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General Knowledge Quiz
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AlterEgo
Veteran Member
Sorry, what is the question? I notice there wasn't one actually included in the post.
DaleCooper
Established Member
My mother-in-law's vital statistics.
Runway numbers for somewhere, or flight ceilings in thousands of feet for three different types of aircraft (I'll guess Concorde, SR71 and the U2).
Actually I don't think it would be Runway numbers unless the airport has a really weird layout. Ha ha.
Actually the altitudes is probably wrong to as 38000 isn't that high.
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DaleCooper
Established Member
American bombers B36, XB48 and XB56?
DaleCooper
Established Member
If it's a complete set of three bombers then I can only think of the V-Bombers; Valiant, Victor and Vulcan but I don't know where the numbers fit in to that.
Boeing customer code 36 is for BA, 48 is for Aer Lingus and 56 is for Iberia. These are the main members of International Airlines Group. This would make it a complete list - Vueling is the fourth main operator in the group but has not purchased aircraft from Boeing.
Getting the answer to that question makes me feel sad. In a similar spirit, I'll give you the following numbers:
2
3
5
7
13
17
19
31
61
89
These are the first ten numbers in a sequence in the field of pure mathematics. What is that sequence?
2
3
5
7
13
17
19
31
61
89
These are the first ten numbers in a sequence in the field of pure mathematics. What is that sequence?
Prime numbers, I've not even checked, pure guess.
Only saw the first couple before I posted. I reckon I am right for once unless I have missed something.
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DaleCooper
Established Member
They are a type of Mersenne prime?
You are very close, but they are not all Mersenne primes. Have a think about what Mersenne primes are and you should get there.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Bump.
I'm really surprised no-one's got this yet. Because Dale's last guess was sooooo close!
Just to recap:
1) We know that they're all prime numbers, but the link is more complex than just that.
2) Not all of the numbers are in themselves Mersenne primes (that's a bit of a hint!), but Mersenne primes are an important part of the answer.
As another hint: the sequence is conjectured to have infinite members, yet only 49 have been identified thus far. The largest known number in the sequence is 74,207,281.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Bump.
I'm really surprised no-one's got this yet. Because Dale's last guess was sooooo close!
Just to recap:
1) We know that they're all prime numbers, but the link is more complex than just that.
2) Not all of the numbers are in themselves Mersenne primes (that's a bit of a hint!), but Mersenne primes are an important part of the answer.
As another hint: the sequence is conjectured to have infinite members, yet only 49 have been identified thus far. The largest known number in the sequence is 74,207,281.
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DaleCooper
Established Member
I don't understand it really but it appears to be something to do with Mersenne prime exponents which when applied to an equation I can't type here results in Mersenne primes - does that make any sense?
As for being surprised; I don't think you should be.
As for being surprised; I don't think you should be.
^You've essentially got it.
It was a deliberately difficult question, but I was quite surprised that you got so close and then stopped guessing when you were almost there! I thought someone was going to get it last night.
For those who don't know:
A prime number is a whole number divisible only by itself and 1. For example, 3 is a prime number (divides by 3 and 1 only), whereas 4 is not (divides by 4 and 1, but also 2).
A Mersenne prime is a subset of prime numbers that can be expressed in the following format:
M(P)=(2^P)-1 - i.e. the prime number is one less than a power of two.
All the exponents that create a Mersenne prime are themselves prime numbers, but the exponent being prime does not guarantee
And that's what these numbers are. These are the primes that, when substituted for the value of P in the above equation, give you Mersenne primes. These are the prime exponents that generate Mersenne primes.
2 is not a Mersenne prime (hence why I couldn't accept your last answer), but 2^2 = 4, 4-1 is 3. 3 is a Mersenne prime. The numbers get big really quickly - the largest known Mersenne prime (2^74,207,281-1) has over 22 million digits.
Anyway, Dale's floor.
It was a deliberately difficult question, but I was quite surprised that you got so close and then stopped guessing when you were almost there! I thought someone was going to get it last night.
For those who don't know:
A prime number is a whole number divisible only by itself and 1. For example, 3 is a prime number (divides by 3 and 1 only), whereas 4 is not (divides by 4 and 1, but also 2).
A Mersenne prime is a subset of prime numbers that can be expressed in the following format:
M(P)=(2^P)-1 - i.e. the prime number is one less than a power of two.
All the exponents that create a Mersenne prime are themselves prime numbers, but the exponent being prime does not guarantee
And that's what these numbers are. These are the primes that, when substituted for the value of P in the above equation, give you Mersenne primes. These are the prime exponents that generate Mersenne primes.
2 is not a Mersenne prime (hence why I couldn't accept your last answer), but 2^2 = 4, 4-1 is 3. 3 is a Mersenne prime. The numbers get big really quickly - the largest known Mersenne prime (2^74,207,281-1) has over 22 million digits.
Anyway, Dale's floor.
theageofthetra
On Moderation
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- 27 May 2012
- Messages
- 3,504
How is any of this 'general knowledge'?
krus_aragon
Established Member
In general, by reading this thread, you gain knowledge.
More realistically, this thread does swing back and forth through different topics. We've had stints of all sorts of questions over the many pages of the thread. If you want to steer the quiz, grab an open floor and set a question!
Very much applied general knowledge. Knowing that there are pretty smart people on here, it seemed perfectly reasonable to post a challenging question and they lived up to it. Within two guesses we were within a whisker of the real answer. I'd argue that it was a much better question than three random numbers that happen to relate to airline ordering codes. It's amazing how many questions quickly descend into "guess what I'm thinking" (Odd One Out rounds being particularly prone to this). I had a difficult, but clear question with (I think) just one possible answer (although I would have accepted any other answers that coincidentally happened to work).
But I'll keep quiet from now on then.
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AlterEgo
Veteran Member
It is difficult to have a proper trivia quiz on a forum in the age of Google and Wikipedia.
DaleCooper
Established Member
I'm no mathematician but I had heard the term "Mersenne prime" so I took gamble with my first guess. me123's response and the lack of any other guesses led me to do a bit of research which anyone could have done.
In general, by reading this thread, you gain knowledge.
More realistically, this thread does swing back and forth through different topics. We've had stints of all sorts of questions over the many pages of the thread. If you want to steer the quiz, grab an open floor and set a question!
I agree with this; those questions I can't answer are more valuable because I learn something.
Don't keep quiet, keep them coming. We need variety and despite the difficulty of your question it was 2^74,207,281-1 times better than an "Odd One Out" question.
Next question (which hopefully occupies the middle ground):
Where do electric fans come with a health warning?
'Cause people are idiots.
They come with cages because people put fingers in them and they often have flappy things attached because people need to see when they are on.
Is this anything to do with having a Kite mark or requiring labelling standards.
Or simply.... the EU made us do it
Or tinking about it. Is it because the spread of infections diseases etc can be increased by the flow of air around a room ?
AlterEgo
Veteran Member
The question was where, not why.
I am sure the answer to this is South Korea, which has a famous fan death hysteria.
DaleCooper
Established Member
South Korea is the correct answer and it's more than hysteria, government agencies have actually advised against using electric fans when sleeping in rooms with the windows closed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4287
AlterEgo
Veteran Member
I assume it's my floor.
What's unusual about a map of this place?
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d53.694651!4d-0.744019
What's unusual about a map of this place?
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d53.694651!4d-0.744019
Well at first I thought it was the Microsoft XP field but then realised it wasn't in the US. Then I threw in a Google search for the locale in case it was the site of some ancient city.
And then the answer presented itself. That field is OS Square SE830220, the most desolate grid square in the UK with no features at all.
And then the answer presented itself. That field is OS Square SE830220, the most desolate grid square in the UK with no features at all.