document.write( "<A HREF=/cgi-bin/jump-to-question.mpl?question=1154185>Question 1154185</A>: <I><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> The company's competitors we afraid because the company's production increased exponentially. Only five years after the company began its production, the prodiction was 3 times greater than when production began. How many times greater will the production be at the end of 15 years? </SPAN>\n" );
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document.write( "My answer is probably not the answer the author of the problem wanted, because the problem is very probably not written the way the author intended.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "The trouble with the statement of the problem is that \"3 times GREATER THAN x\" means x, plus 3 times x, which makes 4x.  So \"3 times greater than\" means \"4 times as great\".<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "Unfortunately, in sloppy everyday English usage, \"3 times greater than\" and \"3 times as great as\" are usually used to mean the same thing.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "Grammatically, the correct interpretation of the given information is that the company's production increases by a factor of 4 every 5 years.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "That means in 15 years (3 5-year periods) the production will increase by a factor of 4^3 = 4*4*4 = 64.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "And that means the company's production at the end of 15 years will be 63 times GREATER THAN it is now.<br><BR>\n" );
document.write( "CORRECT ANSWER: 63<br><BR>\n" );
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document.write( "WRONG ANSWER: 27.  (The company's production grows by a factor of 3 every 5 years, so in 15 years it will grow by a factor of 3*3*3=27.)<br><BR>\n" );
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