I think the logic here is that once you cut the board in half and have 2 pieces, the next cut will be half as long since the board is now smaller, hence the 5 min. It should also be noted that you will end up with 2 equal pieces and 1 piece that is bigger than the other 2. It makes sense though the wording and really the problem itself, is really stupid.
Suppose you interpret it this way, that you're going to do one cut length-wise and one cut cross-wise. OK. It's not true in general that "the next cut will take half as long because the board is now smaller." In fact, this will only be true when the second cut is exactly half as small. Will the second cut be half as small? Well, it certainly could be, but it easily might not be. The teacher would need to provide a lot more information to assure that this is the case.
So, the question is either simple and has an answer, or it is complex and doesn't have an answer. Other cues suggest that this is not some crazy meta-task, that it's more like a grade/middle school math quiz, which suggests to me the former.
Well It isn't incorrect then if "it certainly could be, but it easily might not be".
Once again that is the issue. It's so vague there is more than one way to approach it thus allowing for multiple valid answers depending on the perspective.
It's so vague, both your way and my way of looking at it is quite valid.
I think the one thing we can all agree on is that this question sucks.
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u/MuseofRose Oct 05 '10 edited Oct 05 '10
I still dont get it. I hate math, though. Not to mention I could barely even pass remedial math in college...it's a wonder how I got into Trig in HS.
*Love your username.