Assume 9 is twice 5; what is 6 times 5 in the same system of notation?

27?

33, "twice 5" means 10 and not 55.

The posit is that 9 equals twice something. Here 5 is used to represent that unknown. Call 5 (k), Twice (k) is 9. 6*(k) = 3 times the assumption. Therefore 6 (k)'s equal 27.

ergo 5 = 4.5 in this case

Then again the meaning of 9 is 'twice five' ties the nine as the count of letters in the statement (converting a numeric to its alphas). 6 times 5 (six times five) gives 12 as an answer.

Or 6, for the 6 letters in Thirty.

Or if it has double meaning: 11 for 'twenty seven'.

Well, if 2 * 5 = 9, then 6 * 5 = 9 * 3.333... = 27. Interesting system, if nothing else.

If the number nine is twice the number represented by the symbol "5", then 5 = 4½. And 6 x 4½ = 27.
Perhaps it would have been better if I'd stated the problem as "Assume nine is twice 5; what is six times 5..."
Thanks for your inputs.

An alternative (and more logical since there is no reason to single out the 5 but keep the 9 and 6 as they are) would be that all number symbols stand for one less than they do in our normal system.

Translating to regular decimal:

If 8 is twice 4; what is 5 times 4 in the same notation?

The answer to that is of course 20, but we need to translate that back into the shifted notation, so we get 31. (Asking for 8 times 8 would have been interesting - it would mean 7 by 7, so 49, which would have to cycle around to 50.)

If 9 is to be considered as the variable expression, then it's easy to figure 6 times 5 - gives 30 no matter what the variable is since the variable isn't part of the '6 x 5' equation.

If "twice five" converted to numbers is 10, using base 9 instead of base 10, 9 = 10.
If 6 times 5 is 30 in base 10, then 6 times five = 33 in base 9.

Nine is twice five. Five becomes 4.5.

4.5 x 6 = 27

Simple math.

I am glad I have a simple mind.

mind...mind...mind...mind...mind...mind...


It's so easy to get lost in all the folds and canyons of a simple mind. Don't worry, help is on the way.