Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

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See if you can work this out?

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

The challenge is on - can you open the spreadsheet (which I would attach if allowed to)?

This is a real 5th grade math problem. If you can open the spreadsheet, you'll see that only a small list of people (older than 5th graders) have gotten the correct answer. This is not a trick question.

This is a real math problem so don't say 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.

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 to the list and send it on to see who else can unlock it.

artdba

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@artdba,

I count 10,990 legs in total.

My question is how did the girls each carry 7 backpacks? Forget about how big and heavy one backpack would to hold 56 cats (even with the majority being little ones). How the heck could they hold one backpack forget about 7???

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Pew! Hate to have to clean the litter boxes on that bus!

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@Linkat,

who is driving the bus? Very Happy

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@Linkat,

How'd you get that? I come up with 9,618 legs.

I could be wrong, but here goes: there are obviously 49 backpacks (7x7).
Each backpack carries 7 big cats (49x7=343).
For each big cat there are 7 little cats (343x7=2,401)
So you have 2,401 cats total. Assuming that each cat has the standard issue 4 legs, that equals 9,604. To this must be added the 14 legs belonging to the 7 girls, right? 9,618.

Did I go wrong somewhere?

2 Replies

@mm25075,

Oh, okay. Add 2 more. Still not what Linkat said.

(Actually, the problem doesn't state that anyone is actually driving the bus. It might just be parked there at the curb. Nor does any part of the problem stipulate that there might be a teacher or chaperone with the girls.)

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@Merry Andrew,

OK, of course assuming as no one is driving the bus as that is not mentioned and assuming no chaperones, etc.

7 girls with 2 legs each (assuming these are two-legged girls) = 14 legs
Then the difficult step - couple of ways you can calculate it:
Calculate number of legs in each backpack and then calculate number of backpacks: each backpack has 56 cats (7 big cats + 49 little cats = 56). Assuming each cat has four legs 56 x 4 = 224 legs in each backpack.

Number of backpacks 49 (7 girls with 7 back packs each)
49 backpacks x 224 legs per backpack = 10,976 cat legs + 14 girl legs = 10,990 legs in total.

I do have an advantage though – I have a fourth grader so I’ve been working on word problems all year.

1 Reply

@Linkat,

HERES AN OLD ONE THAT MOST KIDS GET BUT ADULTS DONT

Quote:

The following short quiz consists of 4 questions and will tell you whether you are qualified to be a professional. The questions are NOT that difficult.

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.

2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

Did you say, Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the refrigerator?

Wrong Answer.

Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions.

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend.... except one. Which animal does not attend?

Correct Answer: The Elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator. You just put him in there. This tests your memory.

Okay, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your true abilities.

4. There is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles, and you do not have a boat. How do you manage it?

Correct Answer: You jump into the river and swim across. Have you not been listening? All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.

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Hahaha.... but, that's not for 5th graders.

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@Merry Andrew,

Merry Andrew wrote:

How'd you get that? I come up with 9,618 legs.

I could be wrong, but here goes: there are obviously 49 backpacks (7x7).
Each backpack carries 7 big cats (49x7=343).
For each big cat there are 7 little cats (343x7=2,401)
So you have 2,401 cats total. Assuming that each cat has the standard issue 4 legs, that equals 9,604. To this must be added the 14 legs belonging to the 7 girls, right? 9,618.

Did I go wrong somewhere?

I got the same answer as Linkat: 10,990 legs. (Assuming none of the girls or the cats has lost a leg.)

Merry Andrew, I see your mistake. There are NOT 2,401 cats total...that's just little cats. There are 343 big cats AND 2,401 little cats...that is 2,744 cats total.
2,744 x 4 = 10,976
10,976 + 14 = 10,990

1 Reply

There are 56 cats in each backpack? Does the ASPCA know about this bus?

1 Reply

@artdba,

Well, being smarter than a 5th grader, I have arranged my life so that
a) I don't have to waste time on things that hold no interest for me
b) I am self confident enough not to need to gage my academic prowess against some fictional 5th grader.

But I do like the funny jokes about the ASPCA.

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@Eva,

Quote:

Merry Andrew, I see your mistake. There are NOT 2,401 cats total...that's just little cats. There are 343 big cats AND 2,401 little cats...that is 2,744 cats total.
2,744 x 4 = 10,976
10,976 + 14 = 10,990

Yup. I, too, see the mistake now. Thanx, Eva.

Damn! Now I'll have to go and do 5th grade over again.

1 Reply

@MontereyJack,

Just refer to my bonsai kitten thread - compared to that these kitties are much better taken care of.

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

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