Comments by "Christian Baune" (@programaths) on "Horizon Zero Dawn's Apocalypse: The Science" video.

  1. No, the riddle is to introduce thinking backward. Problems are given forward most of the time. It's the same kind of problem involving two train going to collide and where you are asked the distance between them some time before collision. Lot of kids will not see they can add the speed and do a simple multiplication. They will compute where they meet, then the distance each train could do backward. Some will even be unable to complete the assignment. It' s as much important than learning that "no solution" or "anything is a solution" are possible answer. Even going from whole number to decimal number as possible answers is a milestone. (negative number being a huge deal too!) The problem that shows power of two is the one with the chess board and the paper folding one too. You assume it's 1 mm thick, then fold 10 times, it's already around 1m thick. Do it 20 times and it's 1km. Another kind of problem used before learning solving equations with exponents is asking how long a given amount of money was placed with compound interest. The trick being that pupils just have to compute with a bigger and bigger exponent. This shows that sometimes, there is no smart ways around and you've to just solve by exhaustion. People don't realize it, because they don't study that, they get to practice it. So, that's part of the knowledge we acquire without being really aware of it. (like most of native language skills)
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