My brother-in-law gave us a quiz for our Christmas present last year. It was meant to take us the year to finish, and we have one question left. We are allowed to ask anyone we like, and I figured that if anyone could find out the answer, it was the combined intellect of Hatrack.
The Question
At the end of the 1970s there were 39 of one and 0 of the other. At the end of 2007 there were 46 of one and 33 of the other. What?
Please post your answers here, and if you want to know any more about the quiz itself then I'm happy to explain it in more detail.
Posts: 1550 | Registered: Jun 1999
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posted
Do we know if the "one" and the "other" are the same in the two times? That is, did 39 -> 46, or might it be 39 -> 33?
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
We aren't sure, but yes, we think "one" and "the other" are the same in the two times. You could be right about Asia, but then what would "the other" be... unless it's countries in the former Soviet Union?
Edited to add: I looked up the Asian countries on Wikipedia and while there might well be 46 now, depending on how you define Asia, I don't think there were 39 at the end of the 70s.
posted
If it were the beginning of the 1970s, "the one" could be Vice Presidents . . . (I noticed the 46 matched up, and Spiro Agnew became the 39th in 1969).
Was there any theme to the questions on this quiz? Were many/any of them political?
I was thinking "the other" might be a holiday that was created in the 1970s, but it would have had to have been created too early in the 1970s (assuming it was annual) for there to have been 0 at that point.
posted
There wasn't a theme. The questions were pretty wide-ranging, covering geography, mathematics, music and other general randomnesses. Jonathan (brother in law) is interested in politics, and there aren't any other political questions in the quiz. We also thought it might be related to religion somehow.
Posts: 1550 | Registered: Jun 1999
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quote:Originally posted by fugu13: If it were the beginning of the 1970s, "the one" could be Vice Presidents . . . (I noticed the 46 matched up, and Spiro Agnew became the 39th in 1969).
The question says the end of the 70s.
Posts: 2437 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by amira tharani: The Question
At the end of the 1970s there were 39 of one and 0 of the other. At the end of 2007 there were 46 of one and 33 of the other. What?
Please post your answers here, and if you want to know any more about the quiz itself then I'm happy to explain it in more detail.
I assume that the two categories are either white and black or male and female of some position. More likely the latter. Something where the number of males who've held a position has increased by 7 over the past 28 years, but the number of females has gone from 0 to 33.
It can't be cabinet positions, because you'd need a very arbitrary starting point, or else you'd wind up with far more than 79 of them altogether.
What other things have changed a lot in the last 28 years in an uneven way? Something where there've a cumulative 40 of them in that timespan?
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
amira tharani: For the quiz, was there any general pattern to the answers? i.e. were they all straight up factual answers, were there many trick answers or answers involving wordplay?
Posts: 7593 | Registered: Sep 2006
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posted
I also lean towards thinking the question is gender based, but I doubt it is race based, because I can't think of any public office or agency that would have had so many minority leaders or members added in such a short time- the population of at least the US is still majority white, so whites will be nearly always be the majority in any national organization by default.
Some fields in which the gender switch might be applicable: sports (such as the Olympics), political positions of some kind, something to do with astronauts (I think this is a stronger possibility).
Edit: It took me a long time to look up the information, but according to the NASA factbook, there are currently 98 astronauts in the US space program, not including internationals and cosmonauts. That's a few more than 79, but the 79 number might depend on a different variation of the question, or the list I accessed may include some people excluded from the information the question is based on.
Edit again: It may be a dead end- by my count there are about 22 female US astronauts in the program.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Orincoro: Edit: It took me a long time to look up the information, but according to the NASA factbook, there are currently 98 astronauts in the US space program, not including internationals and cosmonauts. That's a few more than 79, but the 79 number might depend on a different variation of the question, or the list I accessed may include some people excluded from the information the question is based on.
Yes, but how many were there at the end of 2007?
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posted
amira is in London, if I remember correctly, so the people focusing on US stuff might be on the wrong track. Unless your brother is in the US?
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Um, this is crazy, but I think I have found an answer. A search for "there are 46" "and 33" on google kicked out, of all things, Mr. Men books.
In 1978, there were 39 Mr. Men books and 0 Little Miss books. The Little Miss books started in 1981. According to certain sources, there are now 46 Mr. Men books and 33 Little Miss books.
This is helped by the wikipedia page on the subject, which lists the Mr. Men books and the Little Miss books, with dates. There are more, but they are special editions not included in the Mr. Men/Little Miss books.
So, uh, it appears to fit perfectly.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Orincoro: Edit: It took me a long time to look up the information, but according to the NASA factbook, there are currently 98 astronauts in the US space program, not including internationals and cosmonauts. That's a few more than 79, but the 79 number might depend on a different variation of the question, or the list I accessed may include some people excluded from the information the question is based on.
Yes, but how many were there at the end of 2007?
I found it unlikely that NASA had lost 11 female astronauts and gained 30 males in one year.
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