New Math 2
NEW MATH
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?
