, is the real issue here."

Regardless, Ill give the captain 2000 now, plus 15 when we reach Alderaan.

 

[Gmano]

If you are travelling faster than the speed of light, you would arrive before you left.... meaning that the trip takes negative time... The captain has to pay you.

Unless the captain never boards the ship, and instead observed the time taken to travel at 9.5 days... Which is impossible, because he wouldn't know that the ship arrived until 14285.5 days later.

 

[Armadox]

"If I needed to hire passage to the Alderaan system at a rate of 17,000 credits a day - and had to travel 12 Parsecs at a velocity of 1500 times the speed of light, how much would this trip cost me? This, I think, is the real issue here."

Regardless, Ill give the captain 2000 now, plus 15 when we reach Alderaan.

No, no I don't think so. This is ep. 7+ we're talking about here after all. I believe that you'll be giving him 2,000 now, then all the rest of it once you're on his ship to prevent being flushed into space. Maybe you'll get to Alderaan. Maybe you'll be sold to a Hutt. Flip a coin.

 

[JoJo]

"One student sent wrote a Star Wars-themed word problem involving a kidnapped J.J. Abrams and rental fees."


Has anyone seen an editor, we need an editor here.

An editor? There ain't been no editors around these parts for a long time, traveller.

OT: That's nice of Abram, though I can't imagine it's too hard to work out.

 

[Triaed]

1 parsec = 3.26 light years
Distance 12pc = 39.2ly
1pc can be travelled in 3.26 years at the speed of light, but at 1500X it can travel the same distance in 0.02 years... or (365x.02) 7.11 days per parsec
At 17,000 credits, the cost would be $121,997 credits per parsec x 12
$1,451,970 credits* , give or take some rounding error.

*Does not account for delays caused by Imperial blockades

 

[Geisterkarle]

The real question is not this mathematical problem, but:
Was this a hint for a location in the new Star Wars movie???

 

[Neverhoodian]

It's a trick question. Prince Xizor is no longer canon (it's cool a kid knows about Shadows of the Empire, though).

I could answer Abram's problem if I wanted to but, you know, MATH.


Besides, it appears Triaed did it for us.

 

[Nami nom noms]

The answer to Abram's question is easy,the answer is 0 credits.

Alderaan no longer exists.

 

[ccggenius12]

The answer to Abram's question is easy,the answer is 0 credits.

Alderaan no longer exists.

Alderaan is a planet, and if that's where they were travelling, you'd be right. However, it's a trip to the Alderaan SYSTEM, you know, the galaxy where Alderaan used to be? Even if the planet is gone, I doubt they renamed it.
Also, the initial question is unsolvable without knowing how competent the bounty hunters are.

 

[Li Mu]

JJ is a pretty cool guy. I wonder if he'll solve my life problems if I mail them to him.
I have faith that whatever he puts out in the new Star Wars film will be entertaining. Certainly far more entertaining than the last 3 films Lucas made. It wont, however, please any of the fans who will bawwww like mad. Movie Bob will burn effigies of Abrams for not making the film exactly how he envisioned it in his dreams.

But it'll be just another popcorn movie which will be worth a watch. Nothing more.

 

[moose7]

"If I needed to hire passage to the Alderaan system at a rate of 17,000 credits a day - and had to travel 12 Parsecs at a velocity of 1500 times the speed of light, how much would this trip cost me? This, I think, is the real issue here."

12 Parsecs * 3.26 ly/parsec * 365 day/year = 14,279 light days distance.
1,500 light days per day travel speed.
14,279/1,500= 9.5 day trip.
so 10 days about for a total of 170,000 credits.

 

[Tom Roberts]

The initial question is easy as pie to solve (as opposed to pi, which is impossible to solve)

He pays 100 credits per day for rental in the speeder bikes

The bounty hunters cost either nothing (if they catch no spies) 250 credits if they catch 1 spy, or 500 if they catch 2 spies. (Note the bounty hunters are paid 50 credits each if ANY of them catch a spy, but the question asks how much is spent on them as a group.)

Thus he will never pay an equal amount on both security and speeder bikes.

Now back to hell for further studies of diabolic contracts.

 

[Trivun]

I got to roughly 162010 credits. Basically, I found how many light seconds it would take to travel 12 parsecs, and divided by 1500 to get the time taken travelling at 1500c. This gave me the journey time which I then divided by 60, then by 60 again, to get the number of hours, then divided by 24 to get the number of days journey time - roughly 9.53 days. Then I just multiplied 9.53 (as the rounded figure) by 17000 credits per day to get my total.

Anyone want to argue, go for it. I'm a Maths BSc and a quantity surveyor by trade. Numbers are my business, I will wreck your shit... ;D

Just kidding on the whole 'wreck your shit' thing. We're cool, we're cool...

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I believe the answer is around 5 shit tons

Is that Imperial shit tons or metric shit tons?

If you are travelling faster than the speed of light, you would arrive before you left.... meaning that the trip takes negative time... The captain has to pay you.

I know you're probably joking, but every sci-fi franchise with FTL travel has some sort of technical mumbo-jumbo to explain away time dilation. Star Wars just never bothered pointing it out in the movies.

JJ is a pretty cool guy. I wonder if he'll solve my life problems if I mail them to him.

"Dear Mr. Abrams: I'm deathly allergic to lens flares and shaky-cam. Is there anything you can do to help?"

 

[Caffiene]

The initial question is easy as pie to solve (as opposed to pi, which is impossible to solve)

He pays 100 credits per day for rental in the speeder bikes

The bounty hunters cost either nothing (if they catch no spies) 250 credits if they catch 1 spy, or 500 if they catch 2 spies. (Note the bounty hunters are paid 50 credits each if ANY of them catch a spy, but the question asks how much is spent on them as a group.)

Thus he will never pay an equal amount on both security and speeder bikes.

+1

If you write them out as equations they overlap at 1.25 days, but 1.25 isnt a valid option for paying the bounty hunters - they get paid twice per day (0.5 day intervals, on average).