Puzzler Answer, 3-21-97: Numbers

Ray: There I was sitting at the counter at Sam's Luncheonette in our fair city. The sky had been angry that day, but it was clearing with faint white whisps, clinging desperately to a promise to be a blazing blue sky. There I was spilling egg on my shirt and I noticed a woman and her son next to me at the counter doing his arithmetic homework. And they're adding a bunch of decimels. And I'll give you the numbers. Get a pencil.

Tom: I got a pencil.

Ray: 6.2, 1.1, 2.2, 3.2. Add that up.

Tom: I get 12.7.

Ray: Ah ha, you do?

Tom: And she didn't right? She got 14.7.

Ray: 14.1.

Ray: I was about to butt in and point out that they'd made a mistake in adding up the numbers, but just then, they got to leave and put on their hats and coats. Hats and Coats. And I realized that they had not made a mistake. Why was 14.1 a perfectly legitimate answer?

Tom: Well, I mean, my first thought was that it is not base 10.

Ray: Right. well...

Tom: Except what base is it? If there's a one here where I think there should be a seven, that means it should be base 6. But one of the numbers was a six and we know there's no 6 in base six. So it ain't base 6.

Ray: Well, it's base 3 on the right side of the decimal point and it's base 10 on the other side.

Tom: What kind of stupid addition is that?

Ray: Baseball addition.

Tom: Baseball?

Ray: They're adding up innings pitched. Where 3.1 is 3 and a third innings. 3.3 is four innings.

Tom: Oh my god! So this is innings. So I got 4, 5, 6, 7...7 thirds is 2 and one left over.

Ray: Comes out to?

Tom: 14.1

Ray: And the hint of course was the hats.

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]