What Is the Meaning of One Half?

[flyingpig]

I was sleeping and I was thinking about this question last night and I cuoldn't sleep at all.

What is one half?

at first I thought it meant 1/2, but then I thought "hey, one, half. I said one first and then half later, so it means 1 \frac{1}{2}"

Yeah so could anyone clarify this for me lol?

 

[rock.freak667]

Usually 1½ is read as "one and a half".

½ is usually read as just "half"

I think ½ to mean one-half sounds redundant.

 

[flyingpig]

what is one half then?

 

[disregardthat]

How many halves is one half?

1+1/2 is three halves, 1/2 is one half. See, it's easy!

 

[flyingpig]

No but rock.freak667 stated, we could've just said "half" for 1/2

but when we say one, it means 1 and then we say half after it 1/2 it sounds like 1 1/2

One half 1 1/2

 

[cristo]

If you call 1/2 "half" then "one half" is 1 x 1/2=1/2. The same is true, e.g, for thirds: "two thirds" is 2/3=2 x 1/3

 

[Unit]

It is 0.5.

 

[SteveL27]

It is 0.5.

If I said it's 0.4999... I could stir up some excitement :-)

 

[ScannerFriend]

What is one-half?

one-half = 1/2
one half = 1 1/2
one-fourth = 1/4
one fourth = 1 4th

 

[HallsofIvy]

I can't believe this thread has lasted through 8 (now 9!) posts. The original post is simply a play on words and has nothing to do with mathematics.

 

[ricko]

Yes, the original post deals with words, but it reminds me of a pet peve regarding how "mixed fractions" are written- say "4 and a half" is written as 4 1/2
When evaluated as an expression, there is implied multiplication which the original phrase does not imply.

 

[HallsofIvy]

No, it isn't. Writing algebraic symbols next to each other, such as "xy", is implied multiplication. That is not true of actual numbers written next to each other.

"29" does not mean "2 times 9".

 

[Antiphon]

1/2 is 6 of a dozen.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I always get confused when someone says they drank a whole half gallon of milk. Is that like drinking a half whole gallon? Is it whole milk or half and half. What's the difference between whole milk and half and half anyway. If you mix a half gallon of half and half and a half gallon of whole, do you get a gallon and a half of half half and half and half whole? What if you have two half brothers? Is that the same as having one brother?

 

[Dembadon]

Jimmy wins, again.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Jimmy wins, again.

Antiphon's is funnier.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I always get confused when someone says they drank a whole half gallon of milk. Is that like drinking a half whole gallon? Is it whole milk or half and half. What's the difference between whole milk and half and half anyway. If you mix a half gallon of half and half and a half gallon of whole, do you get a gallon and a half of half half and half and half whole? What if you have two half brothers? Is that the same as having one brother?

Just ask yourself:

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Just ask yourself:

That's some horrorshow moloko.

 

[zoobyshoe]

That's some horrorshow moloko.

Glad you didn't ask if it was half empty or full.

 

[Dembadon]

Glad you didn't ask if it was half empty or full.

It looks like it's one-half full to me.

 

[Antiphon]

As an engineer I must declare that it doesn't matter if it's half empty or half full; its merely twice as big as needs to be.

 

[Unit]

As an opportunist I must declare that it doesn't matter if it's half empty or half full; are you going to drink it?

 

[Antiphon]

As an opportunist I must declare that it doesn't matter if it's half empty or half full; are you going to drink it?

I'll drink half.

 

[lisab]

I'll drink half.

I'll drink half of what's left.

 

[lisab]

I'll drink half of what's left.

One half, of course.

 

[Mark44]

I always get confused when someone says they drank a whole half gallon of milk.

Why is this confusing? In the US, you can buy milk in a variety of quantities: pint, quart, half-gallon, and gallon. Each of these could be considered a "unit" of milk. You probably wouldn't be confused if someone said they drank a whole pint, which is a half-quart or quarter-gallon. When someone says they drank a whole half-gallon, I would interpret this to mean that they drank all of the milk in a half-gallon container; i.e., the whole thing.

Is that like drinking a half whole gallon?

Pretty much.

Is it whole milk or half and half.

"Of milk" implies that they were talking about milk, not half and half.

What's the difference between whole milk and half and half anyway.

Why don't you look it up and get back to us?

If you mix a half gallon of half and half and a half gallon of whole, do you get a gallon and a half of half half and half and half whole?

How would you get a gallon and a half from mixing two half-gallons of liquid?

What if you have two half brothers? Is that the same as having one brother?

Maybe if you were a magician, and your brother was involved in a "sawing a man into two" act that went tragically wrong.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

You probably wouldn't be confused if someone said they drank a whole pint, which is a half-quart or quarter-gallon.

I was born confused son. Let me try to get this straight. If someone says they drank a whole pint of whole milk in 15 minutes, that's the same thing as saying that they drank a whole half-half-gallon of whole half and half in a whole half of a whole half hour. I never heard anyone talk like that. Look at it this way. If someone says they drank a whole fifth of bourbon, then is that the same as drinking a fifth of whole bourbon? As a whole, I like bourbon, but I never heard anyone say they drank a whole bourbon after they drank 5 fifths of it.

 

[zoobyshoe]

... but I never heard anyone say they drank a whole bourbon after they drank 5 fifths of it.

No one whose drunk 5 fifths of bourbon can still talk.

 

[Mark44]

I was born confused son. Let me try to get this straight. If someone says they drank a whole pint of whole milk in 15 minutes, that's the same thing as saying that they drank a whole half-half-gallon of whole half and half in a whole half of a whole half hour. I never heard anyone talk like that. Look at it this way. If someone says they drank a whole fifth of bourbon, then is that the same as drinking a fifth of whole bourbon?

Let's get the units in, since their lack seems to be adding to your confusion. A fifth is not a fifth of a bourbon, or gin, or vodka; it's a fifth of a gallon of some alcoholic beverage. Someone who has drunk a whole fifth of a gallon of bourbon, has drunk a fifth of a whole gallon.

As a whole, I like bourbon, but I never heard anyone say they drank a whole bourbon after they drank 5 fifths of it.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

A fifth is not a fifth of a bourbon, or gin, or vodka; it's a fifth of a gallon of some alcoholic beverage.

I had a feeling someone was putting alcohol in my liquor.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I had a feeling someone was putting alcohol in my liquor.

They do that on purpose so you'll get drunk and buy more liquor. It's pretty devious.