72 + 96 = 120, is it possible?

Question

I came across the following riddle:

How is it possible for $72+96=120$ to be correct?

giannispapav, where did you find this riddle? Can you please provide a source? — El-Guest, Aug 21 '18 at 17:23
Ah I see. As a heads-up, questions like this are generally considered too speculative (especially if you don't know the correct answer ahead of time) since they can often invite a lot of opinion-based answers which may all appear to be correct. Since there isn't a lot of detail, it is hard to tell which answer is objectively correct! Just wanted to give you a heads-up for the future in case this or any similar questions that you pose are closed. — El-Guest, Aug 21 '18 at 18:27
Even if it's a non-English website, you should link to the source. — Glorfindel, Aug 29 '18 at 07:43

El-Guest · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-21T17:11:08.233

11

This is the

side lengths of a right-angled triangle, where the two shorter sides have length 72 and 96; and the longest side has length 120. (Note this is a 3-4-5 Pythagorean triple).

Essentially,

if you travel north 72 units and then east 96 units, it's equivalent to travelling northeast (not exactly, the heading will be $\tan^{-1}\left(\frac{4}{3}\right)$ radians) by 120 units

edited Aug 21 '18 at 17:11

answered Aug 21 '18 at 17:09

El-Guest

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but that doesn't really mean 72 + 96 = 120, does it? – Joe-You-Know Aug 21 '18 at 17:10
It can, if you use a distance interpretation (found in my edit) – El-Guest Aug 21 '18 at 17:11
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Nice explanation, I'll give you a +1 for that. – Joe-You-Know Aug 21 '18 at 17:14

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 22 '18 at 07:21

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Answer :

$72^2 + 96^2 = 120^2$

edited Aug 22 '18 at 07:21

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answered Aug 21 '18 at 17:55

Theja

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Welcome to Puzzling.SE! Thank you for your answer, it is very much correct; although if you look at my answer above you'll see that I have already given the same answer as you (although phrased differently). Please try to ensure that answers you give are different from previous answers! Also, to avoid spoiling a puzzle for other puzzlers, please use spoiler tags >! in front of your answer. Thanks very much and happy puzzling! – El-Guest Aug 21 '18 at 18:03

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 23 '18 at 13:00

Let's assume

you want to bake a huge apple tart with apples from your own garden. You picked 168 apples (72 + 96) but many of them (96) have turned brown on one side or have a worm, therefore you halve those and throw away the bad halfs. What remains are 120 whole apples (if you count 2 halved apples as 1 whole).

What I want to say is:

72 + 96/2 = 120

72 + 96 = 120, is it possible?

3 Answers3