One of the things I love about Joseph is that he humors my nerdy math moments on a very regular basis. Like, daily. When I find a super cool math problem, I'll make him solve it. Sometimes I pose a question in the car, sometimes I'll write it on a sticky note and leave it on the table, sometimes I practice teaching my next lesson on him...anything goes! And the best part is that he totally enjoys it. I think.
So here are a couple from just this week.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
Yesterday, as we stood in the kitchen, I remembered that I needed to tell Joe that I had a couple coupons for him to use to buy one of my Christmas list wishes. He would need to be wise in his use of these since he couldn't use both at the same time. I didn't mention the present, but I did pose the following math problem:
You have two coupons but can only use one on a particular purchase.
1 coupon offers 20% off of any one item.
1 coupon offers $5.00 off of any purchase of $15.00 or more.
So which is the better deal? Hint: it depends on how much the item(s) you purchase cost individually and/or together. (That was a nebulous hint. Sorry.)
He talked through this one like a champ as I built myself a peanut butter sandwich. And then I surrendered both coupons and told him to keep all that in mind as he shopped for muffin tins. His knowing smile when he realized my gift-grabbing ulterior motives made me feel as clever as he probably did in that moment, so it was a win-win.
There are a few morals to this story. The first is to find friends (or a spouse, whatevs) who support your hobbies because life's more fun that way. The second is that math is everywhere and useful and stuff. And the third is that you don't need drugs to have a good time!
I feel like we're close to becoming these people if we keep this up, but I miiiiiight be okay with that...
Image source here.
Oh, I miss math problems! First of all, do ALL of the squares have perimeter of 20, or just one? If all of them do, then I got 7.21. Did I get it right??
ReplyDeleteI love your gift hint-ness. My husband doesn't pick up on ANY hints, so I have to be pretty blunt with him, like, "Hey Jared, did you check your e-mail today? [wiggly eyebrows]" And then in his inbox is a list of things I want for Christmas. Ha!
Yes, all of them have a perimeter of 20. But I did not get 7.21. Basically, one side of one of those squares is 5 since its perimeter would be 20, which means the diagonal of the square has length 5*sqrt(2) cuz of 45-45-90 triangles or however else you wanna solve for that. And then there are 10 of those diagonals making up the total window perimeter. Final answer: 10*5*sqrt(2)=70.71.
DeleteI am seriously so happy you solved this, though. Yay math!