# Math Question



## FeralFemale (Apr 10, 2006)

Serena has several packages of rasins. Each package contains 3 boxes of raisins. Which could be the number of boxes of raisins Serena has?

a. 18
b. 23
c. 28
d. 32

I am not a math person *at all*. I can't figure this out. Several means, to me, about three. But three times three is nine. Not close to any of the answers.

What am I missing?


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## Rick (May 10, 2002)

18

6 packages of 3 boxes. 

Seems to easy, what am I missing?


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## FeralFemale (Apr 10, 2006)

Nevermind. Too much wine. Divisors of 3. DUH.


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## Raymond James (Apr 15, 2013)

6x3=18 is the answer. None of the other numbers is divisible by 3. That is nothing (whole number) times 3 will get you one of the answers listed except 18.

7x3=21
8x3=24
9x3=27
10x3=30
11x3=33


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## FeralFemale (Apr 10, 2006)

I've always had an issue with word problems. I can remember back to elementary school, when they first introduced such problems, that they seemed like a foreign language. 

Actually, forget word problems. Anything regarding even simple math is a challenge to me.


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## Rick (May 10, 2002)

Wine is best enjoyed in multiples of two....

If one delays employing grapes in it's creation, raisins often result.


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## FeralFemale (Apr 10, 2006)

I think the whole flippin question is moot.

Those raisins should have been made into wine. It's a crime against humanity that they were not. It's a travesty that the little brat got her hands on those raisins whose destiny was to be made into wine that would have gone into MY BELLY.

There. That solves the entire 'math' problem.


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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

Any multiple digit number, add up the digits. If the sum of the digits is divisible by three, the number is.

Example:
21 (2+1) equals 3
So 21 is divisible by 3. (7x3)


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## FeralFemale (Apr 10, 2006)

Ok. I got another that you can help me with.

Juanita wants to give bags of stickers to her friends. She wants to give the same number of stickers to each friend. She is not sure if she needs 4 bags or 6 bags of stickers. How many stickers could she buy so there are no stickers left?


Help me see what I am missing. I am so bad with this stuff.


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## Rick (May 10, 2002)

Tell her to give stickers to her 2 closest friends, so 4 or 6 bags will work. 


Now tell Juanita to get back to making wine or else there will be PROBLEMS with raisins.


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## FeralFemale (Apr 10, 2006)

Stupid Juanita. Making stupid sticker purchases. 

Seriously. Stickers are stupid. And I have thought that since the whole sticker thing first became popular when I was a kid. It was all cool to have those smelly stickers (scratch n sniff) but my parents couldn't afford for me to be buying stupid stickers.

So, Juanita, keep your smelly, nasty stickers to yourself.

There. I told her.


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## FeralFemale (Apr 10, 2006)

FeralFemale said:


> There. I told her.


 
And I win her stupid math problem. If she gives me any guff, I'm going to buy ALL the stickers and sell them off at a fraction of the price.

...for no other reason than to destroy the value of Juanita's sticker collection...

[insert evil laugh]


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

FeralFemale said:


> Ok. I got another that you can help me with.
> 
> Juanita wants to give bags of stickers to her friends. She wants to give the same number of stickers to each friend. She is not sure if she needs 4 bags or 6 bags of stickers. How many stickers could she buy so there are no stickers left?
> 
> ...


This one really isnt all that difficult... the question is how many stickers must she buy so there are none left... she needs to buy ALL of them. This will probably insure that she also has no friends left.


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## AdmiralD7S (Nov 1, 2013)

FeralFemale said:


> Ok. I got another that you can help me with.
> 
> Juanita wants to give bags of stickers to her friends. She wants to give the same number of stickers to each friend. She is not sure if she needs 4 bags or 6 bags of stickers. How many stickers could she buy so there are no stickers left?
> 
> ...



12 because it is the lowest number that is a multiple of BOTH 4 and 6.


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## preparing (Aug 4, 2011)

These are the types of questions asked on todays standardized tests. They are all well and good if we could assume students could add subtract mult and divide (whole numbers, decimals and fractions). They cannot without a calculator. 

Ask your kids to multipy (with paper and pencil) 4.26 x .057 or 2/5 x 3/4 or 769 x 83

Things every 6th grader could do 20 years ago.

Its bad folks! Im in the trenches daily.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

preparing said:


> These are the types of questions asked on todays standardized tests. They are all well and good if we could assume students could add subtract mult and divide (whole numbers, decimals and fractions). They cannot without a calculator.
> 
> Ask your kids to multipy (with paper and pencil) 4.26 x .057 or 2/5 x 3/4 or 769 x 83
> 
> ...


Any sixth grader should have these same skills today... are our teachers failing to teach the basics in the elementary grades? If so, what gives them the idea they are due pay raises and benefits? Or to be allowed to teach our children at all! :shrug: 

ETA: I recall the story told about my grampa causing a bit of a ruckess when he was in the third grade. Seems he came up with the correct answer to a math problem, and his teacher (and the book) had it wrong. The question involved figuring up the amount of concrete required to pour a sidewalk around a city block. Grampa figured the square footage making sure not to double up on the corners... which the author of the book had done resulting in the obvious different erroneous answer. Of course an argument ensued when grampa got marked wrong. His father, my great grandpa, pulled him out of school at that point... it had become obvious that the lad knew what he needed to know regarding stuff out of books.


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## TRellis (Sep 16, 2013)

OK.....

How about this word/math problem:

A dozen eggs cost 12 cents... How much do 100 eggs cost?

For some reason this one has always seemed to confuse most people. At least those that I have asked.

TRellis


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

It would seem to be a dollar... unless I am missing something like having to buy them by the dozen. in that case 100 would cost $1.08 (the price of 9 dozen) and you would have some left over.


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## TRellis (Sep 16, 2013)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> It would seem to be a dollar... unless I am missing something like having to buy them by the dozen. in that case 100 would cost $1.08 (the price of 9 dozen) and you would have some left over.



No. You are correct, but you would not believe the number of people that will start dividing 100 by 12 and come up with some weird answer.

Don't believe me, go ahead and just ask a bunch of people and see what answers you get. My experience has been that maybe one in twenty come up with the correct answer.

TRellis


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## edcopp (Oct 9, 2004)

FeralFemale said:


> I've always had an issue with word problems. I can remember back to elementary school, when they first introduced such problems, that they seemed like a foreign language.
> 
> Actually, forget word problems. Anything regarding even simple math is a challenge to me.


I've always had an issue with wine problems too. The common denomonator being that the wine problems cause me to break out. Break out in a drunk that is. Coffee not so much.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

TRellis said:


> No. You are correct, but you would not believe the number of people that will start dividing 100 by 12 and come up with some weird answer.
> 
> Don't believe me, go ahead and just ask a bunch of people and see what answers you get. My experience has been that maybe one in twenty come up with the correct answer.
> 
> TRellis


I became all too aware of math skill deficiencies when I embarked on my career in real estate a few years ago. Its amazing how few bankers can figure simple interest!


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## TRellis (Sep 16, 2013)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> I became all too aware of math skill deficiencies when I embarked on my career in real estate a few years ago. Its amazing how few bankers can figure simple interest!


HeHe! There was a guy that I once worked with that was considered by many at the company to be not only a computer whiz, but an overall genius. 

We were at a restaurant during a trade show one evening and he was using his company credit card to pay the entire bill. I noticed that he was only leaving a $30.00 tip for a $500.00+ check. I made reference to him being a cheap S.O.B. and he shot back at me, "What?!?!? That is 15%!!!

The company genius could not figure out simple percentages. Anytime after that when he questioned me about something that I said I would ask him, "What is 15% of 100?" He did not know the answer, would turn away in a huff and not talk to me for a day or two.

TRellis


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## SquonkHunter (Feb 24, 2008)

TRellis said:


> HeHe! There was a guy that I once worked with that was considered by many at the company to be not only a computer whiz, but an overall genius.
> 
> We were at a restaurant during a trade show one evening and he was using his company credit card to pay the entire bill. I noticed that he was only leaving a $30.00 tip for a $500.00+ check. I made reference to him being a cheap S.O.B. and he shot back at me, "What?!?!? That is 15%!!!
> 
> ...


Back in the Dark Ages, I was taught to take 10% of your total (easy enough) then take half of that 10% (5%) and add it to the 10% which gives you 15% of the total. 

The problem with word problems is that most people weren't ever taught how to follow a hypothetical scenario step-by-step to the conclusion. They just jump in and miss important parts of the problem.


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## Ozarks Tom (May 27, 2011)

In today's world you'd end up with a pocket full of dimes if you were selling pencils two for a nickel, or three for a dime.

I remember my dad telling me when I was in about the 6th grade "Tom, if you don't learn anything else in school, learn math", and I remember thinking "yeah, what's that old man know?"

My career was in flooring, constant math. I guess that old man knew what he was talking about after all.


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## AdmiralD7S (Nov 1, 2013)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> Any sixth grader should have these same skills today... are our teachers failing to teach the basics in the elementary grades?



Fundamentally, a mixture of standardized tests and "no child left behind". Slow down the while pack so everyone's a winner.


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## J.T.M. (Mar 2, 2008)

Buzz posting


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

FeralFemale said:


> Serena has several packages of rasins. Each package contains 3 boxes of raisins. Which could be the number of boxes of raisins Serena has?
> 
> a. 18
> b. 23
> ...


................correct answer must be divisable by 3! , fordy


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## joebill (Mar 2, 2013)

I detested math in school and never permanently soaked up much of it until I started my work life and could put it in context. All of a sudden, numbers, angles, decimals made sense to me and have for the remainder of my life, but I never moved past simple arithmetic, geomotry and algebra, with most of the latter being translated back into arithmetic.

When i explain how I solve some of the engineering type problems to the better educated folks around me, they are astounded at the trouble I go to in solving some equations that they solve easily with more sophisticated math or calculus, but I always find a way to get the job done, simply by understanding the problem, end to end, and applying the basics, but you couldn't pound that stuff into my head with a double-jack in school....Joe


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

TRellis said:


> OK.....
> 
> How about this word/math problem:
> 
> ...


I'd like to know where you found eggs for a penny each!!!


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Ozarks Tom said:


> In today's world you'd end up with a pocket full of dimes if you were selling pencils two for a nickel, or three for a dime.


This reminds me of the time my second wife was selling veggies at the farmers market. She had bell peppers priced at 2 for a quarter. One of her customers always on the lookout for a bargain wanted to know if she could get 5 for a dollar? You betcha! :whistlin:


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

FeralFemale said:


> I've always had an issue with word problems. I can remember back to elementary school, when they first introduced such problems, that they seemed like a foreign language.
> 
> Actually, forget word problems. Anything regarding even simple math is a challenge to me.


Just for you, FF.


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