/r/theydidthemath

Photograph via snooOG

And they said math has no real world applications

Submission Rules

  1. Proper title tags are required for all posts or it will be removed! The tags accepted are at the end of the sidebar down there.

  2. State clearly what is being or what you want calculated in the title. [Request] posts must have a calculable answer; otherwise, they will be removed.

  3. Give credit where credit is due—include the user who made the calculations in any post you submit: ex. "[RDTM] /u/FragTheWhale calculates...".

  4. For easy and quick math results (ex. How many feet are in a mile?) use Wolfram|Alpha™. Posts containing "simple math" will be removed, as well as requests whose answers are easily searchable online, and any other post at the moderators' discretion. For more abstract math, try /r/math or /r/learnmath.

  5. Posts which seem to be asking for help on homework will be removed. Try /r/homeworkhelp or /r/cheatatmathhomework instead.

Comment Rules

  1. This subreddit has a zero-tolerance policy for hateful or unnecessary language. There is no warning for hate speech of any kind. Rule breaking posts/comments will have a temporary ban that will serve as a first offense "warning". Repeat or egregious offenders will be banned permanently. Reddit's site-wide rules still apply here. Also, don't be a dick.

  2. Do not submit top-level comments in [Request] posts that are not an attempt at an answer or a request for clarification. Jokes or off-topic top-level comments will be removed.

  3. When answering [Request] posts, please cite reputable sources to defend any evidence that cannot be proven using your own math.

Report any spam/rule breaking posts to the mods with the report button. Be sure to include the reason for your report!


LaTeX and subscripts/superscripts

[; e^{\pi i} + 1 = 0 ;]

Superscripts and subscripts are supported in this subreddit, and LaTeX is used here as well. If the above equation looks like garbled code, or for information on how to display subscripts and superscripts, check our wiki page.


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TAGS!

We require title tags. Here are the tags we accept and what they are for. Please keep them at the start of your post.

  • [Request] - Asking the /r/theydidthemath community to do the math for you!

  • [Self] - You did the math and want to share it!

  • [RDTM] - "Reddit Did The Math", linking to a comment or post on Reddit where someone else does the math!

  • [Off-Site] - Use when linking to any site, including Imgur, that is not reddit.com.

  • [Meta] - Non-math posts regarding the subreddit itself. Don't use this unless you really have to.


Sidebar image from Randall Monroe's xkcd

  1. Browse by tag ▸
  2. Request
  3. Non-Request
  4. Self
  5. RDTM
  6. Off-Site

/r/theydidthemath

1,480,022 Subscribers

33

[Request] Well, good scholars?

5 Comments
2024/04/25
13:09 UTC

1

[Request] How much space does each person actually need in total?

I don't mean how big people's homes must be, but rather if you could take all the space required to create the food, sustainably provide water, etc. could be put in one square (provided this square could have multiple biomes existing at once), how large would it's area be to sustain one person in perpetuity (maybe hand waving things like soil erosion if necessary).

This is assuming a standard American's amount of affluence and resource use eating their normal diets and consuming products and whatnot as usual.

2 Comments
2024/04/25
11:05 UTC

0

[Request] How long would I need to flatulate continuously to equal the carbon footprint of one year of Taylor Swift's jet activity?

5 Comments
2024/04/25
10:35 UTC

8

How many satellites would it take cover the sky? [Request]

5 Comments
2024/04/25
09:51 UTC

1

[Request] What's the water transfer rate?

So, in a room of 5m x 5m x 5m (125m²) in volume.

What's the wireless water transfer rate if you put a humidifier and a dehumidifier in running at the same? Assuming the following:

Situation A: Temperature is 25C and humidity before start is 0%.

Situation B: Temperature is 25C and humidity before start is 50%.

1 Comment
2024/04/25
08:29 UTC

1

[Request] What is the chance of success in this 3d6 roll?

This is not homework, just a problem i encounter while doing a game of ttrpg

I have 3 six-sides dices, all normal. <A>. I roll them with the following rules:

  • If the result is 8 or lower (<=8): It’s a failure

  • If the result is between 9 and 16 (9<=3d6<=16): I reroll (goes to <A>)

  • If the result is above 16 (17<=): It’s a success

All rolls will only end when it’s a success or failure. So, what is the chance of a success?

Many thanks

5 Comments
2024/04/25
08:16 UTC

57

[Off-Site] Twitter Math

0 Comments
2024/04/25
07:15 UTC

21

[Request] If Buzz Aldrin wanted his message to be visible from space, he'd likely need a considerable number of stones.

2 Comments
2024/04/25
07:14 UTC

33

[Off-Site] TToo much math for wings

0 Comments
2024/04/25
07:12 UTC

109

[request] what was the cost of groceries 18 months ago?

If the image below is true, what was the cost of groceries 18 months ago?

30 Comments
2024/04/25
04:42 UTC

3

[request]if the earth were perfectly smooth how long would a 4' tall table have to be for the underside to be touching the ground?

8 Comments
2024/04/25
03:41 UTC

2

[REQUEST] If all the oxygen was to disappear, how long until the atmosphere filled up again with enough oxygen to live in?

I know that trees produce oxygen. So if suddenly all "air" or oxygen was to disappear entirely, all at once. How long until the level would return back to normal. Years? Seconds?

Bonus question -- if its fast enough, could we survive while we wait for the oxygen to increase back?

7 Comments
2024/04/25
02:45 UTC

0

[Request] how many sour punch are in this container?

Thank you in advance.

2 Comments
2024/04/25
01:37 UTC

1

[Request] Please check my math about James Webb Space Telescope and a gum wrapper.

So, a naive Redditor commented on a post about the recent photo of Saturn's moon from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). I responded, they rebutted, then I did some number crunching.

Could one of you fine folks checks my math and make sure I'm not making an ass of myself?

Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/1cbrzuu/this_is_titan_saturns_largest_moon_captured_by/l14piy0/?context=3

2 Comments
2024/04/25
01:30 UTC

1

[Request] A 4.5kg kettlebell fell from a shelf ~1.3m high, onto my foot. How hard did it hit me?

If this is just the force equation, I'm going to feel stupid. But I don't remember a lot of the theory behind it anymore or have any frame of reference for what a given amount of Newtons feels like, so extra thanks if you can help me out there!

3 Comments
2024/04/25
00:49 UTC

41

[Request] How big would this ice planet be?

8 Comments
2024/04/25
00:37 UTC

3

[Request] How many Krabby Patties do you think SpongeBob has flipped in his lifetime? 🍔 (Or maybe in the entire show)

1 Comment
2024/04/25
00:15 UTC

652

[REQUEST] How is she doing the math so quickly, how does this work?

70 Comments
2024/04/24
23:44 UTC

0

[request] Would this roulette strategy work?

I know this is strategy gets mentioned alot, but i saw my online casino has a max bet of $5000 on red/black. What if i bet $1 everytime, and double each time i lose until i win. The odds of me getting to $5000 that way are insanely low. So that means i would pretty much only win? or am i missing something?

16 Comments
2024/04/24
23:29 UTC

1

[Request] I need the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule) described in a function.

So i randomly had the idea that i wanted to describe the pareto principle with the help of a function but i could not do it for whatever reason. I looked up if there is a function for it online and didn´t find one either. Afterwards i was wondering if ChatGPT could help me with my pursuit but the AI failed miserably. Now i am turning to the mathematicians of r/theydidthemath wondering if they have the answer that i have been longing for.

4 Comments
2024/04/24
22:59 UTC

473

[REQUEST] Is this correct?

22 Comments
2024/04/24
22:01 UTC

0

[Request] What if the last glacial maximum was twice as cold? How far south would the ice sheets extend?

I at first thought it would be as easy as drawing the ice sheets twice as far south, but there are a lot of factors that complicate things, such as mountains, ocean currents, etc. I am curious, how far would the ice sheets extend in this scenario?

https://preview.redd.it/3htj62j5yhwc1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3906e01314499a01453968e0f44faffaa7ffa2e1

https://preview.redd.it/ncubo3j5yhwc1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c217a297004c415f2ffccc7ef89eae76eeb08601

3 Comments
2024/04/24
21:38 UTC

1

[Request] Great American Cliff: leveling the Midwest from the Rockies to the Kansas Border

I saw this meme explaining the plan to level the state of Kansas perfectly flat; it got me thinking about expanding this feat of engineering. What would be needed to level not just Kansas, but ever state to its north and south in the same way? Hell, let's extend the leveling project to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico! What would the logistics be, and how tall will our resulting Great American Cliff be? This is the true correct use for taxes.

https://preview.redd.it/mfxdet9pvhwc1.jpg?width=489&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=44be4550adc913a4f264e110693f87daae835816

https://preview.redd.it/o1k6ts9pvhwc1.jpg?width=686&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6adc8e4a306ea30eb9169fc1e5bf73228a986b7d

https://preview.redd.it/uvq8ct9pvhwc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc2941b14b1c69215fe2412c8686597939990e19

1 Comment
2024/04/24
21:26 UTC

1

[Request] A list with 16 heterosexual tinder users and 4 female tinder users where their median amount of matches is the same.

They say the amount of males at tinder is 4x the amount of females.

Its possible to have a list of users with that pattern, where the median amount of matches an female have is equal to the median amount of matches a male have?

Show me a list of 20 users (16 male and 4 female) where this happens.

3 Comments
2024/04/24
20:43 UTC

1

[Request] if there is 5 dice whats the chance 3 of them match

4 Comments
2024/04/24
20:34 UTC

13

[Request] What's the gear ratio and would it be possible to build a bike that could withstand the forces needed to rotate the wheel?

2 Comments
2024/04/24
20:03 UTC

5

[Request] Would a triangular dress working as a tripod be possible?

So I got into a little argument with someone over a triangular dress and he said they could be used as a tripod (2 corners of triangle + 1 leg) so when you fall over you don't (I hope you get the point there, drawing included). Which isn't true, because if you've got a triangle and you fall onto a flat side, it counts as 1 leg so it would be a bipod.

Now I'm wondering, aside from physics and everything (so just imagine it would be able to carry all the body weight and not bend or fall), would it indeed be possible to have a triangular dress (or one that looks like it) which works as a tripod? So if you fall over, you get 2 points on the ground + your leg, holding you up, instead of a flat side + your leg. It can be any form as long as it's a triangle from at least 1 side ( I guess?)

https://preview.redd.it/g8b99yg6ghwc1.png?width=1262&format=png&auto=webp&s=504d8c42d82320cfd79fa0f25dd952d23e9d6950

3 Comments
2024/04/24
20:00 UTC

1

[request] Narcos Season 3 Episode 1

In the episode they get 4 motorbikes connected to one limb each of a body and then pull it apart. Is it possible?

1 Comment
2024/04/24
19:56 UTC

0

[Request] How much does each layer of butter approximately weigh?

8 Comments
2024/04/24
18:36 UTC

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