Significant Jelly Beans重大軟糖豆

A quaint little story in the Charlotte Observer [page no longer online] relates how an eight year old, Parker Garrison, spotted a simple arithmetic error in a Discovery Place exhibit that had gone unnoticed by four years of visitors, young and old, educated, and not.一古樸的小故事，在夏洛特觀察員[下一頁不再在線]涉及如何八年歲，帕克駐軍，發現一個簡單的算術錯誤，在發現的地方，展出了由忽略了四年的旅客，青年人和老年人，教育，不是。

The original exhibit called “原來展覽的所謂“ Jelly Belly果凍肚子 Presents Candy Unwrapped” had a problem for visitors to solve.介紹了糖果unwrapped “出現了問題，為旅客解決的問題。

How many jelly beans would fit into a particular container.有多少軟糖豆將融入某一貨櫃。

One example had a container shaped like a half pyramid and told you that a jelly bean has a volume of about 1 cubic cm.一個例子，有一個貨櫃，形狀像一個半金字塔告訴你，一果凍豆有一個體積約1立方厘米。

The container’s base measures 46 by 23 cm and its height is 72 cm.貨櫃的基礎措施， 46 23厘米，其高度是72厘米。

The volume of a pyramid is 1/3 x base area x height.數量金字塔是： 1 / 3 ×根據地x高度。

So, you then had to divide this by 2 since the container is half a pyramid and then multiply your answer by 0.9 to account for spaces between the jelly beans.因此，然後，您不得不鴻溝，這是由二以來，該貨櫃半年金字塔，然後乘以您的答案是由0.9至帳戶之間的空間軟糖豆。

The answer should be 22,853.答案應該是22853 。

But, that was patently wrong to young Parker who realized that the base measurements given were for half a pyramid so there was no need to divide by 2 at all.但是，這顯然是錯誤的青年帕克誰實現了該基地的測量均給予了半個世紀的金字塔，所以沒有必要再除以二，在所有。

The story, is like I say, quaint, but him spotting the error is irrelevant, what gives me cause for concern is the fact that the Charlotte Observer tells us there are precisely 22853 jelly beans in the half pyramid.這個故事，就像我剛才所說，古樸，但他發現錯誤，是不相干的，是什麼讓我有令人關切的問題是事實，即夏洛特觀察員告訴我們，正是有22853軟糖豆，在金字塔的一半。 Rubbish, it would be an amazing fluke if there were exactly that number.垃圾，這將是一個驚人的福祿克，如果有確切的數目。

Given that jelly beans are a manufactured product of only approximately closed cylindrical shape there’s no way of knowing whether some are a lot less than 0.9 cubic cm and some a lot more.鑑於軟糖豆是一個製造的產物，只有大約封閉圓柱形狀有無從得知，是否有些是大大少於0.9立方厘米和一些有很多更多。 Moreover, they don’t even mention packing density, there are myriad ways these candies could fit into a container some more efficient than others and so some allowing a bigger number contained than others.此外，他們甚至不提及的堆積密度，有無數的方法，這些糖果可以融入一個貨櫃一些更有效率比別人等等，讓一些更大的數目，載有比別人。 A really good estimate would be to two or three significant figures at best, so around 23000 plus or minus a couple of hundred, I’d say.一個真正良好的估計將是兩個或三個顯著的數字，在最好的，所以周圍的2.3萬加或減一對夫婦的100 ，我會說。 But, even then the volume is only given to one significant figure so even that might be pushing it a bit.不過，即使當時的數量是只有考慮到的一個顯著的數字，因此，即使可能推動它一點。 If one could make such precise estimates of packing based on a unit cell volume known to only one significant figure a lot of materials scientists would be out of work.如果能作出準確的估計，如包裝的基礎上，單位細胞體積已知只有一個顯著的數字，大量的材料，科學家將失去工作。

And now a word to the wise: If you want some jelly beans don’t go to Discovery Place, buy gourmet jelly beans online and then pig out on those delicious jelly beans when they arrive!現在，一言以明智的：如果你想要一些軟糖豆不去發現的地方，購買美食軟糖豆線上，然後豬列於那些美味的軟糖豆當他們到達！