# Chocolate Mathematics **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 9, 2004, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chocolate-mathematics/249423 "2004-06-09T07:08:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chocolate-mathematics/249423/1 "2004-06-09T07:08:03Z")
OK, I get these little e-mail puzzles once in awhile, I’m sure most of us do. Most of these things I can figure out if I scratch my head long enough. Either I haven’t scratched my head long enough, or I’m havine a bad math day, but I just can’t figure out why this one works. Any help out there? * * * CHOCOLATE MATHEMATICS This is pretty neat how it works out. This is cool chocolate math!!! DON’T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST! It takes less than a minute… Work this out as you read. Be sure you don’t read the bottom until you’ve worked it out! This is not one of those waste of time things, It’s fun. 1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate. (try for more than once but less than 10) 2. Multiply this number by 2 (Just to be bold) 3. Add 5. (for Sunday) 4. Multiply it by 50 I’ll wait while you get the calculator… 5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1754… If you haven’t, add 1753 6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born. You should have a three digit number. The first digit of this was your original number (i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week). The next two numbers are … YOUR AGE! ~ ( Oh YES, it IS!!!) THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS. * * * Hmm … ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chocolate-mathematics/249423/2 "2004-06-09T07:29:17Z")
OK… the chocolate # is X, and my age is Y… X 2X 2X+5 50(2X+5) = 100X + 250 100X + 250 + 1754 100X + 250 + 1754 - (2004 - Y) 100X + Y If you didn’t have your birthday yet, your age is just one less, so subtract 1 from all that, which is accomplished by using 1753 in step 5. Now, 100X is going to look like X00. If X is 8, then 100X is 800, etc. Adding any 2-digit number Y will just replace the zeros with that number. I hope that made sense. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chocolate-mathematics/249423/3 "2004-06-09T13:16:12Z")
Of course, the algorithm does not work for people aged over 100. And it can be easily modified for any other year by changing 1754 and 1753 as appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chocolate-mathematics/249423/4 "2004-06-09T23:26:07Z")
Yeah. I’ve been seeing things like this that say “It’ll only work THIS YEAR!!! LOLz0rZ!!!” for several years now. You could also multiply by a different number in step 4, and then adjust other numbers accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chocolate-mathematics/249423/5 "2004-06-09T23:33:01Z")
Thanks folks, I see the light now. I think I probably could have figured it out with enough head scratching, but I don’t want to wear a hole in my melon at my age. 🙂