How many numbers did they expect to see on that clock? Don't most clocks have the numbers 1-12 on them? Were they expecting a 24 hour clock or something? And even then, why was it so hard for some of the to add up the number.

BTW, here is a little trick. You make pairs starting with the highest and lowest number and multiply. Like this:

12+1=13
11+2=13
10+3=13
9+4=13
8+5=13
7+6=13

13*6=78

"I'll have you know, I rock!" BA

• RE: Numbers on a clock....,Red Lady, 02:02 PM, 11-28-02
  • RE: Numbers on a clock....,Bucky Katt, 02:17 PM, 11-28-02
    • The Rule of 78,Red Lady, 04:59 PM, 11-28-02
      • RE: The Rule of 78,Sophie, 01:55 PM, 11-29-02
        • RE: The Rule of 78,Bucky Katt, 03:04 PM, 11-29-02
          • RE: The Rule of 78,Sophie, 03:47 PM, 11-29-02
• RE: Numbers on a clock....,Survivorchick, 02:53 PM, 11-28-02
• RE: Numbers on a clock....,stinky the walrus, 02:59 PM, 11-28-02
• RE: Numbers on a clock....,Chrissy gal, 03:20 PM, 11-28-02
  • RE: Numbers on a clock....,Bucky Katt, 03:23 PM, 11-28-02
• RE: Numbers on a clock....,GTmike, 10:09 PM, 11-28-02
• RE: Numbers on a clock....,vsuri, 01:02 PM, 11-29-02
• RE: Numbers on a clock....,Spidey, 03:38 PM, 11-29-02
  • RE: Numbers on a clock....,trigirl, 10:28 AM, 12-02-02
    • RE: Numbers on a clock....,Cole, 12:54 PM, 12-02-02

HeeHee...I was laughing at that too Katt! Although, later I considered that if the producers had not stated the "North face", some teams might have provided the sum of all numbers on all four sides of the clock tower!

As a side note, any banker will tell you that the sum of 12 is 78 in a blink of an eye!
"The Rule of 78" is a common amortization calculation!

Regards,
Old bankers never die, they just post to TAR!

The only rule I remember is the "rule of 70" which is that you take 70 and divide it by the interest rate of your investment and that is how many years it will take for your investment to double. So, at 7% interest your money would double in about 10 years (70/7=10).

What is the rule of 78?

"I'll have you know, I rock!" BA

Bucky,
The Rule of 78 relates to an amortization model more commonly referred to as "add on" interest. To understand the amortization of add on interest look at a typical 1-yr note, fully amortized using the "rule of 78" which applies the principal and interest repaid to a note differently than most standard fully amortized notes (simple interest loans)

On an "add on" loan, each month's payment is credited to the loan in the following manner:
Month 1= 1/12th to principal and 11/12th to interest
Month 2= 2/12th to principal and 10/12th to interest
Month 3= 3/12th to principal and 9/12th to interest
Month 4= 4/12th to principal and 8/12th to interest
Month 5= 5/12th to principal and 7/12th to interest
Month 6= 6/12th to principal and 6/12th to interest
Month 7= 7/12th to principal and 5/12th to interest
Month 8= 8/12th to principal and 4/12th to interest
Month 9= 9/12th to principal and 3/12th to interest
Month 10= 10/12th to principal and 2/12th to interest
Month 11= 11/12th to principal and 1/12th to interest
Month 12= 12/12th to principal and nothing to interest.

Add the sum of 1 thru 12 and you get the "Rule of 78".

This type of loan amortization always favors the lender and not the borrower. The reason why? The borrower is repaying interest to the lender first, and repaying principal second. The most common type of interest amortization employed by finanical institutions is called "simple interest". Mortgage loans are based on "simple interest." With simple interest the monthly accumulated interest is paid in full with each principal payment reduction...thus if a prepayment is made, the monies paid in excess of the interest all go toward the reduction of the principal balance, which in turn, means a lower principal balance from which to accrue interest charges.

With "Add on" interest, however, any prepayments on the loan are not applied to reducing principal. Rather the payments are applied as outlined above. What that means is, with any prepayments made to "add on", you are merely paying the lender their unaccrued interest early. Great for the lender, not so great for the borrower. Btw, add on interest is typically employed by car dealers...so buyer beware.

As with any fully amortized loan, if either an "add on" or "simple interest" note are repaid according to the terms of the note...meaning 12 equal payments, made on the same day each month, and at an indentical interest rate, then both notes end up equaling the same amount of interest paid. The only difference is, with a simple interest note, you can save interest charges by prepaying, while with an add on, you do not.

Phew...what a boring, banker explanation! I hope I didn't put the viewing audience to sleep!

*Katt smooch*

No worries RL...the viewing audience isn't asleep.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............

I sleep through Bucky's accountant explanations...but I don't think he minds cause I'm cute when I sleep! Right Katt?

Sophie! That is supposed to be a secret! Shhhhhhhhhhhh!

"I'll have you know, I rock!" BA

*giggles*

As I was watching the show, I did

12+
11+1=12+
10+2=12+
9+3=12+
8+4=12+
7+5=12+
6

in my head. 12x6 (72) + 6 = 78

My husband was like, how did you figure that out so fast?

"...three plus two plus one equals five."

-the wise words of Zack.

Some clocks have only four numbers (3,6,9,12) on them and dashes for the other numbers.

True, but usually you see that on a watch where there is limited space to put on all 12 numbers. I can't ever remember seeing a tower clock like that - but I stand to be corrected.

I don't blame the teams for finding the clock - I would have done the same to confirm what numbers were there. But not being able to add up 1 through 12 is pathetic.

"I'll have you know, I rock!" BA

I thought that the clock had numbers on them like a street sign. Maybe under the clock was something like 1898 or 1922 for the year that it was built. I could understand how they would need to check just in case.

GO JACKETS!! How about them Dawgs.....PISS ON 'EM!!!

There's another way of calculating sum of numbers until N. For eg: If you need sum of all numbers from 1 to 50.

The formula for N is Sum = N X (N + 1) / 2

Taking sum of numbers from 1 to 12:

Sum = 12 X (12 + 1) / 2
Sum = 12 X 13 / 2
Sum = 6 X 13 = 78

This may not be useful for small sums, but if you need to calculate sum until large numbers from 1 then this can be useful.

Dang you people with your formulas. You'd have all kicked some serious tushy in this detour. I had no formulas and didn't do it in my head, but with a pen and paper, I was able to add this all up in less than 30 seconds. Must have been fatigue and stress that caused everyone's meltdown, b/c this sure wasn't difficult.

I agree that the stupidest moves were those people who went BACK to re-count trees. If you know your other numbers are right, wouldn't it be way quicker to try all the "tree numbers" that are around what you counted? Criminey, how long would it take to try all numbers from 40-50 in succession? Clearly not as long as going back to recount the stinking trees. And how hard it is to count trees anyway?

wouldn't it be way quicker to try all the "tree numbers" that are around what you counted?

At the time I didn't think about that but you are sooooo right. In the Mole2, Dorothy just sat there with a combination lock and kept working away until she got it. It would have taken the TAR contestants about 30 seconds to try other combinations!

I agree that the numbers on the clock didn't necessarily have to be the numbers on the clock face - they could have been a random number put up on the tower. Or there could have been no numbers at all on the face, just dashes.

As far as trying all the tree numbers around the one they got wrong, perhaps there was some rule about how they couldn't simply try random numbers, they had to actually go out, count the trees, say what number they got, then try it. That rule may have been edited out.