Kate is heading off to work one fall morning, and as she does every morning, she passes a billboard that displays the current temperature in Fahrenheit in one corner, and the temperature in Celsius in the other corner.
She notices both temperatures, and thinks, 'It's a pretty nice day for late fall.' But, as the day progresses, a monstrous cold front hits town. On her way home, Kate passes the temperature billboard again, and finds that the Fahrenheit temperature is now 36 degrees colder than it was that morning. So, when she drove in it was one temperature, and now it's that temperature minus 36.But, when she looks at the Celsius temperature she's confused, because it reads exactly the same as it did that morning. Then Kate figures that the negative sign must be burned out in the display.
How cold was it?
Solution to the Problem:
The temperature must be 14 degrees Fahrenheit or -10 degrees Celsius.Earlier, it had been 50 degrees Fahrenheit or 10 degrees Celsius.
Let F = 9/5 C + 32, where F and C represent the earlier readings.
Then F - 36 = -9/5 C +32 at the later time.
Solving these two equations, we get:
2F - 36 = 64
Therefore, F = 50 degrees
and F - 36 = 14 degrees.
C = 5/9 (F - 32) yields the Celsius temperatures.
C = 5/9 (50 - 32) = 10 degrees.
C = 5/9 (14 - 32) = -10 degrees.
Correctly solved by:
| 1. Sagar Patel | Columbus, Georgia |
| 2. Walt Arrison | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| 3. Jeffrey Gaither | University of Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia |
| 4. William Proffitt | Winchester, Virginia |
| 5. Jim Arrison | Norristown, Pennsylvania |
| 6. Chris Rogers | Lord Fairfax Community College Middletown, Virginia |
| 7. Suzie Chhouk | Long Beach, California |
| 8. John Funk | Ventura, California |
| 9. Richard K. Johnson | La Jolla, California |
| 10. Keith Mealy | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| 11. Tristan Collins | Virginia Tech Blacksburg, Virginia |
| 12. Malin Fredriksson | Tullängsskolan, Örebro, Sweden |
| 13. Maggie Morrison | Winchester, Virginia |
| 14. Praveen Nandamuru | Columbus, Georgia |
| 15. Tobi Kuforiji | Columbus, Georgia |
| 16. Danny Gordon | Columbus, Georgia |
| 17. James Alarie | University of Michigan -- Flint Flint, Michigan |
| 18. Wictoria Widén | Tullängsskolan, Örebro, Sweden |
| 19. Kunal Singh | Happy Valley, Shillong, India |
| 20. Elias Hakuni | Tullängsskolan, Örebro, Sweden |
| 21. Russell Beaty | Columbus, Georgia |
| 22. Emily Sharrer and Simone Giovanetti | Harrisonburg, Virginia |
| 23. Lauren Ko | Winchester, Virginia |
| 24. Heather | ---------- |
| 25. Carter Galbraith | Columbus, Georgia |
| 26. Justin and Riaz | New york City, New York |
| 27. Blake Hudson | Columbus, Georgia |
| 28. Olivia Quach | Harrisonburg, Virginia |
| 29. Gillian Grindstaff | Dallas, Texas |
| 30. James P. Hus | Highland, Indiana |
| 31. Stephen O'Hara | Winchester, Virginia |
| 32. Bob Bardsley | Phoenixville, Pennsylvania |
| 33. Evelyne Stalzer | Montville, New Jersey |
| 34. Tom Robb | Winchester, Virginia |
| 35. Ken Petersen | Mountain View, Wyoming |
| 36. Erin Fennacy | Fresno, California |
| 37. Kelley Kolar | Winchester, Virginia |
| 38. David & Judy Dixon | Bennettsville, South Carolina |
| 39. Zaza Carlzon | Tullängen, Sweden |
| 40. Bharvi Desai | Columbus, Georgia |
| 41. Andrew Montoya | Winchester, Virginia |
| 42. Larry Schwartz | Norwalk, Connecticut |
| 43. Emily Powell | Winchester, Virginia |
| 44. Arin Smith | University of Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia |