# Please explain the math of this situation to me. (funny video inside) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 25, 2020, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-the-math-of-this-situation-to-me-funny-video-inside/850286 "2020-03-25T23:12:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-the-math-of-this-situation-to-me-funny-video-inside/850286/1 "2020-03-25T23:12:22Z")
Note: This is from Would I Lie To You?, a game where the celebrities read a card and the other team guesses if the statement is true or a lie. [I would, for the sake of entertainment, encourage you to watch the entire video of Lee Mack lying/telling-the-truth about abandoning someone who got stuck in a tree.](https://youtu.be/l_e1NzNOono) However, the part my brain is having a hard time understanding is the opening 45 seconds to a minute. Everything after the opening minute is irrelevant to this question. Lee, the card reader, says that the man was “2/3 the way up the tree.” When asked how tall the tree was, he responds, “As high as the man was up, plus 1/3.” David(on the other team) points out that the man must have been 3/4 the way up the tree, then. He says, “If he was 2/3 the way up the tree, then the height of the tree was how high he was up, plus a half.” Hey, I guess I’m ignorant because I can not process the information in the exchange they have. I would have understood it as Lee said it. He was 2/3 the way up the tree, there for that height plus the remaining 1/3 is the height of the tree. What the heck is David critiquing? Everyone kind of claps and acknowledges his point, but I can’t get it through my mind. Can anyone here explain or illustrate? ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-the-math-of-this-situation-to-me-funny-video-inside/850286/2 "2020-03-25T23:28:42Z")
1/3 is half of 2/3. 3/3 = 2/3 + (one half of 2/3). 1/4 is a third of 3/4. 4/4 = 3/4 + (one third of 3/4) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-the-math-of-this-situation-to-me-funny-video-inside/850286/3 "2020-03-25T23:43:59Z")
Put another way: say the tree is 30 feet tall, and the climber is 20 feet up; how tall is that tree? 20 plus one-third of 20, or 20 plus half of 20? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-the-math-of-this-situation-to-me-funny-video-inside/850286/4 "2020-03-26T00:08:13Z")
Of course, if you like, the height of the tree was 2/3 of the height of the tree plus 1/3 (of the height of the tree), as originally intended 🙂 All parties are just having a bit of fun.