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New Math? Or Why are kids are so danged stupid


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Math is Hard

Last week I got a burger at Burger King for $1.58. The counter girl took my $2 and was digging for my change when I pulled 8 cents from my pocket and gave it to her. She stood there, holding the nickel and 3 pennies, while looking at the screen on her register.

I sensed her discomfort and tried to tell her to just give me back two quarters, but she hailed the manager for help and while he tried to explain the transaction to her, she stood there and cried.

Why do I tell you this? Read on...

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".

Answer this question:

What is the cardinality of the set "P" of profits?

Teaching Math in 1980:

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.

His cost of production is $80 and his 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 2000:

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.

His cost of production is $120.

How does Arthur Andersen determine that his profit margin is $60 ?

Teaching Math in 2005:

El hachero vende un camion carga por $100.

La cuesta de produccion es.............

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And people wonder why I homeschool my kids.....

I have run into this ALL the time, these kids are just clueless. I make sure that I give them ALL of the money up front so that they can put it into the register without freaking, because I have had the EXACT same thing happen to me, the girl actually burst out crying. I couldn't fricking believe it.... I was totally blown away.

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Guest Fox__Trot

I know that when I was running a cash register and people gave me change AFTER ive rung it up I had trouble doing the simple figures so in an effort to better that I went through and wrote down all the transaction figures I took in a day and found common amounts. (3.44, 6.88, 3.75, and 5.00 were common alot) so I just used those and memorized the correct amount of change i'd give back for any (logical) figures which helped my transaction times..

lots of work for a simple thing but it also let me tell people what they owed me BEFORE they even had stuff scanned in for processing

:)

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quote:


Originally posted by Jaguar:

OK, that's enough guys, this is supposed to be a fun thread, not a bunch of Political BS...

Let's keep it civil!!

Thanks


No political BS in this thread to see.

Move along.

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quote:

Originally posted by Wolferz:

quote:

Originally posted by Jaguar:

OK, that's enough guys, this is supposed to be a fun thread, not a bunch of Political BS...

Let's keep it civil!!

Thanks

No political BS in this thread to see.

Move along.


That's because I deleted them.....LOL
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quote:


Originally posted by Jaguar:

quote:

Originally posted by Wolferz:

quote:

Originally posted by Jaguar:

OK, that's enough guys, this is supposed to be a fun thread, not a bunch of Political BS...

Let's keep it civil!!

Thanks


No political BS in this thread to see.

Move along.


That's because I deleted them.....LOL
LOL

Would it be better if you left a line that says Off Topic, post Deleted? I'm confused enough as it is.

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Well believe me when I say I know all about working a cash register (hell, i do it every day). I'm pretty damn good at math, but after standing at the register for 5 straight hours in mind-numbing boredom, you don't even know wtf is going anymore. So when somebody gives you the extra 8 cents after you've rung everything up, you're stuck in a strange trance:

"Press the button, give the change, repeat"

And then you're like "Uhh....no?"

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Yea, I'll agree with that. Working at a cash register can be so mind numbing that at certain times, if employee's don't get proper breaks, they can get tricked. I almost got tricked twice working at a grocery store during High-School. Luckily, both times were at the beginning of my shift, but still, it happens.

As for giving too much money back, that happens too. Thats why most retailers that I know their cashier rules allow about a 2-5 dollar difference in Till counts. Its gonna happen sometime.

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  • 2 weeks later...

quote:

Originally posted by Jaguar:

And people wonder why I homeschool my kids.....

I have run into this ALL the time, these kids are just clueless. I make sure that I give them ALL of the money up front so that they can put it into the register without freaking, because I have had the EXACT same thing happen to me, the girl actually burst out crying. I couldn't fricking believe it.... I was totally blown away.

gee .. I've seen cashiers hesitate for a moment or 2, but that bad?

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