Teaching Math
Posted by: tz8cy5 <tz8cy5@...>
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is
4/5 of the price. What is his profit?
Teaching Math in 1960:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is
4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?
Teaching Math in 1970:
A logger exchanges a set "L" of lumber for a set "M" of money. The
cardinality of set "M" is 100. Each element is worth one dollar. Make
100 dots representing the elements of the set "M". Set "C", the cost of
production, contains 20 fewer points than set "M." Represent set "C" as
a subset of set "M" and answer the following question:
What is the cardinality of the set "P" for profits?
Teaching Math in 1980:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. Her cost of production is
$80 and her profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.
Teaching Math in 1990:
By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the logger makes $20. What do
you think of this way of making a living?
Topic for class participation after answering the question:
How did the forest birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down the
trees? There are no wrong answers.
Teaching Math in 1996:
By laying off 40% of its loggers, a company improves its stock price
from $80 to $100. How much capital gain per share does the CEO make by
exercising his stock options at $80? Assume capital gains are no longer
taxed,because this encourages investment.
Teaching Math in 1997:
A company outsources all of its loggers. The firm saves on benefits, and
when demand for its product is down, the logging work force can easily
be cut back. The average logger employed by the company earned $50,000,
had three weeks vacation, a nice retirement plan and medical insurance.
The contracted logger charges $50 an hour. Was outsourcing a good move?
Teaching Math in 1998:
A laid-off logger, with four kids at home and a hefty alimony from his
first failed marriage, walks into the logging company's corporate
offices
and goes'postal' mowing down 16 executives and a couple of secretaries.
Was outsourcing the loggers a good move for the company?
Teaching Math in 1999:
A laid-off logger serving time in Folsom prison for 'blowing away'
several people is being trained as a COBOL programmer in order to work
on Y2K projects. What is the probability that the automatic cell doors
will open on their own as of 00:01, 01/01/2000?