Repeating Numbers

This next one should be pretty easy because we're going to be doing it together.

And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.

Here we have the same situation as Nicodemus the tax collector found before. Remember, we talked about the false accusation and him taking something from someone as part of his office and restoring it fourfold.

2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.

Now I don't know about you, but wasting goods is a pretty serious practice, at least where a master is concerned.

3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.

4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.

Ah yes, this is what you call a smart man of the world right here. Perhaps he isn't incredibly business savvy, but he is certainly rather street smart.

5 So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord?

Notice how this man kept a working memory of all the master's accounts. You might even say he knew all his master's business. Now he might have had a very good head for names but not so much when it came to figures.

6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.

Let's work through the accounts with him and see what he found out. There's a hundred which should be also written out as 100 measures of oil. A measure is just an established unit of weight in that day. It was like say they took a scale and poured the oil or the wheat on there until it reached the accepted weight. That's what has been called by some a measure. How would you resolve the situation? I know what some have done by demanding payment in full. Yet this man was not about to do that here. Perhaps he knew what it was like for his master to show mercy instead of requiring the full sum at his hands. So, he did the next best thing and halved it increasing his chances of getting some satisfaction at their hands.

100 measures.

It is the same thing as 100/1, 100/100

100 measures times 1/2 or 0.5

I can also write this as 100/2

2 goes into 100

5 times

Because 2 times 5 makes ten. You're still not done, there's a zero left.

2 goes into 0 or nothing which still makes it nothing.

Add that back up there beside the 5.

The text makes it easy on us. The answer is 50.

7 Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.

Here's another 100 measures owed in wheat. If you're keeping count of the total debts, it's 100 and 100 which makes it 200 so far. This man reduced the bill by fourscore. Say a score would equal ten, right. 4 times 10 would make it 40. How much has this man reduced the bill by?

100/40 which can be furthered fractured out by means of ten.

I will divide ten into 100 and then into the 40

My aim will be to get rid of the / in the middle

Now I have

10 and 10/4 but there's got to be an easier way to do it right?

100/40 left over means we've got to try all that again. This time we'll try dividing 40 into 100. Four in ten goes twice.

That's because 40 and 40 makes 80.

80 minus 100 makes 20.

That will be 2 and then 5 which finished the whole thing out. That's because there's 20 left. But we were solving for 100 not for 80. Bring down the extra zero and add it back in. That makes 40 going into 200 which makes it 5. It wasn't exactly clean, was it? It's 2.5 if you must know. The point was added in because it was a portion, not the whole. The debt has been reduced by 2.5.

40 / 100

80 = 2

_________

2 left and bring down your 0.

40 / 20.0

200 = 5

____

0

2.5

The steward will have collected 40 and 50 for the master so far. This makes the total 90. So, there was a total debt of 200 which makes only 90 collected so far. The difference between them is 110 measures or the debt of gratitude which would cushion the servant's fall from the house, if indeed there was one. This also gave him place in tomorrow. Let's work out how much the cost reduction was. 90 goes into 200 by 2. 2 times 90 makes 180 or 90 plus 90 makes it 180. We aren't solving for 180 though, are we? 200 minus 180 makes 20 even with no zeros left over. There's still 20 left so we need to borrow a zero. For this I will put a point . 2 something after the end. 90 goes into 200 again twice. Then the cycle will repeat. To me it is clear this number will not resolve, neither will the situation since it can be repeated indefinitely.

90 / 200

180 = 2

________

90 / 20.0

180 = 2

__________

90 / 2.00

2.2 so far and we're still not done.

2.222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222 to be exact forever on until eternity. That is an insane cost saving benefit if you have asked me. You can also figure say 2.2 times 90 to find out the total of the debt.

90

x2.22

____

180

18.0

1.80

_____

199.8....... or in it's truest form 199.99999999999999 on until eternity.

Because 2 times 90 is 180. Then you will want to add another 180 to it but from behind the decimal point. So it's actually 180 plus 18.0 and as you keep moving the place, the decimal point also works on eating the numbers. When you go to multiply with other larger numbers you cannot do that though. Only the decimal points work like that.

8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?

Luke 16:1-12