AAAAARRRGGGHHH!

[crisgal]

If a brick weighs a pound and a half a brick how much does a brick and a half weigh?

[crisgal]

that's the rtickiness of the question johne - my dad asked it at party. He just kept saying it as I've written it.
Some got the answer right and he wouldn't tell me what the answer was or how to work it out - just left me dangling so to speak.
It's driving me mental and he won't tell me. He just laughs and says work it out!

[starone]

Have you got the right answer yet, before I go crazy? I made it 2.25lbs but I could be wrong as maths is not my strong point.

[dotty.]

eh?
so the 'pound and a half a brick' is supposed to be read as a brick weighs a 1lb PLUS the weight of a half of it, so therefore a brick is 1lb plus 8ozs so a brick and a half would be 1lb 8ozs plus 12ozs which is 2lb 4ozs

sod it I'm off out to pick my son up from work, it's too late to be bamboozled

[bibblebub]

let me put it in a more wordy way:

a brick = a pound + half a brick

take away half a brick from both sides of the equation: half a brick = a pound

thus a brick weighs 2 pounds

and so a brick and a half weighs 3 pounds

[ladyalex]

lets say a brick weighs x lbs
A brick weighs 1lb and half a brick
that is 1lb plus 0.5x
So, x(the weight of the brick) = 1lb + 0.5x
x=1 + 0.5x
subtract 0.5x from both sides
x-0.5x =1
0.5x=1
so x(th weight of the brick) = 2lbs
so one and a half bricks weighs 3 lbs

[scotman]

The answer is 3. It was the way you typed it that confused me at first.

[dotty.]

2.25lbs is 3lbs and 9oza as there are 16 ozs in 1lb, you can't have .25 of 1lb that's mixing up your wotsits
and half a brick weights half of the whole brick which was 1lb plus half the brick which is, oh forget it

[theweedrammer]

Not the way it was typed that confused, the question is designed to confuse the listener/ reader, hence Crisgals dad had so much fun!

[johne1892]

Thank you Bibble...perfectly explained!

[crisgal]

bibble - i get it now! thank you thank you thank you

scotman - you are funny, is that your final answer? ♥

[sandyRoe]

I had a grade B in GCSE maths a long time ago. All forgotten now :-(

[crisgal]

PMSL at dotty - i know just how she feels x
keep going - you'll get it!

[guilliebrougues]

2lbs 4 ozs in otherwords 36 ozs.

[guilliebrougues]

2 lbs 4 ozs in otherwords 36 ozs.

[squarebear]

33 post for this?!

A brick weighs 1 pound plus half a brick, so half a brick must weight 1 pound.
One brick therefore weighs 2 pound.

A brick and half must therefore weigh 3 pounds.

Where on earth are people getting 2lbs 4oz from?

[guilliebrougues]

2lbs 4 ozs or you could say 36 ozs. whatever one brick weighs you just have to halve it again and add to the first brick. to get the answer.

[squarebear]

But 1 brick weighs 2 lbs

[guilliebrougues]

correction the answers are the same they both weigh the same as each other it is like saying which weighs the heaviest 1lb of coal or 1lb of feathers. they both weigh the same.

[abiloveswine]

does it really matter?

[nightmare]

like you, Squarebear, I despair at the misinformed answers generated by this sort of question.

The problem seems to be associated with the inclusion of "a" before "half" in the first part of the question.
People seem to be reading that as a brick weighing a pound and a half per brick.