This is a 5th grade math problem. This is not a trick question. This is a real math problem so don't say that the bus doesn't have legs.
There are 7 girls in a bus. Each girl has 7 backpacks. In each backpack, there are 7 big cats. For every big cat, there are 7 little cats.
The bus driver is not in the bus at this time.
Question:
How many legs are there in the bus?
See if you can get the right answer. Leave your answer as a comment!!!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Well let's see...
ReplyDelete7 girls = 14 legs
7 backpacks = 0 legs
7 cats per backpack
Cats have 4 legs ...
so that's 28 cat legs per backpack
Each girl has 7 backpacks ...
so that's 7 x 28 = 196 cat legs per girl
7 "little cats" (not kittens?) per "big cat"
Little cats have 4 legs too ...
and there are 7 big cats per backpack, each with 7 little cats ...
so that's 7x7x4 = 196 little cat legs per backpack ...
196x7 "little cat legs" per girl ... 1372
Add them together and you get
14 + 0 + 196 + 1372 = 1582
Am I right or did I miss something painfully obvious?
Sorry Ben, wrong answer :(
ReplyDeleteEach big cat has 4 legs + 28 legs for the little cats = 32 legs, so each backpack has 32 x 7 = 224 legs - each girl has 7 x 224 legs = 1568 legs x 7 girls = 10,976 plus each girl has two legs - 7x2 = 14 +10976 = 10,990.
ReplyDeleteKim
First we need to find the number of kitties each girl has:
ReplyDelete7 kittens x 7 big cats x 7 backpacks = 343 cats.
There are 7 girls in the bus, so there are a total 7 x 343 = 2401 cats in the bus (oh my !)
That makes 2401 x 4 = 9604 cat legs.
There are 7 girls and so they have 14 legs among them and that brings to a grand total of 9604 + 14 = 9618 legs.
(No don't tell me buses have wheels and not legs)
Kim is correct. I tried it again and got this:
ReplyDelete7 girls
49 backpacks
343 big cats
2401 little cats
(7x2) + (343x4) + (2401x4) = 14 + 1372 + 9604
10990
Previously, I didn't multiply by 7 enough times... and Jaffer forgot to add ALL of the legs together. He needed to do (343x4) + (2401x4) because there are 343 big cats and 2401 little cats.
Congratulations to Kim for calculating the correct answer first. Jaffer gets a point for good effort and Ben gets two points for reworking the problem
ReplyDeleteGreat work!
Ah yes you are right Ben ! I was suspecting that I was forgetting the big cats :-D
ReplyDeleteHooray for Kim !
My Name is Jaffer and I am not smarter than a fifth grader.
(Wait, that was not part of the deal...)
Jaffer, don't beat yourself up. No one is smarter than a fifth grader before the coffee clicks and those little ones like to remind you of that fact :)
ReplyDeleteI am so glad someone got the answer before I visited!
ReplyDeleteStopping by for BYBS. We have been traveling, so I am not caught up with my fave bloggers. We will be home tomorrow.
Have a wonderful week.
Aw, looks like someone else got to the question before I did. I do hope that this is one of those questions on the harder end of the spectrum, though. I don't think I was allowed a calculator in fifth grade and I was terrible with carrying numbers.
ReplyDeleteShea, math is not my strong suit at least psychologically even though I am good at it. As with any scientist I'm a rather lazy mathematician doing only the math necessary for my dicipline. However, knowing how to do the calculations without a calculator has served me well over the years. In fact I had a couple of uni courses where calculators were not allowed so that took care of any carrying numbers problems.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm trying to remember if calculators were even out when I was in 5th grade..LOL!