Students would delight in calling the first 3 problems ‘trick problems’, but they’re not. They just need some careful thinking and/or careful reading. So HAVE FUN . . . but don’t be too hasty :-).
1. Several years ago, I drove a nail into a tree exactly five feet above the ground. The tree grows at a rate of one half-foot per year. Last year, 11 years later, I returned and saw the tree. How far above the ground was the nail?
2. The volumes of Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire stand side by side on a bookshelf (Vol I to the left of Vol II, etc). A bookworm starts at page 1 of Volume I and bores his way in a straight line to the last page of Volume II. If each cover is 1/8 inch thick, and each book with the covers is 2 inches thick, how far did the book worm travel?
3. A bear left its den and walked straight south for 1 mile. Then it turned left (right angle) and walked another mile. Finally it turned left again, and walked one more mile – arriving right back at its den! What color was the bear – and why?
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