Sideways Arithmetic From Wayside School
Page 3
1. Lincoln’s Birthday
2. Valentine’s Day
3. The 4th of July
4. Thanksgiving
5. Columbus Day
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Bebe’s test
1. Lincoln’s Birthday
2. The 4th of July
3. Thanksgiving
4. Columbus Day
5. Valentine’s Day
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Ron’s test
1. The 4th of July
2. Valentine’s Day
3. Lincoln’s Birthday
4. Thanksgiving
5. Columbus Day
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Calvin’s test
1. Thanksgiving
2. The 4th of July
3. Lincoln’s Birthday
4. Columbus Day
5. Valentine’s Day
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Todd’s test
1. The 4th of July
2. Columbus Day
3. Thanksgiving
4. Valentine’s Day
5. Lincoln’s Birthday
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These are the questions Mrs. Jewls asked:
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• On what holiday do you give your sweetheart a valentine?
• What holiday do we celebrate on July 4th?
• On what holiday was Columbus born?
• On what holiday was Lincoln born?
• On what holiday do we give thanks?
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Due to the difficulty of these questions, each question was answered correctly by only two
people and missed by the other three. Calvin only got one right.
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In what order were they asked?
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Chapter 7
Lunch
Miss Mush was the lunch teacher at Wayside School. She had long arms and long legs. She had big hands and big feet. She had long fingers and long toes, too. She even had long fingernails and long toenails. (Her toenails were so long that they punched holes in her shoes.)
That was why they made her the lunch teacher. When she stood on her tiptoes she could reach higher than any other person at Wayside School. She was a terrible cook, but she was the only one who could reach the top shelf of the cabinet above the refrigerator.
PROBLEM 37
“Miss Mush, Miss Mush,” cried Rondi. “My shoe is stuck on top of the tetherball pole! Will you get it down, please?” (She had been playing kickball with her shoe untied.)
“I’ll try, Rondi,” said Miss Mush, who was very glad to have an excuse to leave the kitchen. It smelled funny.
Rondi’s shoe was balanced on top of the tetherball pole. One only had to touch it to get it down.
The tetherball pole was nine and a half feet high.
Miss Mush was six feet, two inches tall. If she stood on her tiptoes she could raise herself four more inches. Her arms, to the end of her fingers, not counting her fingernails, were each two feet, nine inches long. Her fingernails were three and a half inches long. Could she reach Rondi’s shoe without jumping?
PROBLEM 38
Mr. Pepperadder was Miss Mush’s assistant. He wasn’t as tall as she was, so she always played funny jokes on him. She’d ask him to get something for her, and when he told her he couldn’t reach it, she’d laugh her head off.
Mr. Pepperadder always smiled and laughed, too, because he was a good sport and because Miss Mush was his boss. They ate lunch together after everyone else finished eating. They ate whatever was left over. They usually had lots to eat.
“Mr. Pepperadder,” said Miss Mush. “Will you please get me the peanut butter.” She covered her mouth to keep from laughing because she knew that the peanut butter was kept in the cupboard above the broom closet.
The knob on that cabinet door was seven feet high.
Mr. Pepperadder’s toes were one and a half inches long, approximately. His feet were nine inches long. His legs were three feet long. His arms were two and a half feet long from his shoulders to his wrists. His palms were four inches long. His longest finger was three inches. If he stood on his tiptoes, could he reach the knob in order to open the cabinet door?
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PROBLEMS 39–42
Everybody always said that Miss Mush and Mr. Pepperadder were terrible cooks, but that wasn’t really true. The problem was that it was difficult for them to cook for a lot of people. When they only cooked for one or two people, their food, in fact, was absolutely delicious. But unfortunately there were 4,500 people at Wayside School, and the more meals Miss Mush and Mr. Pepperadder had to cook, the worse each meal tasted.
If they cooked 100 meals, the food would be excellent.
If they cooked 500 meals, the food would be good.
If they cooked 1,000 meals, the food would taste okay, but it would smell funny.
If they cooked 1,500 meals, it would taste as bad as it smelled.
If they cooked 2,000 meals, it would be awful.
If they cooked 3,000 meals, it would be rotten.
If they cooked 3,500 meals, it would be disgusting.
And if they cooked 4,500 meals, half the people who ate would have to go home sick.
They had another problem. The worse the food tasted, the less people would eat.
If the food was excellent, everyone would want to eat.
If the food was good, only 3,000 people would want to eat it.
If the food tasted okay, but smelled funny, only 2,000 people would want to eat it.
If the food tasted as bad as it smelled, 1,500 people would want to eat it.
If the food was rotten, then only 500 people would still want to eat it.
And only 250 people would still want to eat it if it was disgusting.
And only 100 people would still want to eat it when it was so horrible that half the people who eat it would have to go home sick.
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These two charts may help you solve the next four problems.
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The first chart shows how the food would turn out, depending on how many meals were cooked.
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100 meals — excellent
500 meals — good
1,000 meals — tastes okay, smells funny
1,500 meals — tastes as bad as it smells
2,000 meals — awful
3,000 meals — rotten
3,500 meals — disgusting
4,500 meals — half the people who eat would go home sick
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The second chart shows how many people would want to eat at the different taste levels.
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excellent — 4,500 would want to eat
good — 3,000 would want to eat
tastes okay, smells funny — 2,000 would want to eat
tastes as bad as it smells — 1,500 would want to eat
awful — 1,000 would want to eat
rotten — 500 would want to eat
disgusting — 250 would want to eat
half the people who eat would go home sick — 100 would want to eat
PROBLEM 39
If they cook 1,000 meals, how many meals would be eaten?
PROBLEM 40
If they cook 3,000 meals, how many meals would be eaten?
PROBLEM 41
How many meals should they cook so that the most number of people eat?
PROBLEM 42
If they cook 4,500 meals, how many people will go home sick?
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Chapter 8
True or False
Mrs. Jewls believed
that the most important thing she could teach her students was the difference between true and false. She thought it was much more important than any of the other subjects because if students knew the difference between true and false, they could do well on any true/false test in any other subject. She always said, “If you learn nothing else in my class all year, I’ll be satisfied as long as you learn the difference between true and false.”
Here are some of Mrs. Jewls’s true/false tests:
PROBLEM 43
After each statement, circle the letter T if you think the statement is true, or the letter F if you think the statement is false.
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1. The answer to this statement is the same as the answer to statement number 2.
TggggF
2. The answer to this statement is different from the answer to statement number 1.
TggggF
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In order to solve the above problem, it is necessary to look at both statements, together. In the next problem it will be necessary to look at all three statements together.
PROBLEM 44
After each statement, put a triangle around the letter T if you think the statement is true, or the letter F if you think the statement is false.
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1. Statement number 3 is false.
TggggF
2. Statement number 1 is true.
TggggF
3. The answers to statements 1 and 2 are the same.
TggggF
“I can’t figure these out at all,” complained Myron. “I was always taught never to tell a lie and to trust my teachers. But you’ve lied on half the statements you wrote.”
“I don’t even know which word rhymes with blue,” said Stephen.
“That’s because you’re both so stupid,” said Joy. “I got a hundred percent.”
Mrs. Jewls could see that Myron and Stephen were very upset. She didn’t want them to give up. So she made up three separate tests, one for Stephen, one for Myron, and one for Joy.
PROBLEM 45 — Myron’s Test
After each statement, underline the letter T if you think the statement is true, or the letter F if you think the statement is false.
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1. Statement number 2 is true.
TggggF
2. Statement number 1 is true.
TggggF
PROBLEM 46 — Stephen’s Test
After each statement, draw a box around the letter T if you think the statement is true, or the letter F if you think the statement is false.
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1. Statement number 2 is false.
TggggF
2. Statement number 1 is false.
TggggF
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Mrs. Jewls told Joy to stay after school and that she couldn’t leave until she got a hundred percent on her test. “That should take about two seconds,” said Joy.
PROBLEM 47 — Joy’s Test
After each statement, draw a heptagon around the letter T if you think the statement is true, or a decagon around the letter F if you think the statement is false.
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1. Statement number 2 is true.
TggggF
2. Statement number 1 is false.
TggggF
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While Joy continues to work on that, try and solve the following:
PROBLEM 48
1. Statement number 4 is false.
TggggF
2. Statement number 5 is false.
TggggF
3. Statement number 1 is false.
TggggF
4. Statement number 2 is false.
TggggF
5. The answer to this statement is the same as at least two of the above answers.
TggggF
PROBLEM 49
1. The answer to this statement is different from the answer to statement number 5.
TggggF
2. The answer to this statement is different from the answer to statement number 3.
TggggF
3. The answer to this statement is the same as the answer to statement number 4.
TggggF
4. The answer to this statement is different from the answer to statement number 2.
TggggF
5. The answer to this statement is the same as the answer to statement number 1
TggggF
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Problem 50
1. Statement number 5 is false.
TggggF
2. Statement number 1 is false.
TggggF
3. Statement number 4 is true.
TggggF
4. There is only one false statement in this problem.
TggggF
5. The answers to statements 2 and 3 are the same.
TggggF
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Problem 51
1. Statement number 3 is true.
TggggF
2. Statement number 3 is false.
TggggF
3. Statement number 5 is false.
TggggF
4. Statement number 5 is true.
TggggF
5. The answer to this statement is the same as the answer to statement number 3.
TggggF
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PROBLEM 52
1. The answers to statements 3 and 4 are the same.
TggggF
2. At least four of the answers contained in this problem are false.
TggggF
3. Statement number 5 is true.
TggggF
4. The answers to statements 3 and 5 are different.
TggggF
5. Statement number 3 is true.
TggggF
6. The answer to this statement is the same as the answer to statement number 1.
TggggF
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(CLUE: Look at statement number 6. If it is true, what is the answer to statement number 1? If it is false, what is the answer to statement number 1? Now look at statements 3 and 5. Do they remind you of Myron’s test? What are the two possible answers? So what does that make statement number 4?)
PROBLEM 53 — Bonus Problem
1. The answer to this statement is different from the answer to statement number 5.
TggggF
2. Statement number 10 is false.
TggggF
3. This statement is true.
TggggF
4. Statement number 7 is true.
TggggF
5. At least two of the above statements are false.
TggggF
6. The answer to this statement is different from the answer to statement number 9.
TggggF
7. Statement number 6 is false.
TggggF
8. Statement number 2 is true.
TggggF
9. The answers to statements 3 and 4 are different.
TggggF
10. The answer to statement number 3 is true.
TggggF
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PROBLEM 54 — Bonus Problem
1. Statement number 10 is true.
TggggF
2. The answer to this statement is different from the answer to statement number 9.
TggggF
3. The answers to statements 1 and 2 are the same.
TggggF
4. Statements 6 and 7 are both true.
TggggF
5. Statement 8 is true.
TggggF
6. Statement
5 is false.
TggggF
7. The answer to this statement is the same as the answer to statement number 4.
TggggF
8. Statement number 3 is false.
TggggF
9. The answer to this statement is different from the answer to statement number 2.
TggggF
10. Statement number 1 is true.
TggggF
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(CLUE Look at statements 2 and 9. Look at statement 7. Is 4 true or false?)
PROBLEM 55 — Super Bonus Problem
This is the hardest problem in the book. I bet your teacher can’t figure it out.
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1. The answers to statements 6 and 7 are the same.
TggggF
2. Statement 1 is false.
TggggF
3. The answers to statements 4 and 20 are different.
TggggF
4. The answers to statements 3 and 20 are different.
TggggF
5. The answer to this statement is different from the answer to statement number 19.
TggggF
6. Statement number 2 is true.
TggggF
7. Statement 15 is true.
TggggF
8. The answers to statements 11 and 19 are the same.
TggggF
9. Statement 10 is true.
TggggF
10. Statement 13 is false.
TggggF
11. Mrs. Jewls is allergic to strawberries.
TggggF
12. Statement number 16 is true.
TggggF
13. Statement number 12 is true.
TggggF
14. The answer to this statement is the same as the answer to statement number 11.
TggggF
15. At least half the statements contained in this problem.
TggggF
16. At least half the statements contained in this problem are true.
TggggF
17. The answers to statements 9 and 4 are the same.
TggggF
18. Statement number 7 is true.
TggggF
19. Mrs. Jewls’s first name is Shirley.
TggggF
20. The answers to statements 3 and 4 are different.
TggggF
(CLUE Look at statement 5. What must be the answer to 19? Look at statement 14. What must be the answer to 11? Look at statement 8. Is it true or false? Look at statements 1, 2, and 6. What must be the answer to 7? What does that tell you about 15 and 16? Look at 1, 2, and 6 as a group. Look at 3, 4, and 20 as a group. There is more than one solution to each of those groups, but which one works with statements 15 and 16?)