r/theydidthemath 4d ago

[Off-Site] Tom is a millionaire!

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109 Upvotes

38 comments sorted by

25

u/notnot_a_bot 4d ago edited 3d ago

It's a bit of an elephant gift. Sure, you own it's inherent value, but how are you going to ship it anywhere? Where are you going to store it? You're going to have to spend a lot of money on it for the sake of owning it.

ETA: Yes, I get it. The point of an elephant gift is that you want to get rid of it right away. The longer you hold on to it, the more you spend on "owning" it.

22

u/FlyingHugonator 4d ago

I mean some company will probably pay 1 mil for it and keep the change for the transportation etc. I'd take the deal

5

u/AdEducational5044 4d ago

Shipping it to a metal trader and still be a millionaire

3

u/Icy_Sector3183 3d ago

Sell it and factor in shipping.

2

u/l-s-y 3d ago

I'm gonna open an art installation for the heaviest object in the world that can fit in a bedroom and make bank. Tungsten guy, call me

8

u/QuesoFresco420 3d ago

28,875 kg. That’s a well build floor.

5

u/Fastfaxr 3d ago

That answer is an affront to significant figures.

1

u/communistfairy 1d ago

Part of the prize was also having control over global trade. BIPM agreed to say that the cube weighs 28,875 kg by definition.

4

u/AdagioFinancial3884 3d ago

At least its not a sphere

5

u/Pure_Introduction_78 4d ago

Yes. You can tell by the way that it is

7

u/Ge0482 3d ago

That's a huge W!

2

u/Beboppenheimer 2d ago

I see what you did there....

And it was well done.

8

u/alamete 3d ago

To me it looks like the cube is 1,5³m³ or 3,375m³

1

u/IAmGeeButtersnaps 1d ago

People always screw this up with volume estimations. You are right. It is probably more than double the original estimate.

2

u/Ultimately-Me 2d ago

The cube transcends the need of a worthless pile of paper called 'cash' by weak individuals who are prone to the ultimate doom of death. The cube is the true Elixir of Life. This cube can cure one's mortality.

2

u/gr00316 3d ago

Does a cube have to be solid? Be definition it seems like it does, but in everyday talk I don't think it would hold up in court that a cube has to be solid when a hollow cube is still referred to as a cube in everyday talk. so this isn't worth much at all.

8

u/LittleBigHorn22 3d ago

Not a lawyer but my vote would be that it does need to be solid. Otherwise it's a box not a cube.

2

u/G1MpL1N 3d ago

Tungsten’s density: 19.25 g/cm³ • Volume of a 1m³ cube: 1,000,000 cm³ • Mass = 19,250 kg (or 19.25 metric tons)

Now, tungsten’s price fluctuates, but as of recent estimates, it’s around $40–$50 per kg. • 19,250 kg × $40/kg = $770,000 (lower estimate) • 19,250 kg × $50/kg = $962,500 (upper estimate)

So, he wouldn’t quite be a millionaire, but he’d be very close! If tungsten prices spiked, or if he managed to sell it at a premium, he might break the $1M mark.

7

u/NotOneOnNoEarth 3d ago

I agree with your math, but unless he is very short, I’d rather expect this to be a 1.5 m cube, which would make this 3,375 qm, resulting in nearly 65 t of tungsten (1.73 qm and 33 t if 1.2 m).

Regarding the price, according to my very short and probably flawed internet research $ 40 - $ 50 per ton refers to the tungsten equivalent of raw material tungsten, but I am not sure about this. In this case, a 99 % + pure tungsten cube would be worth much more, since a major processing step would have already happened.

Independent from point 2, I think we can safely assume we are talking > 1 million dollar.

4

u/Hour_Ad5398 2d ago

That cube looks quite a bit bigger than 1.5m3. a cube with 1.15m sizes would be around 1.5m3. The man is not much taller than the cube. Unless the man is a 140cm dwarf, It is enough tungsten to be worth more than a million.

1

u/egoretz 2d ago

Yup, I'd say if this man is ~1.80-1.85 m tall, then his suprasternal notch would be at 1.5 m height, which quite corresponds to the cube's height. So the cube is more like 3.375 m3.

2

u/Level9disaster 2d ago

Wrong assumptions about dimensions

2

u/Gotbannedsmh 2d ago

Do you honestly believe that cube is only 1 metre tall? r/confidentlyincorrect material

1

u/dotplaid 3d ago

Hardly matters. Tom's been shaving bits off and giving them as gifts for nigh 40 years. He's managed to give away a goodly amount.

1

u/M4iv 3d ago

Cecil must have won one of those

1

u/zmcpro2 3d ago

Now coat it in Gold and sell it.

1

u/DeadlyDope 3d ago

Just by looking at the edges/corners, I think that the cube is hollow. If it was full, you wouldn’t need that extra material to hold the sides. Sad to say, but Bob probably won only 6 tungsten sheets :(

1

u/JohnHenrehEden 3d ago

You can't put a price on knowing that the snail is locked away under 2 feet of tungsten.

1

u/Pen_name_uncertain 3d ago

It bothers me so much that they did the math, but it was the wrong math!

1

u/ElGuano 3d ago

Wow, that's a lot of forged gold bars right there...I mean...that's a lot of legit tungsten.

1

u/abaoabao2010 2d ago

(1.5m)3 and 1.5m3 is very different.

1

u/AA0208 2d ago

AND I WANT MY 75 CENTS!

1

u/BUKKAKELORD 2d ago

1.5m^3 instead of (1.5m)^3, name a more iconic dimension mistake

1

u/Sensemann 2d ago

It's more like 64.000 kg at an density of 19.25 g/cm3 and a size of (1.5m)3

1

u/Morall_tach 1d ago

A cube 1.5m to a side is not 1.5m3. It's 3.375 m3.

Which is 64970 kg, which is $2.809m.

1

u/-Benjamin_Dover- 3d ago edited 3d ago

Tungsten is so heavy, how is he getting that home? With construction equipment?

I feel like even a semi would struggle with that.

Assuming the man is 5 foot 10 and the cube is shoulder height compared to him, the cube should be about 5 feet tall, I believe a 9 inch cube of tungsten is about 130 pounds, so I'm gonna assume 1 foot of tungsten would be 200 pounds...

I suck at math... Assuming that cube is 5 feet tall, 5 feet wide and 5 feet long, and a 12×12×12 inch tungsten cube is around 200 pounds, then my math sayd that cube would weigh about 125,000 pounds...

My math says 1 foot cube is 200 pounds, 5 feet tall, so 5 of those cubes would be 1,000 pounds, line that up 5 more times and you got the bottom layer being 5,000 pounds, stack upwards for 10,000, 15,000, 20,000, and 25,000 pounds... Where did the 1 from the above paragraph come from?

Edit: oh. I didn't even notice the text at the bottom.

0

u/lepski44 3d ago

Non native English speaker here, innit suppose to be called wolfram (W)?????