[2408] in Humor
Fwd: math quiz
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Justin Stamen)
Tue Aug 4 12:23:41 1998
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 98 12:20:39 EDT
To: humor@MIT.EDU
From: Justin Stamen <justin@MIT.EDU>
>Teaching Math in 1950: 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". The set "C", the cost of production, contains 20 fewer points
>than set "M." Represent the 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 out-sources 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
>ridiculous alimony from his first failed marriage comes into the
>logging-company corporate offices and goes postal, mowing down 16
>executives and a couple of secretaries, and gets lucky when he nails a
>politician on the premises collecting his kickback. Was outsourcing
>the loggers a good move for the company?
>
>Teaching Math in 1999: A laid-off logger serving time in Folsom 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, 01/01/00?
>
>
>John D.C. Little / Room E56-308 / MIT Sloan School / 38 Memorial Drive /
>Cambridge, MA 02142 USA
