Posted 9/7: Three”Real World” Brain Teasers Where Math Can Help 🙂
- Ralph found an ad for a lot that was advertised as ‘one acre by one-half acre’ in a marvelous location at a reasonable cost, yet he was a little reluctant to follow through. Why?
- A professional sports team was in salary cap trouble. The General Manager approached the team’s star, Willy Ketchem, with the following offer: Please help us out this year by taking a 25% pay cut for this next year only. If you’ll do that, we promise to give you a 30% raise the following year. Willy was willing (say that three times quickly!), but his agent advised against it – for mathematical reasons. Why is that?
- Why are manhole covers round? Wouldn’t rectangular ones be easier to build? (There is an important mathematical reason for this!)
Added 9/14: A couple of more traditional goodies:
4. A car dealer sold 60 cars during a six-day sale. Each day, he sold 4 more cars than he did the day before. How many cars did he sell on the first day?
5. Which has more area – a square of side 1, or a circle with diameter 1?
Added 9/21: BTs concerning Time Zones 🙂
6. When it comes to time zones, the countries of China and India share an interesting fascinating fact. What is it?
7. How do time zones work at the North and South Poles, where all the longitude lines converge?
8. And, finally, how does the International Space Station keep its time?
Added 9/21: Special Dates
9. a) What was mathematically special about the second Saturday of this month (9/12)? b) This phenomenon will occur only ONCE more this century! When? Why is it the last?
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