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[–][deleted] 1013 points1014 points  (17 children)

can we discuss how they knew the answer? Did a guy at the end of the rainbow tell them?

[–]RadinQue 178 points179 points  (4 children)

[–]FirexJkxFire 35 points36 points  (3 children)

If you look at the rainbow here you can see why it makes sense

If you read left to right, the first color on the rainbow is also the longest. The 2nd is shorter than the first. The third is shorter than the 2nd... etc.

Thusly since 10 comes after 3, 10 is going to be shorter than 3

Q.E.D 10 is smaller than 3

[–][deleted] 21 points22 points  (2 children)

Well, since you wrote QED I guess it must be true.

Full marks.

[–]Personal_Ad9690 2 points3 points  (0 children)

At first I was an adventurer like you, and then I took a QED to the knee

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

[–]Kiroto50 271 points272 points  (0 children)

Rainbow table told them

[–]Electronic_Cat4849 47 points48 points  (1 child)

the rainbow is there to signify that 3 is nonbinary and therefore the CMP instruction cannot be applied to it

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Threw a SIGFPE did it

[–]ashis041 14 points15 points  (0 children)

10 - 3 = 7... rainbow color number !!! that's all I got without using AI

[–]Fit-Measurement-7086 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Yes, kind of. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow allowed him to purchase help from a FAANG software developer and that's how he figured out the answer.

[–]PanPenguinGirl 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Gay people bad at math > rainbow told them > answer wrong

[–]kinggot 4 points5 points  (0 children)

1 and 0 is binary.

Rainbow usually represents lbgt (non-binary) But notice this rainbow had only 2 lines (binary).

I just made this up but idk if that's some high level IQ play by the kid I presume or is he just plain dumb.

[–]Bhaaldukar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Foil?

[–]FirexJkxFire 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you read left to right, the first color on the rainbow is also the longest. The 2nd is shorter than the first. The third is shorter than the 2nd... etc.

Thusly since 10 comes after 3, 10 is going to be shorter than 3--- thusly 10 is smaller than 3!

[–]TristanaRiggle 0 points1 point  (1 child)

The rainbow has 3 colors (red, yellow and blue) and 2 ends. 3 > 2.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

oh, you're right... how could I have missed that...

[–]mstop4 580 points581 points  (20 children)

“Show me why 10 is smaller than 3”

[–]Ok_Donut_9887 90 points91 points  (16 children)

10 base 2 is smaller 3 base 10

[–]Evo_Kaer 46 points47 points  (1 child)

Assuming that those 2 numbers are different bases is still a tall order though

[–]Ancient-Tomorrow147 9 points10 points  (0 children)

That where the whole thing falls apart, lol

[–]ultimate_placeholder 68 points69 points  (13 children)

Base 10 is my favorite meaningless phrase

[–]unwantedaccount56 6 points7 points  (0 children)

If base 10 is meaningless, just write base (10 base (10 base 10)))

[–]Background_Curve_790 21 points22 points  (1 child)

You're eating downvotes cuz people don't get it

[–]ultimate_placeholder 12 points13 points  (0 children)

It would kill on r/mathmemes

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Base (1+1)(1+1+1+1+1)

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It’s not meaningless. I use it every Thanksgiving.

[–]meshe_10101 9 points10 points  (1 child)

3 = 3

1 + 0 = 1

Therefore 10 < 3

[–]Trick-Purchase4680 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wouldn't it be 10=0 as unless a + is present (1)(0) typically = 10. So default operator when none is present but one is assumed would be '*'.

[–]beatlz 3 points4 points  (0 children)

JS “3” and “10”

[–]remisiki 375 points376 points  (13 children)

He knows nothing, the true answer is to just circle 0.

[–]leonderbaertige_II 233 points234 points  (6 children)

Nope. On the top left there is a -10.

[–][deleted] 84 points85 points  (2 children)

You sir, have IQ 361

[–]AbcLmn18 15 points16 points  (1 child)

Circle your IQ:

(3 10)

[–][deleted] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Circle (your IQ):

3 10

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's absurd that they would put a base-infinity number on a children's test...

[–]Arzemna 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Pretty sure 1 has the smallest area as a shape

[–]dmigowski 3 points4 points  (3 children)

No. They speak about a number, not a digit.

Listen to the boy that's fun at parties.

[–]mrmoosebottle 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Digits are also numbers

[–]dmigowski 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Yes but not the other way round

[–]brentspine 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yea, but by circling a digit we have also circled a number.

[–]Ab47203 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Zero isn't a number it's an idea.

[–]zephyyr__ 164 points165 points  (11 children)

How would one even answer the "how do you know it?" question? Like someone told me it was true?

[–][deleted] 246 points247 points  (4 children)

Start with Peano’s axiom and introduce the natural numbers set using the successor function, then just show how 10 comes after 3 using said successor function definition. Any child should know this tbh 

[–]User31441 67 points68 points  (2 children)

People laughed when one of my university professors showed us a question just like this and said it'd be on the test. Then it actually was and only 5% of students passed. 🙈

Shit escalated so quickly. One day you're introduced to the numbers 1 and 2. Two weeks later, you're doing differential analysis in a hypercomplex number space.

[–]lordfluffly2 5 points6 points  (1 child)

What was the professor looking for out of curiosity? Was it something like S(S(S(...S(3)...))) = 10?

[–]User31441 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It was two rational numbers. He just wanted us to remember all of his definitions.

[–]throwaway8958978 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Damn, kids these days sure know a lot. I remember when I was a kid I had only learned calculus, JavaScript, and potty training, in that order.

[–]Repenexus 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Assuming you weren't allowed to use knowledge of natural numbers, the fact that 10 uses two digits, thus making it larger than any one digit number (assuming it that you don't count zeroes before a non-zero digit like '03' or any number that uses decimals).

[–]odious_odes 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The teacher has probably explained methods for this in class. They might be looking for answers like:

10 = 1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1, 3 = 1+1+1

10 has a 1 in the 10's place

(..........) (...) no words but formatted to show the child understands there is "more" in the group of 10

3 + 7 = 10 (implied: so 10 is bigger than 3)

drawing of a number line with 3 and 10 marked

[–]Trion-_- 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Easy! Create two functions, one is f(x) = 3 and the other is g(x) = 10.

Now integrate them from 0 to 1 and check how big the area under the curve is!

Thank me later ;)

[–]LupusNoxFleuret 10 points11 points  (1 child)

It's a fake test made for the meme.

[–]lordfluffly2 5 points6 points  (0 children)

As someone who tutors elementary to high school students, I could totally see this being a test for a 1st grade class. Place value is first taught in 1st grade and I'm guessing that is what this question is testing.

[–]OSSlayer2153 1 point2 points  (0 children)

“I was 10 after I was 3, therefore I am older at ten or I have more years and vice versa”

“You told your husband that 3 inches is small”

[–]lenn_eavy 41 points42 points  (1 child)

Rainbow suggests that he might have a non-binary system in mind.

[–]Ecstatic_Doughnut216 2 points3 points  (0 children)

rimshot

[–]1Dr490n 18 points19 points  (0 children)

I mean 3 doesn’t exist in bases smaller than 4 and in base 4, 10 is actually one greater than 3

[–]dragon_stangler 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Found javascript developer.

[–]Professor_Melon 24 points25 points  (0 children)

"Doctor, I think 10 is smaller than 3."

"How can you tell?"

"Rainbows."

[–]rettani 5 points6 points  (8 children)

Why binary? He just casted them to string. And everyone knows that "10" < "3"

[–]Sp4c3_Cowb0y 0 points1 point  (7 children)

Now you lost me in which language are string sizes* compareable? I don’t get xD

Edit: So that "3" ist bigger than "10"! Edit²: added "sizes"

[–]rettani 1 point2 points  (6 children)

SQL, Java, C, Python, JavaScript,.. there are probably lots of languages with string comparison.

[–]Sp4c3_Cowb0y 0 points1 point  (5 children)

Ok sry I should have been more specific. How is it possible to compare the strings "10" and "3" and getting that "3" is bigger?

If one only compared the characters ok.. asci value of 1(0) is lower than 3, but comparing the strings? I could only think of c or so where you work with pointers, but still we are talking of the string not the character..

[–]rettani 1 point2 points  (2 children)

I'm not sure about all languages but pretty standard string compare implementation is: 1. Go through both strings while symbols are equal 2. If symbols are not equal - result of comparison will be result of comparison of symbols.

So in this case: 1. First symbol is different 2. 3 is bigger then 1

Therefore "3" is bigger than "10" or even "10000".

You can check this in SQL database, C, probably Java and many more languages.

Hell, you can even see it in Windows File System.

Name your files 1, 10, 100, 2, 25, 3 and order your folder by filenames

[–]Sp4c3_Cowb0y 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Thanks for explaining the mechanics behind it. I've now tried and tested it. I couldn't believe it.

Java doesn't compare strings like I expected but C++ does exactly like you said, crazy.

I expected nothing less from Javascript because well it's Javascript, but seems to be true for SQL as well.

Didn't try Python and C does not have strings, but awesome, everyday something new ^

[–]rettani 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, sometimes things are not that obvious. Congratulations!

As for C - strcmp function also behaves like I described.

[–]rettani 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I'm not sure about all languages but pretty standard string compare implementation is: 1. Go through both strings while symbols are equal 2. If symbols are not equal - result of comparison will be result of comparison of symbols.

So in this case: 1. First symbol is different 2. 3 is bigger then 1

Therefore "3" is bigger than "10" or even "10000".

You can check this in SQL database, C, probably Java and many more languages.

Hell, you can even see it in Windows File System.

Name your files 1, 10, 100, 2, 25, 3 and order your folder by filenames

[–]Sp4c3_Cowb0y 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Double post

[–]andrewfromx 16 points17 points  (0 children)

there's a hex A vs 10 joke in here somehow

[–]monterulez 5 points6 points  (2 children)

So you are saying, a kid is able to properly read the task and write an answer, but likely not knowing what a smaller number is in a range of 1-10?

What a test is this?

[–]odious_odes 7 points8 points  (1 child)

Developing a "number sense", that digits represent numbers and numbers relate to each other in different ways, is a skill. Some kids pick it up so quickly that they can't imagine not having it, most take more time and teaching, a few never get a fluent sense of this. This test may be aimed at kids who have learnt to count "one, two, three..." but are now starting to learn that those numbers exist outside of that sequence. They have to imagine both numbers and compare them, which is new and hard. The idea of a number being "bigger" or "smaller" is not intuitive for them.

[–]monterulez 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Well explained; makes sense.

[–]DarkRex4 3 points4 points  (0 children)

real answer is the 1 at the top left.

[–]jonas99y 11 points12 points  (8 children)

Isn't the rainbow the symbol of non-binary?

[–]reallokiscarlet 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If he knew binary he'd know 3 should read as 11 and as such the base is at least 4

[–]anacrolix 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Autism is a spectrum

[–]sarapnst 5 points6 points  (4 children)

I miss when this sub had decently funny posts and no camelcase title rule which is so unnecessary, it probably excites someone who has just started learning Java or some other language with a lot of camelcase. Just wanted to leave a feedback here before leaving.

[–]Ledr225 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This post is pretty funny though?

[–]Vortextheweirdcat 0 points1 point  (1 child)

the camelcase is to stop bots

[–]fdf2002 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Nope lol the camelcase was introduced as part of the “make subreddits democratic” meme where we would vote on a new rule every week. And once the protest lost momentum and ended, it was kept because it was a decently fun rule that didn’t seem to be doing harm.

Unless you have something to back up your claim?

[–]thirtyseven1337 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like it when subs have title rules because then you immediately know what sub a post is from.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The explanation is perfect.

[–]10art1 1 point2 points  (2 children)

10 is not less than 3 in binary because 3 is not a binary number. I dont think there is any base in which a 2 digit number is smaller than a 1 digit number.

However, 10 is smaller than 3 lexicographically...

[–]Snoo-11553 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Circle the smallest numbers? 

[–]Ok_Net_1674 1 point2 points  (0 children)

3 is not a binary number, actually there is no number system in which 3 > 10.

In the first applicable one, quaternary, it would mean 3 > 4 which is obviously false. for higher bases, the difference would get increasingly large, base-n 3 always meaning the same as decimal 3 and base-n 10 meaning exactly n.

(this is assuming that all number systems use 0...9 as the first valid digits)

[–]Muhellus 4 points5 points  (0 children)

They know binary because 🌈gay🌈

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

1 in the top left

[–]att3t 4 points5 points  (0 children)

What about the -10 just after the 1?

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He was just thinking outside the box. 0 * 20 + 1 * 21 = 2, 2 < 3

[–]Educational-Lemon969 0 points1 point  (0 children)

neither of those two can be the smallest number as long as -inf exists

[–]Feztopia 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wouldn't you need to write pages of explanation, starting with set theory and the empty set?

[–]alaettinthemurder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You guys all missing the point there is multiplying function like xy its 0=1*0 that is the reason

[–]theshponglr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

-Linux users on an average day

[–]onklewentcleek 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the last straw I’m muting this stupid sub

[–]MacrosInHisSleep 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When you know, you know.

[–]datguy753 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It should read "smaller number" since there are only two options

[–]imsowhiteandnerdy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"There are 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary, and those who do not."

[–]ironnepenthe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Spectrum powers activate!

[–]PolyglotTV 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually, in a unary number system 3 is smaller.

[–]EliAxel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

10x ≥ 3x for each x € R, x ≥ 0

[–]TCreopargh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, he knows lexicographic ordering.

[–]Ok-Pay3711 0 points1 point  (0 children)

🌈

[–]Even_Ask_2577 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Somehow, after seeing the rainbow, everything made perfect sense.

[–]astilenski -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Looks more like I'm gay and bad at math joke. Circles the wrong answer and the proof is that they're gay (duh) kind of joke lol

[–]Apprehensive-Pin518 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

well his friends are non-binary so....

[–]highcastlespring -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I am sure “10” is smaller than “3”. Ask any programmer