pop quiz for the maths whiz

[Mako Mark]

the other night I was helping my girlfriend with her math homework and it reminded me of an interesting true story:

In 1994 when I went to Cambodia for the second time, I wient to the old capital north of Phnom Phen. All that is really left of what was probably a great city is some ruined temples and chedi on top of a small volcanic rhyolite domes. we climed the volcano to see the temples and met some strange and interesting people and eventually spotted a very small and sort of out of place temple.

I say small and out of place temple as it looked more like a cornish cottage than a buddist temple. So we investigated.

Inside was the strangest Bhudda I have ever seen. It was standing there in a full military officers uniform. Just like my dads British Majors uniform, sam brown belt, peaked hat and all.

So I was standing there with my jaw open when someone tugged at my pant leg. There was an old man who appeared to be the guardian of the bhudda, asking me for some alms or a few coins.

Now my Khmer was not great but I was intrigued so tried to ask him about the budda, he wasnt forthcoming, so I asked him how long he had be sitting there.

This is where it gets weird. He told me he had been sitting there for 41 years.

I asked him how old he was and he said 342 years old.

He wasnt lying, he was telling the truth.

How so and what year did he go up the mountain??

 

[Firebrand]

1953 is 41 years before 1994. Not sure what the 342 years of age has to do with anything. My question is this, if he had been there for 41 years, why would he need money? Does someone go to market for him and bring him back the goods he requests?

 

[Hank49]

He (it) went up in 1953 and was probably carried by someone who took care of the temple. How they knew the statue was 342 years old...? The man sitting on the ground was talking about the statue and not himself, right?

 

[jonnythan]

Mark violated the rules of grammar by using third-person singular male pronouns twice in a row, making the antecedent unclear.

Now my Khmer was not great but I was intrigued so tried to ask him about the budda, he wasnt forthcoming, so I asked him how long he had be sitting there.

The final "he" has no clear antecedent, so I will assume it refers to the statue as Hank concluded.. at least then it will make sense.

He told me he had been sitting there for 41 years.

This one is good... using "he" twice with no antecendent whatsoever... and, most likely, referring to two different entities!!

Bad mark. No donut

 

[The Kraken]

Hey, BIG JOHN !!!
I was going to jump on that one, but I get enough flak about my anal attention to poor grammar as is. Ambiguous reference . . . that'll pull his paper down to a "C-".

 

[Mako Mark]

thanks for the grammatical correction Jonnythan, but this is math class,

The Man was 342 years old.. not the statue.

and he was not lying.

here is a clue: he went up the mountain in 1973,

 

[jonnythan]

So, in 1994, a man had been sitting at the top of a mountain in Cambodia for 41 years, but he had only been there since 1973.

Huh.

 

[Nay]

I assume then you're not talking about normal years as we count them, 21 of our years being 41 of his, but I don't know the math...

 

[The Kraken]

I would surmise that the man in question uses a different calendar than the gregorian calendar to mark the passage of time.

 

[The Kraken]

Do the "years" in the problem conform to the annual orbit of the earth about the sun?