RE: Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
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From: Emily
Okay, are you smarter than a 5th grader....?
This is a 5th grade math problem. If you can open the spreadsheet, you'll see it's a very small list of people who have gotten the correct number. 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? (The number of legs is the password to unlock the excel spreadsheet. If you open it, add your name, save it, and then send it on to see who else can unlock it.)
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From: Dave
The answer, of course, is "blue".
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From: Garrett
I object to the form of the question. Ms. Etzler has told me of girls and cats and kittens, but she has neglected to specifically mention whether there are any other legged entities that may be on the bus. I therefore don't have enough information to come to a logical conclusion as to the number of legs on the bus.
In the alternative, is "a sh*tload" an acceptable answer?
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From: Adam
did she say "kittens," counselor, or merely big or little cats? also what of these backpacks? leggy backpacks?? Are any of the girls (or cats) amputees??
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From: Garrett
I agree, sir. Statistically speaking, it's safe to assume that of the 2,744 cats on the bus, at least a few will be missing limbs. Alas, Al Gore couldn't fetch me cat amputee statistics, so we may never be able to accurately compute the true tally of legs.
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From: Adam
Exactly my point, and from whence comes this bus? If it's a suburban Wilmington, Delaware schoolbus, the likelihood of missing human legs dramatically decreases than if it is say, the last bus out of Gaza.
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From: Robert
You two are really putting down a nice smooth coating of lawyer on this question.
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From: Garrett
Entirely necessary given the unfortunate tendency of mathematics' rough natural tendency to give one “brain splinters.”
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From: Emily
…So did you get the answer?
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From: Adam
I got AN answer, but again, it was based on a multitude of presumptions that may not apply, including but not limited to the probability that some but not all of the girls were on the bus on the way back from bizarre genetic experiments involving splicing of human and cat DNA....hence the number of legs or "legs" (mutant fish hands) became wildly based on interpretation.
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From: Dave
“I have a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain”
No, alas. This Gordian knot of a question as baffled my feeble attempts to best it. It shall join the ranks along with “What time does it start” and “Where did I put my car keys” as questions to which I shall never know the answer.
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From: Garrett
Those are easy, Dave:
1) 30 minutes ago
2) Ron's
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From: Abigail
30 minutes??? That may be slightly bullish.
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