Question: If 1/2 of 5 is 3, then what is 1/3 of 10?

1 Answer
Jul 27, 2018

#3#, #4#, a herring, or anything else you like.

Explanation:

In normal rational arithmetic #1/2# or #5# is #5/2 = 2.5#. The result could be taken as #3# if we choose to round up.

Then #1/3# of #10# is #10/3 = 3.bar(3)#. If we round to the nearest value then we get #3#. If we always round non-integers up, then we get #4#.

If we simply take the antecedant "#1/2# of #5# is #3#" to be false, then we can deduce any consequent, e.g. that #1/3# of #10# is a herring or anything else we choose.