homehome Home chatchat Notifications


They did the math - things you won't believe people on the internet calculated

Every once in a while, you stumble upon a statement or question so preposterous that you don’t even bother thinking  about it – but somewhere, someone on the internet did the math. This is a list of that kind of things – crazy things that someone actually calculated. This is not real science though, so […]

Mihai Andrei
June 18, 2015 @ 1:47 pm

share Share

Every once in a while, you stumble upon a statement or question so preposterous that you don’t even bother thinking  about it – but somewhere, someone on the internet did the math. This is a list of that kind of things – crazy things that someone actually calculated. This is not real science though, so just take it as a fun algebra exercise:

1. Who would win: 1 waterfall or 100 billion paper towels?

Verdict: It’s a long drawn battle, but in the end, after one week, water would overcome the paper – just like Bruce lee taught us.

 

2. Why the magic carpet ride in Aladin couldn’t happen

Verdict: It’s just too fast.

3. A motivational poster gone wrong

Verdict: Sure, you could look at this and think that’s “working intelligent”, but that’s just wrong on many levels. Thankfully, a math guy came in to solve the problem.

4. How far Sam and Frodo actually went

Verdict: We’ve all seen The Lord of the Rings (hopefully), and we all know that Frodo and Sam go a long way. But how long? Well, someone calculated:

Oh, and for the Americans:

5. What has more donuts: round donuts or square donuts?

Verdict: Someone was upset that he’s wasting precious donut space with square donuts, but the math proved him wrong – square donuts do have more donuts (now I’m just saying donuts here).

6. Just how absurd are medical expenses in the US?

Verdict: You could go to Spain from the US, live there for two years, replace your hip, replace it again, go back to the US, buy an Iphone, and it would still be cheaper than replacing it in the US.

7. Why this apparently unstable ladder is actually really stable

Verdict: It’s just basic physics, really.

8. Who is more powerful – Superman or Son Goku?

Verdict: It’s a question that has puzzled researchers and kids alike for years – is Son Goku more powerful than Superman? Well, of course, someone calculated – and the answer is yes. Son Goku could beat superman without even winking.

9. Local police claim they’ve confiscated $2.5 million in marijuana – and they’re almost certainly lying

Verdict: Simply by crunching some numbers, you end up with a highly unreasonable scenario – get it together, Benicia police!

10. If you could fold a regular sheet of paper 103 times, it would be as wide as the entire Universe

Verdict: Yes, this is true, we also wrote about it here.

11. When you’re running, you’re actually hovering most of the time

Verdict: For a fast paced 10 mile run, you’d be off the ground for over 7 minutes.

12. Why you should write ‘u’ instead of ‘you’

Verdict: It could save you one day a year.

13. Student on university spotted page calculates how much time someone has fantasized about a girl

Verdict: Just tell her something, man…

14. A user calculates another user’s penis size

Verdict: …uhm… I just don’t know.

share Share

Miyazaki Hates Your Ghibli-fied Photos and They're Probably a Copyright Breach Too

“I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself,” he said.

The Roundest (and Most Rectangular) Countries, According to Math

Apparently, Sierra Leone is both very round and quite rectangular.

A Cartoonish Crash Test Raises Real Questions About Tesla’s Autopilot

Mark Rober pits Tesla against lidar in a real-life Wile E. Coyote experiment.

Speedrunners Just Discovered a Strange Problem With Old SNES Consoles: They're Sounding Faster

An old hardware choice means that the music is speeding up with the passing years.

The Return of the Bookstore: Brick and Mortar Shops Making Stunning Comeback

Young readers are fueling a surprising bookstore renaissance.

The smallest handmade sculpture in the world is no bigger than a blood cell

An artist has created the world’s smallest LEGO sculpture — so tiny it’s barely larger than a white blood cell.

Meet the Teen Who Can Add 100 Numbers in 30 Second and Broke 6 Guinness World Records for Mental Math

The Indian teenager is officially the world's fastest "human calculator".

From Fika to Friluftsliv: Four Scandinavian Concepts that Will Make Your Life Happier and Healthier (and a Bonus)

Sweden’s “Lagom,” and Denmark’s “Hygge,” aren’t just trendy words — they’re philosophies that promote well-being and balance.

What would happen if a (small) black hole passed through your body?

Imagine a supervillain attacking you with his unique superpower of creating small black holes. An invisible force zips through your body at unimaginable speed. You feel no push, no heat, yet, deep inside your body, atoms momentarily shift in response to the gravitational pull of something tiny yet immensely dense — a primordial black hole […]

Dutch scientists left a hamster wheel outside. Then, all the animals started playing with it

It seems that animals simply love to play.