A mathematical genius needed

[alankearn]

As a 75 year old I did all of my schooling in the 1930/40s, at that time the only sums you did involved plus +, minus -, multiply X, and division (no symbol on K/board) Never the less I consider myself reasonably good at doing the the maths tests in both the Mail and Express rarely failing to get the correct answers (yes without pen, paper, or calculator). Today was an exception and I was completely baffled, and I know my wife is going to ask me this same question a little later on and I am going to feel fool because she thinks I am Albert Einstein.

 

What is the answer to

 

8 raised to the third power

 

and how do you arrive at the answer (for the next time it turns up)

 

Thanks

[LibertyBell]

As a 75 year old I did all of my schooling in the 1930/40s, at that time the only sums you did involved plus +, minus -, multiply X, and division (no symbol on K/board) Never the less I consider myself reasonably good at doing the the maths tests in both the Mail and Express rarely failing to get the correct answers (yes without pen, paper, or calculator). Today was an exception and I was completely baffled, and I know my wife is going to ask me this same question a little later on and I am going to feel fool because she thinks I am Albert Einstein.

 

What is the answer to

 

8 raised to the third power

 

and how do you arrive at the answer (for the next time it turns up)

 

Thanks

 

 

 

this is not mathematics. Its arithmetic

 

 

signed

 

Armistead Pedant

 

 

ps the answer is 8x8x8=512

[heavenlyarts]

8*8*8 = 512

[BasilRathbon]

I suspect we're all waiting to reply, just in case we get it wrong and feel daft.

 

I'll have a go; as I understand it, 8 raised to the third power is 8 cubed (ie 8 times 8 times 8 ). In other word 64 times 8 which is 512.

[wiz*]

I concur dear sirs, the answer is indeed 512.

[trips]

8x8x8=512.

The division sign on your keyboard is /. You'd already used it.

[alankearn]

this is not mathematics. Its arithmetic

 

 

signed

 

Armistead Pedant

 

 

ps the answer is 8x8x8=512

 

So to the power of 4 is 8x8x8x8 and 5 8x8x8x8x8

 

Really if I was as good as I think I am I should have guessed the formula, I have probably been told before but it has got lost in the mists of time.

 

Thanks

 

A little later on my wife is going to ask me this question and with a half sneer she is going to say arn't you a clever cloggs.

 

Little does she know.

[Heyesey]

So to the power of 4 is 8x8x8x8 and 5 8x8x8x8x8

 

Really if I was as good as I think I am I should have guessed the formula, I have probably been told before but it has got lost in the mists of time.

 

If your arithmetic skills come from schooling, probably not; you might've learnt about squares and cubes, but unlikely you would have been taught that they were part of a general pattern.

 

As with so much else that people think they "should have known" ... nobody ever knows anything until they've been told.

[wiz*]

I take it this is in a newspaper quiz section or something? that's very crafty, i often do the same thing with television programmes like whodunnits and my OH is in awe that i managed to work it out so quickly!

[Dozy]

Yipee - I knew the answer! Sort of.

 

I mean, I actually knew that it meant 8x8x8, but I'd never have been able to work out what that was, without pen, paper and much double-checking.

 

But at least it proves a little of what I tried to learn at school went in and stayed in.