I received this in an email from my friend Kim Kim... see if you can get the correct answer:
Post your answer in the comments section and come back tomorrow for the correct answer! Have fun! :)
This is a 5th grade math problem. This is not a trick question. This is a real math problem so the answer is not that a bus has no 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.
By the way, the bus is parked and the driver is out on a break.
Question: How many legs are there in the bus?
16 comments:
Ok I tried to go all Mathematician on that one..but then I got half-way through the riddle and realized that I counted the backpacks as having legs and then I tried to go in reverse order to correct it and I got all mixed up and then my head started to hurt and then I decided to have a Diet Dr. Pepper.
BAWHAAHAHAAAAA!!! Enjoy your DDP!
o.k. Becky - I think we have it! My 15 year old and I went through this "problem" several times - we forgot a step or two to figure along the way. After a lot of brain work we came up with the number: 9618 legs
Way too early to be doing higher math....
It is so much easier to google the answer. And I was even a math major in college.
I think that there are 10,990 legs.
I got 10990 legs.
o.k. I know what I missed. . . Yikes - this is for fifth graders?
Here is my official way of calculating the answer:
7 girls x 2 legs = 14 legs
7 girls x 7 b.packs = 49 back packs
49 packs x 7 cats = 343 cats
343 cats x 4 legs = 1372 legs
343 cats x 7 = 2401 kittens
2401 kitten legs
1372 cat legs
14 girl legs
EQUALS - 10,990 LEGS IN ALL
previously I forgot to calculate the 343 cats x 4 legs.
10,990 legs. On a VERY large, and noisy, bus.
Thanks! I CAN still use my brain on accasion :-)
I got 10990 as well, but I used a slightly different technique. I set up one equation for the entire problem and then solved it.
The equation was
7 girls(2 legs/girl)+ 7 girls(7 backpacks/girl)(7 big cats/backpack)(8 cats total/big cat)(4 legs/cat)= 10990 legs
And you're right, Beth, that bus had to be rather noisy!
10,990 legs in all! Too intriguing for me to pass up even though the math part of my brain is 6.5 years rusty. I almost asked my computer geeky machanical engineer dh to write me an algorithym for it! 5th grade? GOod to know what I have to lok forward to in 4 years!
Thanks - lots of fun!
Andrea
mom24~ my engineering hubby busted out an Excel Spreadsheet! LOL!
I'm not believing you're expecting me to wrap my brain around this one. Sorry. Just don't have the mental strength to attempt this and way to scared of getting the wrong answer. Couldn't handle the mockery.
Oh, wait. I'll guess it's 10,990 legs, since that's what everyone else put.
7 girls x 7 backpacks x 7 big cats = 343 big cats
343 x 7 little cats = 2401 little cats
343 + 2401 = 2744 cats
2744 cats x 4 cat legs = 10976 legs
7 girls x 2 legs = 14 legs
10976 + 14 = 10990 legs
ok, my final answer: 10,990 legs :)
Thanks!
Michele
www.frugalgranola.blogspot.com
A friend of mine sent me this in an email a while back and it took me FOREVER but I finally figured it out! : )
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