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May 09, 2008 |
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Math Problem
FOUND by Ezra Delaney
in Port Washington, New York
My son found this on the school bus and brought it home. I hope this was not a homework assignment. Please submit your answers!!
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To Help Him February 26, 2006 |
420 April 20, 2006 |
No Nuthin June 05, 2005 |
Palm Man July 09, 2005 |
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We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework,
to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles -
anything that gives a glimpse into someone
else's life. Anything goes...
OOOH, Am I the first for the first time ever?
Could you imagine if FOUND gave us SPAM questions like this one?
Bob's wife married young. :(
Well if im doing this right...
Bob (after 5 years) is 26.
Bobs wife was 19.
Bobs wife now is 24.
Bobs sister (after 5 years) is 12.
Ha thats funny
At first i thought it was bobs wife is 12 time as old as his sister and she was like 60.
Bob is 26; (7x3)+5 = 26
Bob's wife was 19 five years ago; 7+12=19
Bob's wife is 24 now; 7+12+5 =24
Bob's sister is 12; 7+5=12
@L; We don't really know how old Bob's wife was when she got married. The problem doesn't get into such details. Presumably she was between 19 and 24
oh, and i always hated having to show my work on math problems in school
Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob Bob
There's no Bob, no Bob's sister.
Because Bob doesn't exist, he never married.
X has no value. Really.
I'm not feeling a need to "Explain my work"; you'll just have to trust me on this.
Bob's sister is actually his teenage love child with his wife. They were 12 and 14. Bob's parents adopted lil sis and raised her as their own.
Now Bob and his wife want to tell her and have her live with them but Bob's parents are fighting it because they know Bob and his wife smoke pot and Bob can't seem to hold down a job (at least he hasn't yet).
Bob and his wife are threatening to tell lil sis so now Bob's parents won't even let her go over to their house to visit and everyone is "not speaking" to each other.
Lil sis is frustrated by this because she found her original birth certificate in a box under Bob's parents' bed when she was 9 and has known all about it since then.
It's "Cinema Week at Found"!! - - - "What About Bob?" another fine piece of moving picture entertainment.
I don't actually care about Bob. But "explain your work" is something I can do. Grab some coffee. Pull up a chair. Settle in for some fine bibliographic instruction!
I always hated word problems. Now my son hates them and I find myself having to explain them to him step by step. He could do it himself but he's too lazy to try. Math sucks. Last year his 5th grade teacher, on the first day of school, sent homework for the parents to list 7 ways they use math on a daily basis, to squash the rumors that nobody needs math later in life. Thanks Mrs. O'Reilly!
"Bob's sister is 7, Bob is 3 times older than her, my head hurts 5 times more after each word I read...."
How much does my head hurt now?
Whenever I'm supposed to do math I just call Matt.
The real problem with this problem isn;t so much the math as the English.
Second clause says "Bob IS 3 times older..." so when the later question asks how old Bob IS ... that's clear: 3 times older.
But wait, the third clause time travels to 5 years in the future when "Bob's wife IS 12 years older..." (rather than 'WILL BE'). So just which time zone IS the question situated in?
Further, in 5 years is she 12 years older than the sister is NOW, or 12 years older than the sister WILL BE?
I'll wager nobody in the class got the 'correct' answers for two reasons: a) the teacher's English is confusing, and b) most of the kids copied something incorrectly when writing down the problem.
Call up Bob's mom. She knows everyone's birthdays.
Bob who?
This is exactly why I have math anxiety. I like the language arts part of this assignment though. I do like creative writing. And the penmanship has a nice rhythm. As a piece of art this might have some value. I think it would look cool in a frame.
Answer to last question: Bob's sister is 7.
Explain your work: I read the first sentence.
chillin, I always hated word problems too. When I was in school they were called story problems. I believe that was to make us want to read them. stalker's story fits this story problem. Not only is there a story, but also a problem.
Dang! Bob was 14 when his sister was born. That's quite an age difference. Sounds like someone's condom broke.
...and if Bob is on a passenger train leaving Chicago and going west at 80 mph at the same time his sister is on a propellor plane flying from London to Edinburgh - who is driving the bus?
how old was bob's wife 5 yrs ago? 29.
How old is bob's wife now? still 29. And that's enough of that.
Doesn't this writer know that its impolite to ask a lady her age?
Stalker, i like the way you explained your work. Excellent
Librarian. I would love to hear you explain your work. I'm so jealous. I wish i was a librarian.
UGH...I hate math! Hmm...<looks over Alix's shoulder> I deduce that the answer is...
Bob (after 5 years) is 26.
Bobs wife was 19.
Bobs wife now is 24.
Bobs sister (after 5 years) is 12.
Cheating is educational!
Weird. My spam protection question was "How old is Bob's wife?"
Bob is the best name EVER in the history of the entire universe and beyond!
Under normal circumstances I would find it depressing to find a mathematical word problem in a kid's handwriting (bad memories of time wasted on assignments fine-honing skills that are almost never used in the really-real world), but the Bob saved it.
Every word problem should involve a Bob.
Oh, age is nothing but a number when you're in "lurve"! (a tribute to Jonathan)
You know, if everyone learned how to show there work, this world wouldn't be in such calamity!
His name is Robert Paulson...
Bob MARRIED his SISTER! (He lives in the Ozarks, it's ok.)
My best guess is that the teacher wrote this problem on the blackboard and the kids had to hand-copy it down for their homework.
My school kept a strict paper-allowance rule for each teacher and when they were running low they'd have us hand-copy things off the blackboard (or overhead projector) to save them some paper for future copy machine jobs.
@ Alix & Winston - you both would've only gotten half credit because you didn't show your work like you were told. LMAO!
Trust me this is the way teachers get down. I hated showing my work in school. For what!? Doesn't it only matter that I got the right answer? Gimmie my full credit darn it!
I used to get these in high school... only instead of numbers we got x, y and z. I really do not miss high school.
@ mona lisa ... first rule: no cookies in the library! second rule: Just as you can never go into the same library twice, so also no two librarians have the same job.
Exception to rule two: when either a stream of English 101 students come to the reference desk with the same "poetry assignment" they get every semester, or when there's a line of middle school students asking for homework help with their word problems about Bob and his extended family. In these cases it's the same thing over and over and over again.
The exception to rule two is one reason I now work in rare books: less bother and more interesting materials. (We generally have nicer woodwork, too.)
Hmmmm i can handle no cookies in the library. (i don't have cookies where i work, either.) And rare books?? man, you've got it made..
I know lost girl...I know. I didn't cheat on Math in school but I also never showed my work because most of my answers were educated guesses (that were also wrong)...how sad am I???LOL
I guess this is me pick on me day! I can't cook and I can't do math.
Bob got married at 15???
@ Alan: isn't Bob's wife a bus driver?
Extra Credit: How much did Bob's wife get in the divorce?
I always hated problems like this. This one is almost as bad as the one about the goat, the cabbage and the wolf and only 2 will fit in the boat at the same time and how many trips do you have to make to ensure none of them gets eaten by the others?
My response, always: WHO CARES????
Problems like this made me hate math. No, teachers who gave problems like this as "extra credit" (meaning "I will mark you that bit harder if you don't do them") are what made me hate math.
Not looking at prior comments before I answer.
Now:
Sister = 7
Bob = Sx3 = 21
Wife 5 years later:
Sister+5+12 = 24
Wife Now:
24-5 = 19
Wife 5 Years Ago:
19-5 = 14
Bob's Sister: 7
mlm -- lurve you too!
Librarian -- that sounds like a great job. Certainly no two librarians had the same job in the area I used to work in. Kind of glad I'm not a librarian any more, but it had its fun moments. Everything I'd ever learned seemed to come in useful at some point.
As for the Find, it just gives me a headache with that manic bouncy handwriting!
Kits, cats, sacks, wives -- how many were going to St Ives??
Jonathan, I like the handwriting. I'm gonna ask the Font Fairy to send it to me.
Welcome back Mona!We missed you.:-)
Has anyone else noticed how the names in text books have become increasingly diverse over the years? No text would have a "Bob" these days it would be "Roberto" or "Malik" or "Panini" or something super ethnic. "Humberto, Franciesca, Englebert, Rashad, and Chin bought 19 apples. Englebert had twice as many as Chin, but less than Rashad..." At some point it was more difficult to read the names than answer the question. Meanwhile, I had class with 4 Brittanys, 6 Jennifers and 13 Ryans.
bob is hilarious, you can use it as a verb or a name. we call all the neices and nephews by their names and add bob to it like Sandybob and Karenbob. never stops being funny, unlike grandpas old standby "pull my finger"
tiffany: i am so glad i have a unique name now. and i like the handwriting too. and the name Bob. Bob Bob Bob...i like a guy named Bob, so it's even better.
@ Winston - this is why I was happy the SAT was mainly multiple choice! Wasn't there an essay or something we had to write? Anyway, I probably did HORRIBLE on that part & maybe that's why I didn't get accepted to all those Ivy Leauge schools I didn't apply to. =)
...Also Winston just saw your post on the other find, why would you subject yourself to Hamburger Helper when there's better, tastier stuff to eat like peanut butter & jelly? Concord grape jelly of course. By Welche's.
Wad'about Bob's Uncle? How old is he?...
Yeah Mona, welcome back. I even had an embarrassing little spat over asking where you were.
aaaccckkkk !!!!.... makes my head spin !!!
Mmmmmm.
Ice CreaM.
here I am, still laughing at Clover's response... But it's so true, this just shows that you can ask even the most stupid questions and still get away with it when you pretend it's a 'math problem'. Seriously, it's so sad the teacher is trying to be as confusing as possible with this just to make it into a math task. This teacher should be the one explaining his or her work!
On the other hand, the screwd-up grammar has us cross quickly from maths to deeply philosophical questions: When is 'now'? Why does Bob's wife get to be 12 years older than his sister ONLY AFTER 5 years - or, if so, what or when was she before? And who is this Bob person anyway?
We used to play a drinking game called "hi, Bob". You watch the Bob Newhart show, and evert time someone said, "hi, bob" everyone drinks. Or something like that. Sorry. the details of the game are a little fuzzy.
Speaking of fuzzy, we also played a drinking game called fuzzy duck.
But my favorite was Scrabble for shots.
Thanks for yesterdays explanation of HH, Basil. I'm going to look out for it, I bet I can get it somewhere. I bought a Baby Ruth bar last week.
Now, I have a question about jelly.
Peanut butter and jelly, I am pretty sure is
peanut butter and jam. The question is, what
do you call that wobbly stuff that is set with
gelatine? Is that jelly too?
to my dear cookie...
"stuff" set with gelatin is refered to as "jell-o" as in the trademarked brand name of flavored gelatin....Jello is my favorite word...and food type product...although I am glad I live in today's world that frowns apon using gelatin in non-fruit based dessert salads...I would have hated to live in a time of "aspic" and gelatin encased wild game parts...I am just saying...
What do you call a guy with no arms or legs in the pool?
Jelly is strained clear fruit jam. Jam is not clear and may have small pieces of fruit. Preserves has whole fruit in it (strawberries, raspberries) or large chunks (peaches, plums).
Oz "jelly" is US "Jello" or fruit gelatine. Or if you went to school where I did, add grated carrot and mini marshmallows and you've got "sunshine salad"! (Gross, yes, I know.)
Who really cares how old these people are? Do we even know them? Is it any of our business? I think not. Would you appreciate it if some total strangers analyzed you and your family in this manner? How about we all stop gossiping about Bob and his wife and sister.
Sheesh, people are so nosy.
i showed this to my next door neighbor whos my math teacher and hes stumped so i told him answer from looking at posts cuz he didnt know im signed up for honors math waaa
Wow... someone "found" a Found Spam-Protection Higher-Mathematics question!!
It flew all the way to Port Washington NY!
Lost girl: I don't care much for PB and J. I have weird tastes too. Possibly the reason, who knows. In my defence, I don't like all of hamburger helper choices...only a select few.
Oh, thank goodness I have been out of school for 21 years!!
So, how old am I?
Show your work!
Holly, you are a tiny bit older than I am! ;-)
Fuck Bob.