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Tuesday, December 11, 2007

This Problem has Legs

Because I simply must work on the Farm Side today...and because there are other irons tangling up the fire...I will share with you a math problem a friend sent us recently.

I didn't have a lot of time to spend on it, which is my excuse for not coming up with an answer. Ditto Liz. Becky didn't bother. However, Alan is like a pit bull when a problem intrigues him. He just works and works and works until he figures it out.

Which he did.

I'll bet all of you smarter than the average-type bear folks can too. Here it is.

Who can figure this out? (In school - this is called a story problem.)

There are 7 girls on a bus
Each girl has 7 backpacks
In each backpack, there are 7 big cats
For every big cat there are 7 little cats

Question: How many legs are there in the bus?

Actually, I just couldn't get past those backpacks...can you imagine the howling, and growling and yes, even caterwauling that went on within them? Glad I wasn't on that bus anyhow!

12 comments:

Rebecca Mecomber said...

LOL. I sent this to my younger daughter, InJane, the math whiz. First thing she asked was, "Does the backpack have legs?" So sassy :-p

All those cats, big and little are on the bus? lol
Anyway... (7 x 2) + [(7x7) x 4] + [(49x49) x 4] ?

9,814 legs?

Do we win?

Rebecca Mecomber said...

Now all we need is a dog on the bus... heh heh heh.

threecollie said...

Mrs. M, you are warm and that is one of the answers I came up with before wise guy broke the code...but you will have to keep trying. Sorry
And I love the dog concept. We can use Alan's dog, Nick, who has a real attitude when it comes to kitties.

Rebecca Mecomber said...

uh oh.. oh yes I see your comment now.. I reminded her that there are 56 cats in each backpack.. she says:

there are 56 cats in each backpack and each girl has 7 backpacks....... each girl has 392 cats; 7 girls have 392 cats each, there are 2744 cats; all the girls' legs total 14..... all the cats legs total 10,976.....they all total 10,990

BUTTTTTT.. is there a driver of the bus? Or is the bus sitting still?

With a driver, that's hat's 10,992 legs. Without it's 10,990.

I'm like you, TC. UGH.

I'm glad I defer the math to my husband and kids...

  said...

9,618?

Joni said...

I just wanted to leave a comment here about your post below. That is incredible to me. I have to wonder if the teachers are in reality or not. Who do they think are feeding them and why can't these people be educated? Ridiculous. In my mind Becky can take what you and your husband started and create even more. The teachers should be horse whipped.

Hayden said...

what a GREAT math problem. Much better than "if a car is driving north at 60 mph...."

threecollie said...

Mrs. M, no driver and you win. The answer is indeed 10, 990. The boss worked it out this morning, but it took him a while and he is a real math whiz too. (Not me, I am awful)

Lesle, that is another answer I came up with, but Mrs. M got it right

Joni, they made me pretty mad, but I just keep telling myself four more days....four more days...

Hayden, I found it intriguing, but impossible. Glad there are others in the family who got it.

Rebecca Mecomber said...

Woo! Well, i didn't get it right, my daughter did. I am TERRIBLE in math. And she likes puzzles like these whereas I grow tired of them after a minute or two. Now, give me a good word search or scramble and I'll be happy for hours!

Cute quiz.

Deanna said...

Oh how I would love to be on that bus!

Rosie said...

Well, That was fun! I love those logic problems. I used them to get ready for the GRE. Since I'm so terrible at math but sort of like it if it's a game.

Thanks for recommending me to Miss Cellania! That was a nice link she gave us! That goat milking photo makes my back hurt!

threecollie said...

Mrs. M, Math is no friend of mine either...words I like, numbers..not so much. lol

Cubby, I would have loved to see that! Especially if your mom was there with a video camera!

Rosie, glad the link worked out well for you. Miss C is always so nice, and when she asked me to help I realized I have a number of folks with milking critters right in the blog roll....and that photo is something isn't it? I used to milk goats and that sure isn't how I stood.