From: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org (jangle-poets-digest) To: jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Subject: jangle-poets-digest V7 #60 Reply-To: jangle-poets@smoe.org Sender: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jangle-poets-digest Tuesday, September 27 2005 Volume 07 : Number 060 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: [JP] Word Problem ["Marsik, Theresa" ] Re: [JP] Word Problem [Rozettj@aol.com] RE: [JP] Word Problem ["Marsik, Theresa" ] Re: [JP] Word Problem [Gordon Nash ] RE: [JP] Word Problem ["Cappell, Curtis" ] Re: [JP] Word Problem [Rozettj@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 07:42:33 -0500 From: "Marsik, Theresa" Subject: RE: [JP] Word Problem Gordon, When I was in college, my Fortran professor (who also wrote our text book) also used names of artists he liked. It made Fortran much more fun, when our code had to sort names such as Rex Harrison, Jeremy Brett, Stanley Holloway, etc. Of course, I don't know how many of my fellow students knew who these actors were, or that (it appeared) our teacher was a big fan of My Fair Lady and PBS's show, "Mystery!". Keep up the good work, Theresa PS 4 hours and 332 km? ________________________________ From: owner-jangle-poets@smoe.org on behalf of Gordon Nash Sent: Sat 9/24/2005 1:49 AM To: jangle-poets@smoe.org Subject: [JP] Word Problem I don't know if I ever posted any of these here. I teach math in college (often high school level math). When I give word problems I often use the names of musicians that I like. Today I gave this one. Pete drives at 80 kph, Maura at 83 kph. If Maura gives Pete a 12 km head start how long will it take her to catch Pete? How far will Maura have driven? Namaste, Gordon Check out the Kennedys' Official Home Page: http://www.KennedysMusic.com/ Fab photos, the Official tour diary, dashboard Buddha haiku, groovy merchandise...what more could you ask for? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 11:44:56 EDT From: Rozettj@aol.com Subject: Re: [JP] Word Problem In a message dated 9/26/2005 9:59:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time, theresa.marsik@psiusa.com writes: PS 4 hours and 332 km? that's what i got; so it must be right if x = distance pete travels at 80 and x+12 is the distance maura travels at 83 x+12/83 is the time it would take maura to catch pete and x/80 is the time it would take pete before he is caught x+12/83=x/80 80x+960=83x 960=3x x=320 the distance pete traveled in 4 hrs so maura traveled 332 in 4 hrs. ok - so i haven't done algebra since 8th grade in the 1950s; so my way may be old fashioned tj Check out the Kennedys' Official Home Page: http://www.KennedysMusic.com/ Fab photos, the Official tour diary, dashboard Buddha haiku, groovy merchandise...what more could you ask for? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 11:16:30 -0500 From: "Marsik, Theresa" Subject: RE: [JP] Word Problem Ok, so now the engineering geek in me is showing (either that or the procrastinating engineer in me). I wrote it as: 83 kph x t = 80 kph x t +12 where t is the time traveled in hours. Subtracting 80t from both sides gives you 3t = 12 or t = 4 hours. Therefore, in 4 hours, Maura would travel 4x83 or 332 km. Same exact thing, tj - I just didn't divide out their speed. On a Kennedy's-related note, Sirius is shaking up their programming a bit, so The Dharma Cafe will now be heard on Sirius Disorder (ch. 24). Instead of one, 6-hour show each saturday, they'll now be having 2 distinct 3-hour shows per week. The shows will be saturday from 10am to 1pm ET and sunday (but I've forgotten the time - maybe 11am to 2?). tm ________________________________ From: owner-jangle-poets@smoe.org on behalf of Rozettj@aol.com Sent: Mon 9/26/2005 11:44 AM To: jangle-poets@smoe.org Subject: Re: [JP] Word Problem In a message dated 9/26/2005 9:59:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time, theresa.marsik@psiusa.com writes: PS 4 hours and 332 km? that's what i got; so it must be right if x = distance pete travels at 80 and x+12 is the distance maura travels at 83 x+12/83 is the time it would take maura to catch pete and x/80 is the time it would take pete before he is caught x+12/83=x/80 80x+960=83x 960=3x x=320 the distance pete traveled in 4 hrs so maura traveled 332 in 4 hrs. ok - so i haven't done algebra since 8th grade in the 1950s; so my way may be old fashioned tj Check out the Kennedys' Official Home Page: http://www.KennedysMusic.com/ Fab photos, the Official tour diary, dashboard Buddha haiku, groovy merchandise...what more could you ask for? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 12:27:15 -0400 (GMT-04:00) From: Gordon Nash Subject: Re: [JP] Word Problem You got the right answer. Full credit. Give yourself a gold star. Namaste, Gordon the Nerd - -----Original Message----- From: Rozettj@aol.com Sent: Sep 26, 2005 11:44 AM To: jangle-poets@smoe.org Subject: Re: [JP] Word Problem In a message dated 9/26/2005 9:59:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time, theresa.marsik@psiusa.com writes: PS 4 hours and 332 km? that's what i got; so it must be right if x = distance pete travels at 80 and x+12 is the distance maura travels at 83 x+12/83 is the time it would take maura to catch pete and x/80 is the time it would take pete before he is caught x+12/83=x/80 80x+960=83x 960=3x x=320 the distance pete traveled in 4 hrs so maura traveled 332 in 4 hrs. ok - so i haven't done algebra since 8th grade in the 1950s; so my way may be old fashioned tj Check out the Kennedys' Official Home Page: http://www.KennedysMusic.com/ Fab photos, the Official tour diary, dashboard Buddha haiku, groovy merchandise...what more could you ask for? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 12:08:46 -0400 From: "Cappell, Curtis" Subject: RE: [JP] Word Problem As a math degree holder, I didn't even do actual algebra, I just used common sense: Maura goes 3kph faster than Pete, so for each hour they drive she would make up 3km in distance between them. Since she starts 12km behind, it would take her 12/3 = 4 hours to catch up. 83 * 4 = 332km she traveled. Curt - -----Original Message----- From: owner-jangle-poets@smoe.org [mailto:owner-jangle-poets@smoe.org] On Behalf Of Rozettj@aol.com Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005 11:45 AM To: jangle-poets@smoe.org Subject: Re: [JP] Word Problem In a message dated 9/26/2005 9:59:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time, theresa.marsik@psiusa.com writes: PS 4 hours and 332 km? that's what i got; so it must be right if x = distance pete travels at 80 and x+12 is the distance maura travels at 83 x+12/83 is the time it would take maura to catch pete and x/80 is the time it would take pete before he is caught x+12/83=x/80 80x+960=83x 960=3x x=320 the distance pete traveled in 4 hrs so maura traveled 332 in 4 hrs. ok - so i haven't done algebra since 8th grade in the 1950s; so my way may be old fashioned tj Check out the Kennedys' Official Home Page: http://www.KennedysMusic.com/ Fab photos, the Official tour diary, dashboard Buddha haiku, groovy merchandise...what more could you ask for? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 13:20:49 EDT From: Rozettj@aol.com Subject: Re: [JP] Word Problem In a message dated 9/26/2005 12:48:31 PM Eastern Daylight Time, ccappel@ju.edu writes: As a math degree holder, I didn't even do actual algebra, I just used common sense: Maura goes 3kph faster than Pete, so for each hour they drive she would make up 3km in distance between them. Since she starts 12km behind, it would take her 12/3 = 4 hours to catch up. 83 * 4 = 332km she traveled. Curt damn. it's like the SATs - usually there is a shortcut. once upon a time, i saw those right away. age, i guess. i remember when my youngest son was scheduled to take the SATs. he hadn;t even looked at the practice book, much less anything else, and the day before my wife suggested i sit down and look at the sample math problems. so i looked at the first one and said, "ok - there is a long way to do it," and described it, and then said, "but there is a shortcut," and showed him. he looked at me and said, "dad, there is a shorter way." there was. being a slow learner, i tried again. 2nd problem. "the answer is b. here's the quick way." bam, bam, bam. again, "dad, there is a shorter way." bam bam. being a really slow learner, i went onto the third problem, determined to do it the shortest and fastest way. bam. d. "ummm....no dad, it's c." at which point i yelled to my wife, "why did you set me up for this humiliation?" he refused to look at the book again despite our urging that some prep was wise, especially, for him, in the verbal. when the scores could be accessed by phone, he called. we watched him and suddenly his face brightened into a huge smile. he hung up, looked at us and said, "never speak to me again." 1590. at first i was a bit surprised that the math in the problem that was presented here was being taught in college. but on rlection, i remember an incident 20 years ago. NY had passed mandatory deposit legislation - 5 cents deposit on the bottle and a 1.5 cent (since raised) handling fee for the retailer. the question came up about unredeemed deposits and was it a "windfall" to the distributor who got to keep the 5 cents. so i asked what the breakeven point was - - the point at which the the 5 cents unredeemed equalled the 1.5 cents paid out. this was in the state assembly. no one seemed to know how to do it; so i jotted down a simple algebra equation. they looked at me like i was a witch. i am still embarrassed that i did not see the shortcut right away - losing it in my old age. tj Check out the Kennedys' Official Home Page: http://www.KennedysMusic.com/ Fab photos, the Official tour diary, dashboard Buddha haiku, groovy merchandise...what more could you ask for? ------------------------------ End of jangle-poets-digest V7 #60 *********************************