Hey Veeky Forums

99% = 1 part potato to 99 parts water
98% = 2 parts potato to 98 parts water = 1 part potato to 49 parts water

It's not a paradox if you know about odds (which most schools don't teach anymore)

You are confusing the potato composition and the proportion of water in the old potato to the new potato. Their answer is correct, but you might have misinterpreted it to be saying

Potato(1) = 100pounds

Water(1) = 99pounds

Water(2) = 99(0.98) = 97.02pounds

Hence, Potato(2) = 97.02 +1.00 = 98.02pounds

This should make more sense for you OP.

yes yes exactly
but where does the 50 pounds come from?

>1% nothing

Wrong. It's 2% potato meat, 98% water. The relative weight of the potato meat increases with respect to the water weight as the water is removed.

Another implicit understanding is that the potato is only made up of water and mass, so is only correct if you subside this assumption (the answer would be 99pounds then). In order for the potato to be made of 98% water, the one pound of other mass must fulfill 2% of it, which is only true when the water of potato(2) equals 48/99 of potato(1). This means that the direct proportion of water is 48.48...% of its original mass.

Before we dry the potato we have :

Total weight = 100p
Water weight = 99p
Flesh weight = 1p

After we dry we have :

Total weight = 1 + x
Water weight = x
Flesh weight = 1

We also know that Water weight = x makes up for 98% of total weight, so you just have to solve :

x / (1+x) = 0.98
...
x = 49

so total weight is 1 + 49 = 50

99kg water, fuck pounds. Remove x kg water so that
(99-x)/(100-x)=0,98
98-0,98x=99-x
x-0,98x=99-98
0,02x=1
x=50
You have removed 50kg water.

I guess the math isn't very explanatory.
So while 99kg is 99% of 100, 49 kg is 98% of 50kg. In reality you're comparing the static 1kg to the total weight, so for the 1kg to double the %, you have to halve the total weight.

Easiest way to see it:

mass of water/total mass
99/100 = 0.99
>minus one pound of weight from top and bottom
98/99 = 0.9899
97/98 = 0.9898
96/97 = 0.9897
...
89/90 = 0.9889
79/80 = 0.9875
69/70 = 0.9857
59/69 = 0.9833
49/50 = 0.9800

You dumb mofo

thats cheating
you removed all that water to make it 98% ratio

thats what the dehydration would do

otherwise it wouldnt be 98% water, it would still be more than 98% water

pounds are different on Mars retards. this would mean only 50% of the water's pound to kg ratio is converted to mass, which means that you need to take into account the additional gravitational force of the potato on Earth

(You)

1lb + 99lb = 100lb, 99lb / 100lb = 0.99, or 99% water. Then, dehydration happens.
1lb + xlb = (1+x)lb, xlb / (1+x)lb = 0.98, or 98% water. xlb = 0.98*(1+x)lb, xlb - 0.98*xlb = 0.98lb
x*(1 - 0.98)lb = 0.98lb, xlb = [0.98/(1 - 0.98)] lb, 0.98/0.02 lb = 49lb. Whoever wrote this problem is retarded.

Mfw this thread

>but steel is heavier than feathers

the mass is the same, but the weight is higher (implying measuring in atmposphere)

but mass and weight are synonyms

oh sure, please go on, tell me more..

Oh, I see, the amount of potato flesh never changes. As the % of water tends to 100, the weight of the potato grows arbitrarily large.