WRUP: Thanksgiving, Black Friday ... and math
by Fox Van Allen 
Nov 25th 2011 at 3:30PM
Happy holidays, everyone! It's a magical time of year where those of us in the United States load up on flavorless turkey, dull mashed potatoes, and that terrible corn that comes from a can, yell at our family members who have different political views than we do, and fall asleep in awkward positions on couches. Oh, and then we all head out to Best Buy at, like, 2 a.m. so we can save $100 on an HDTV.
As for you Canadians, well ... you already had your Thanksgiving in October. I'm not sure if you eat turkey at all up there. And frankly, I'm too lazy to head over to Wikipedia to find out for sure. I'll just assume that you eat the Canadian equivalent of turkeys, which are probably geese or something.
But I digress. With the holidays upon us, I felt it time for us at WoW Insider to give thanks. And that's what this week's bonus question is about, at least for Americans: "What are you thankful for?" For Canadians, a different question: "How jealous are you that us Americans get to eat boatloads of dry, flavorless turkey?"
And for those who live in neither the United States nor Canada, your bonus question is this: "The four numbers a > b > c > d can be paired in six different ways. If each pair has a different sum, and if the four smallest sums are 1, 2, 3, and 4, what are all possible values for d?"
Alex Ziebart (@alexziebart) The combination of Skyrim and Saints Row 3 fulfills every gaming desire I could possibly have right now, so that's what I'll be doing right up until patch 4.3 lands. Thanksgiving is usually a pretty big bore around my place. I just get together with my mom and little sister for our Thanksgiving dinner, and my mom goes totally insane cooking the meal. She must enjoy doing it because nobody asks her to make it, but she drives herself totally nuts doing it. The holidays bring out the weird in people. As for the bonus question ... I picked up a writing gig specifically so I wouldn't have to do math like this.
Allison Robert (@AllisonRobert) I have family home for the holidays, so I'm not likely to be around WoW much. If I do log on, it'll probably be to the PTR for a bit more 5-man work, as I haven't had as much experience in Well of Eternity as I would like. However, I'm thankful for my family and friends, a dog who recently survived major surgery, and a brand-new kitten!
Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) I'll be messing around on the PTR a bit and hanging out with family -- oh, and cooking that turkey. My turkeys are neither dry nor tasteless, I'll have you know! Bonus question: I'm thankful for being so close to my family and getting to hang out with all of them on a regular basis. Also, the job I have and the coworkers I have, because they're all awesome.
Chase Christian (@madsushi) I'm in Oregon spending Thanksgiving with my family, so there won't be any gaming this weekend. That is, unless I convince my brothers to buy Skyward Sword. d = 0, -0.5.
Chase Hasbrouck (@alarondruid) Currently, I haven't been playing much of anything. The only thing I have left to play in my DS pile is JRPG's, and I'm rapidly burning out on those.
Happily, one of my friends let me borrow his netbook, so I have a computer again.
I'm thankful for my wonderful wife, my amazing three-year-old son, and that it looks like I'll be home from my deployment for Christmas.
Daniel Whitcomb (@DanielWhitcomb) I will probably be running some more 4.3 dungeons on the PTR just to make sure I'm good and ready when the patch goes live. I also have another Shepard poised to run the Suicide Mission on Mass Effect 2. Finally, I will be pulling down some games off of the Thanksgiving Steam Sale and seeing what happens with those. Portal 2's definitely on the purchase list, and I'll have to see what else is on sale.
I am thankful for beta leaks and beta previews, because I am going crazy waiting for new info and/or beta invites on Diablo III and Mass Effect 3, and at least I'm getting some new stuff now.
Dawn Moore (@dawnwow) I don't have any gaming plans for the weekend, but I do want to go hunting for a copy of Skyward Sword while I'm visiting my family in Oregon. There's no sales tax here and I've never actually gone shopping during the Friday madness, so I figure a Zelda title is worthy of an adventure.
I'm not quite sure what I'm thankful for though, other than the usual friends, family, and a roof over my head. Perhaps my naturally high spot and listen modifiers. Those have proven quite useful in life, and I've met many people lacking them.
Elizabeth Wachowski (@leeatwaterlives) I'll be playing Skyrim until someone intervenes and stops me. Seriously, I haven't played WoW since that thing came out.
I am thankful for my husband, my jobs and my wonderful coworkers, both in EMS and blogging.
Fox Van Allen (@foxvanallen) (gplus.to/foxvanallen) I'm going to be hitting the mall on Black Friday to pick up a couple of early birthday gifts for myself -- probably Super Mario 3DS and Skyward Sword, both of which I'm super excited to play. Here's a brief list of the stuff I'm thankful for:
- My bosses at WoW Insider, past and present, who let me go off the creative deep end to the point of giving them heartburn.
- That time Paula Deen got hit by a ham.
- The folks I've met through WoW Insider. And not just the awesome people like Mat McCurley who work here, but readers too. Like Ari and Kurtis.
- Huey Lewis and the News.
- Tyler. Sorta.
Kelly Aarons (@Cadistra) I'll be doing some comic stuff and finally giving some love to my paladin ... if I can stop playing Skyrim long enough.
Eh, one Thanksgiving is enough for me. It's a much bigger deal with you Americans anyways. I'm thankful for my friends, family, and the roof over my head. Y'know, the usual. I am also super-thankful for you guys and gals at WI. Seriously -- I get paid to draw World of Warcraft comics. Meeting you guys in person each BlizzCon is such a treat, and I wouldn't ask for any other virtual coworkers.
Lisa Poisso (@lisapoisso) The only thing I'll be playing this weekend is some good old-fashioned WoW -- not the PTR, not some work-related project, just plain old playing. Actually, I take that back -- I think I'd like to run around and do some screenshots of particular things we seem to always need more screenshots of. So maybe a little work, a little play ...
I'm thankful for ham. Ham beats turkey any day. Spiral-cut honey ham FTW.
Matthew Rossi (@matthewrossi) "What have I become, my sweetest friend ... everyone I know goes away in the end."
I'm going to spend time with my wife and our menagerie, going to read, going to remember my mother, my grandparents and all the other dead I've left behind over the years, contemplate the future and what I want and need to be doing in it. Books on tap include the Gormenghast books by Mervyn Peake, Jurgen by James Brach Cabell, and The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland, which my mom gave me on my 18th birthday, three months before she died.
That's pretty much it for me. Since I moved up here, ironically enough, Thanksgiving has taken on a lot more significance. I'm thankful I'm still here at all.
Michael Gray (@writegray) I'll be engaging in some additional Arena before the season end. We're doing a late Halloween party this weekend also, too, and I put together a throwing axe range to have fun with on Saturday. Might be too cold and windy for it, but I'm eager to have some fun with it.
What am I most thankful for: my wife. I forget I had a life before I met her, it's hard to think of not being a couple. So, every day, thankful for her.
Olivia Grace I'll be Arenaing my little heart out to try to get our 5v5 and 3v3 as high as possible! I may well also take some screenshots ... d = 9. I'm hopeless at maths, and wish all you Americans a very happy Thanksgiving!
Robin Torres (@cosmiclaurel) I am going to have a drama-free Thanksgiving (you hear me, Holiday Drama Gods?), and Friday I will be attending the It came from the Blog's Pilgrim's Bounty event. There will also be Disneyland, SWTOR and Tiny Tower. I have given up on Sims Social. No more for me.
I am thankful that some of my family will be able to make this year's feast and that I have a healthy daughter likes to write and illustrate warped fairy tales. And I will be thankful if there is no drama this year. I wish everyone a drama-free four days, whether you are celebrating Turkey Day or not.
The weekend is the perfect time to kick back, relax and enjoy some game time. Are you an achievement junkie? Can't get enough raiding? Rolling a new alt? Considering taking the leap into roleplaying? Whatever your favorite way to play World of Warcraft, let us know in the comments what you're playing this weekend!
Filed under: WoW Insider Business
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Shadda Nov 25th 2011 3:51PM
A question for Americans: how jealous are you that we got to eat delicious and moist turkey a month early? :3
Boobah Nov 25th 2011 3:56PM
Assuming that a, b, c, and d are non-negative whole numbers? Then d = 0, c = 1, b = 2, and a = 4
Hensonite Nov 26th 2011 12:41PM
d can have 3 values: breast, drumstick and carcass.
kjjk7 Nov 25th 2011 4:01PM
The possible numbers for d should be 0, 1, 2, and 4.
MikeLive Nov 25th 2011 4:08PM
We eat turkey.
-Canadian
Shade Nov 25th 2011 4:08PM
0. The only thing you have to know is that the smallest sum is 1 because of the stipulation that a>b>c>d. Incidentally, C is 1, B is 2, and A is 4.
d+c = 0+1 = 1
d+b = 0+2 = 2
d+a = 0+4 = 4
c+b = 1+2 = 3
KJP Nov 25th 2011 4:33PM
Chase is correct; d can also be -0.5 (with c, b and a being 1.5, 2.5 and 3.5 respectively):
d+c = -0.5 + 1.5 = 1
d+b = -0.5 + 2.5 = 2
d+a = -0.5 + 3.5 = 3
c+b = 1.5 + 2.5 = 4
Brian Nov 25th 2011 5:19PM
a>b>c>d contains the information we need about the six pairings, which are:
a+b
a+c
a+d
b+c
b+d
c+d
a>b
therefore a+c > b+c (add c to both sides)
and a+d > b+d (add d to both sides)
a>c
therefore a+b > b+c (add b to both sides)
and a+d > c+d (add d to both sides)
a>d
therefore a+b > b+d (add b to both sides)
and a+c > c+d (add c to both sides)
b>c
therefore a+b > a+c (add a to both sides)
and b+d > c+d (add d to both sides)
b>d
therefore a+b > a+d (add a to both sides)
and b+c > c+d (add c to both sides)
c>d
therefore b+c > b+d (add b to both sides)
and a+c > a+d (add a to both sides)
Put them all together...
a+b > a+c > a+d ... b+c > b+d > c+d
(There is not enough information to determine the relationship between a+d and b+c.)
This is enough to tell us that c+d=1 (the least sum) and b+d=2 (the second least).
Subtract those to get b-c=1.
b+c=(3 or 4), from the given.
Add b-c=1 to b+c=(3 or 4) to get 2b=(4 or 5),
so b=(2 or 2.5) (divide both sides by 2),
and d=(0 or -0.5) (since b+d=2), and that is enough to answer the question.
Also, c=(1 or 1.5) (since b-c=1).
As for a:
if b+c=3, a+d=4 (the last sum) and d=0, so a=4.
but if b+c=4, then a+d=3 and d=-0.5, so a=3.5.
so a=(3.5 or 4)
Caylynn Nov 25th 2011 5:25PM
Hi Fox. Yes, we Canadians DO, in fact, eat turkey. Although a uniquely Canadian Thanksgiving dish is Tourtière, which is French Canadian meat pie. My parents are both French Canadian (Franco Manitoban) so we've eaten a lot of Tourtière through the years.
For those who are curious, here is the scoop on Canadian Thanksgiving, from Canadian Heritage:
"The first Thanksgiving Day in Canada after Confederation was observed on April 15, 1872, to celebrate the recovery of The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) from a serious illness.
No record is found of a Thanksgiving Day between 1872 and 1879.
From 1879 to 1898, both inclusive, it was observed on a Thursday in November. In 1899, it was fixed on a Thursday in October, where it stayed until 1907, with the exception of 1901 and 1904 when the date was fixed on a Thursday in November.
From 1908 to 1921, it was observed on a Monday in October, the exact date being appointed by proclamation.
From 1921 to 1930, the Armistice Day Act provided that Thanksgiving would be observed on Armistice Day, which was fixed by statute on the Monday of the week in which November 11 fell.
In 1931, Parliament adopted an Act to amend the Armistice Day Act, providing that the day should be observed on November 11 and that the day should be known as "Remembrance Day".
Accordingly, the old practice was resumed of fixing Thanksgiving Day by proclamation, and it has been since 1931 on the second Monday of October, with the exception of 1935 where, after Thanksgiving Day had been fixed on October 14, it was decided to hold the general election on that date. A new proclamation was issued deferring the observance to October 24, a Thursday. This resulted in a great deal of controversy and the practice of observance on a Thursday was not pursued in future years.
From 1936 to 1956, inclusive, a proclamation was issued yearly to appoint the second Monday of October as Thanksgiving Day. In 1957, a proclamation was issued fixing permanently Thanksgiving Day on that day, thus eliminating the necessity of an annual proclamation."
goldeneye Nov 28th 2011 3:03AM
In Belgium, Nov 11 is Armastice Day (wapenstilstand). No turkey involved.
cygnus Nov 25th 2011 6:56PM
Given that a > b > c > d, and the smallest sums are the set {1,2,3,4} then we know:
c + d = 1 --> c = 1 - d; (1)
b + d = 2 --> b = 2 - d; (2)
and 2 possible cases:
{b + c = 3}; (3.1)
OR
{b + c = 4}; (3.2)
(Because we know the smallest sums are (c + d) < (b + d) and the larger are (a + b) > (a + c). The relationship between (a + d) and (c + b) cannot be determined, but we know that either produce the 3rd smallest sum)
Then for each case:
(1 in 3.1) b + ( 1 - d ) = 3 --> b - d = 2; (4.1)
(2 in 4.1) (2 - d) - d = 2 -- > d = 0; (A)
OR
(1 in 3.2) b + ( 1 - d ) = 4 --> b - d = 3; (4.2)
(2 in 4.2) (3 - d) - d = 2 -- > d = -0.5; (B)
So: d = {0, -0.5}
Fox Van Allen Nov 25th 2011 9:35PM
Cygnus is correct -- the answer here is 0, -0.5.
I am sorry that you all felt compelled to do math this holiday season.
Philster043 Nov 25th 2011 7:50PM
"Flavorless turkey?" Must be cooking it wrong, then. I cook it upside-down to get it more moist.
I had to take a break from Skyrim, since I got it for the PS3... and it was starting to do weird things as my save file got bigger. I'm probably anxiously awaiting the fix patch Bethseda promised more than 4.3 at this point (sorry WoW).
peppermintglow Nov 25th 2011 8:21PM
All those math comments are making me dizzy. O_o
@Robin Torres: I stopped playing Sims Social a week ago. Toooooo buggy. Seriously, one more "oops we hit a snag, please reliad" and my head would have exploded. >:(
peppermintglow Nov 25th 2011 8:23PM
*reload, not reliad >.<
wtb edit option :(
Thomas Higgins Nov 26th 2011 3:09AM
Fallout New Vegas. I have already butchered Caesar, reunited the Remnants, got the Kings to side with the NCR and got the Boomers back their B-29. Now all I have to do is fight the Second Battle of Hoover Dam and decide what I am going to do to Lanius.
Then I may have a swatch at Skyrim.
Thomas Higgins Nov 26th 2011 2:11PM
Oh, that was quick. Yep, dealt with Lanius alright, or at least my Anti-Materiel Rifle with Armor Piercing ammuntion did. Sneak attack, critical. One shot, head exploded. What made it even funnier was I only found out who I had killed after the bullet eviscerated his brains.
Now, what to do? Skyrim?
robsmith77 Nov 26th 2011 5:25AM
For a really moist turkey, 2 or 3 (depending on the size of the bird) apples in the cavity and some streaky bacon rashers laid on top. I love turkey but it's so hard to find here in the UK outside of Christmas and Easter.
Henry Nov 27th 2011 12:10AM
I found the same thing as Chase and the commenters but I used a doubly augmented matrix
1 0 0 1|3|4
0 1 1 0|4|3
0 1 0 1|2|2
0 0 1 1|1|1
and then used Gaussian Elimination to find the two answers. The intermediate steps were
1 0 0 1| 3| 4
0 1 1 0| 4| 3
0 0 -1 1|-2|-1
0 0 1 1| 1| 1
1 0 0 1| 3| 4
0 1 1 0| 4| 3
0 0 -1 1|-2|-1
0 0 0 2|-1| 0
Concluding with
1 0 0 1| 3 | 4
0 1 1 0| 4 | 3
0 0 -1 1|-2 |-1
0 0 0 1|-1/2| 0
Anyway, I'm going to go be a dork over here now. (wanders off)
Thomas Higgins Nov 27th 2011 4:57AM
Come back!
Dork? Hardly. That's maths stuff, bruv. Stuff I do not understand which makes it even more cool.
I can build a computer out of parts from half a dozen wrecks and install Windows 7 on it, work out a way to kill Deathclaws in Fallout: New Vegas with a Varmint Rifle and navigate my way across the Scottish countryside with a map and a compass, but the mathematics behind all that makes my head hurt.
Never call yourself a dork, Henry old chum. You can save that epithet for those idiots who cannot do the stuff you can do and do not appreciate the fact that you CAN!