Eulercrosser

Why does answers.yahoo not have a plagiarism choice in the report abuse area? When someone copies passages (or an entire page) from Wikipedia (for example), that doesn't help me with an answer (since I am smart enough to check Wikipedia or most of the easy places to go), and it is obviously plagiarism. Usually people don't even give a link to what they copied. I think there should be a rule against this. It is also annoying to have to scroll so long down a person's answer, because they copied several pages of text, just so I can get to some real answers. What are your opinions on this?

There have been a number of these questions out here, so I just wanted to give people a chance to get some points.

Easier: If you have n scales (balances) and can use each once. And you have a bunch of rocks that look the same but one has a piece of gold in it and weighs more. What is the maximum number of rocks you can have and still find the gold in n weighs?

Harder: If you don't know if the gold weighs more or less, what is the maximum number of rocks that you can have and still be able to find the gold in n weighs?

So I have asked a few questions, and depending on the question I have gotten different types of answers. For some of my questions I have gotten several good answers (IMO) on a topic I didn't really understand to begin with (why I was asking a question), but half of them contradicted the other half. In the end, I still didn't know what the answer was, because I had such good answers that couldn't all be correct.

For another question, I asked something after doing a little research first (since it's not too hard to google something). I received a couple of responses. One was nothing, and the other was just a recap of what I just read.

In both situations I didn't choose a best answer and sent it to a vote. I think that there should be a space where the asker can tell the voters why it was sent to a vote. Tell them what the asker liked and what the asker didn't like.

What do you guys think of this suggestion?

Would Fields Medal be awarded to someone (eligible of course) who is able to prove if the Euler-Mascheroni constant is rational/irrational? If not, and it was proven to be irrational, would it be awarded if it can be proven to be algebraic/transendental?

Think of a number with any number of digits (12345 for example) now change around the digits (32514). Subtract the smaller from the larger (32514-12345=20169). Now choose 1 non-zero number from the remaining digits (I choose 1). Remove the digit chosen from the number (2069). Mix this number up again (6902) and give it to me. Then come back in a few minutes and see if I can guess the number you chose.

The years that Germany has won the World Cup are 1954, 1974, and 1990. My question to all of you out there is:

What is 54•74-1990?

Why is there no question are for college football only (and then of course one for NFL)? Does this make any sense?

If so, why would they fail a student?

What is a number that you are not thinking about while you answer this question?

Does anyone think that it is funny when someone puts "degree in mathematics" (or something else like that) in the source section, but are wrong?

prove that for any number x, x•0=0.

Just want to see some of the answers :)

How do you prove this integral identity?

∫{(x^a-1)/log(x)}dx=log(a+1) where the integral is from 0 to 1

Assume that you have two stars of the same size revolving around a point inbetween them (so that they don't crash into each other). Is this possible?

If so, you can view the stars as stationary (in reference to each other), right?

If so, can you somehow have a planet that orbits in a figure eight like pattern around the two stars?

You are on a game show and you get down to choosing a prize. In this game show, you don't get to choose your prize, but you choose one of three doors, and you recieve what is behind the door you choose (only one door has something behind it).

So, you choose one of the doors. The host asks you if you are sure. You say yes. The host then opens one of the other doors and shows you that there is nothing behind it. He is about to open the other door (that you didn't pick) when he turns to you and asks if you would now want to switch.

What do you do?

10 points for the first "good" answer . . . I of course get to pick what is "good" :).

What is an example of two objects that fall at different speeds on the same celestial body (Earth for example), but in a vacuum?

Why do we call i an imaginary number, is it really more imaginary than a negative number? Can you have negative something? What makes a number "real" and what makes it "imaginary?"