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5th grade math problem. - Page 3

post #31 of 35
11/21/09 at 2:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by colonelkernel8 View Post
It says no driver.

This thread is giving me a good laugh.
Ah I skimmed cause this was already a couple pages. Didn't notice it.
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post #32 of 35
11/21/09 at 5:03am
Its the threads like this that make me realise I need a "life".

Thank an omnipresent omnipowerful creator of the universe for Google.

Quote:
Originally Posted by 1st google result
s a riddle, the answer is zero legs on the bus since the bus has wheels instead of legs.
But as a maths problem; It's not a tricked question -- just a straightforward maths problem
Confirmed answer is 10990 legs.
§ Let's say the whole situation simply :
- There are 7 girls.
- Each girl has 7 backpack
- Each backpack has 7 big cats
- Each big cat has 7 little small cats.
§ Question: How many legs are there in the bus?
§ Let's focus on each part of the question systematically, write down on a piece of paper if you have to, following my steps of chains.
1. Focus on the first girl first:
A B C D E F G
Girl A has 7 backpacks

2. Now focus on first backpack A1 :
A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7
Backpack A1 has 7 big cats


3. Now focus on first big cat :
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Ø Each big cats have 7 small cats (that's the end of the focus)
Systematically, 7 small cats has 28 legs (7 * 4) combined with the big cat that owns this 7 small cats.
Let's call this the "cat chain", so cat chain 1 has 32 legs altogether.
Ø So since there are 7 big cats
7 * 32 = 224 legs
Ø Therefore each backpack has 224 legs
Ø Finally, each girl has 7 * 224 = 1568 legs.
Lastly, since there are 7 girls, A to G, there are 7 * 1568 legs (per girl) = 10976 legs.
Now, since each girl also has 2 legs each;
SO, (7 * 2) + 10976 = 10990 legs altogether
Note: Disregarding bus driver, buses and etc…Only focus on the girl and their backpacks!
WikiAnswers - There is a bus with 7 children inside. Each child has 7 bags. Inside each bag there are 7 big cats. Each big cat has 7 small cats. All cats have 4 legs each. How many legs are on the bus
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post #33 of 35
11/21/09 at 5:13am
This problem was designed to be used with a calculator for year 5 kids, probably over the span of 10-25 minutes depending on the class. It's not hard at all. 10990 is the answer.

The problem with a lot of primary school maths is that it is excessively vague and relies on the misconceptions of the children. For example a question might say "Rotate this shape 90 degrees". It doesn't say which direction, but the students typically come up with the same answer because of the location of the shape in relation to the space on the page.

This is a major problem IMO.

One question that always got me in a pickle was "Whats the name of the four sided shape with two sides parallel and one right angle".

You cannot have more than what is listed, and the shape must be closed. (Note that neither of these are stated in the question, but the teacher will inforce these).

Theres about three different answers that would be considered acceptible.
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post #34 of 35
11/21/09 at 8:12am
I'm going to cat-math-do!
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post #35 of 35
11/21/09 at 11:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrGreen View Post
This problem was designed to be used with a calculator for year 5 kids, probably over the span of 10-25 minutes depending on the class. It's not hard at all. 10990 is the answer.

The problem with a lot of primary school maths is that it is excessively vague and relies on the misconceptions of the children. For example a question might say "Rotate this shape 90 degrees". It doesn't say which direction, but the students typically come up with the same answer because of the location of the shape in relation to the space on the page.

This is a major problem IMO.

One question that always got me in a pickle was "Whats the name of the four sided shape with two sides parallel and one right angle".

You cannot have more than what is listed, and the shape must be closed. (Note that neither of these are stated in the question, but the teacher will inforce these).

Theres about three different answers that would be considered acceptible.
But even worse than primary school mathematics, is primary school spelling.
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