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5th Grade Math Problem....Can You Solve It?

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Posted: #51
VGPOP, there are 343 cats (7*7*7). You didn't take into account the backpacks.
 
I wonder what PETA would say about all this, locking poor animals away.
 
And to the smartasses out there, this is not a riddle, so the answer is not zero
 
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Posted: #52
Then I got it right on my first try
 
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Posted: #53
10,990
 
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Posted: #54
There are 7 girls in a bus. = 14 legs

 Each girl has 7 backpacks. = 7 * 7 = 49 backpacks

 In each backpack, there are 7 big cats. = 49 * 7 = 373 big cats

 For every big cat there are 7 little cats. = 373 * 7 = 2,611 little cats

 Question: How many legs are there in the bus?

2,611 little cats X 4 legs = 10,444 legs
373 big cats X 4 legs = 1,492 legs
7 girls X 2 legs = 14 legs

10,444 + 1,492 legs + 14 legs = 11,950
 
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Posted: #55
1542
 
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Posted: #56

Quote Originally Posted by VGPOP:

Then I got it right on my first try

yep

 
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Posted: #57
Quote Originally Posted by cd329:

each back pack has 56 cats in it which equals 224 legs.
each girl has 7 backpacks.  224 X 7 =1568
 
7 girls X 1568 = 10,976 + 14 girls legs =10,990

This the most obvious and easier explanation,

But people will make same mistake like me (even though I got it right my first attempt)

People will come with 0 legs, 14, 1582, 10990, and 11950
 
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Posted: #58
10990      
 
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406
 
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As I was going to St Ives
I met a man with seven wives
And every wife had seven sacks
And every sack had seven cats
And every cat had seven kits
Kits, cats, sacks, wives
How many were going to St Ives?

 

The original nursery rhyme.

 
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Posted: #61

Well I see that some of you got the right answer and as for the others, I don't know what the hell you guys were doing... 

Here's the breakdown. You needed to read the question very carefully before you proceeded...Well here it is:

 

7 girls x 2 legs = 14
 
each girl had 7 backpacks and there were 7 girls. That equals 49 backpacks
 
each backpack had 7 big cats, which would be 49 backpacks times 7 equals 343 big cats
 
for every big cat (343) there are 7 little cats, which would be 343 x 7 = 2401 
 
total cats are 343 + 2401 = 2744
 
2744 x 4 (cat legs) = 10,976
 
10,976 (cat legs) + 14 (legs of the girls) = 10,990
 
Answer: 10,990
 
Believe me, the list of people that get this right is very few. This came to me in an email where it was attached to a password protected Excel file which required entering the correct number in order for it to open. There were 16 people on the list including my entry and the spreadsheet had been circulating since the beginning of the year.   

 

COVERS allows u to tell someone they are sexually frustrated so long as ur hands are clean
 
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math was my worst subject..
 
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Posted: #65
Quote Originally Posted by kujayhwk:

As I was going to St Ives
I met a man with seven wives
And every wife had seven sacks
And every sack had seven cats
And every cat had seven kits
Kits, cats, sacks, wives
How many were going to St Ives?

 

The original nursery rhyme.

None. You tell the geezer that you will buy the clan drinks at the pub back home. You all whoop it up for a time, all getting totally sloshed.

When the bloke goes to the outhouse, you suffocate him with one of the sacks and stuff his head down the bog. You give all the remaining cats to three local farmers who were looking for mousers.

You and the seven maidens go back to your place and play strip poker before Bonnie gets home.

 
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COVERS allows u to tell someone they are sexually frustrated so long as ur hands are clean
 
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Posted: #67
Quote Originally Posted by ABooksNightmare:

Well I see that some of you got the right answer and as for the others, I don't know what the hell you guys were doing... 

Here's the breakdown. You needed to read the question very carefully before you proceeded...Well here it is:

 

7 girls x 2 legs = 14
 
each girl had 7 backpacks and there were 7 girls. That equals 49 backpacks
 
each backpack had 7 big cats, which would be 49 backpacks times 7 equals 343 big cats
 
for every big cat (343) there are 7 little cats, which would be 343 x 7 = 2401 
 
total cats are 343 + 2401 = 2744
 
2744 x 4 (cat legs) = 10,976
 
10,976 (cat legs) + 14 (legs of the girls) = 10,990
 
Answer: 10,990
 
Believe me, the list of people that get this right is very few. This came to me in an email where it was attached to a password protected Excel file which required entering the correct number in order for it to open. There were 16 people on the list including my entry and the spreadsheet had been circulating since the beginning of the year.   

 

I like trying to figure out math problems.  Do you have any others?

 
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Posted: #68
1582
 
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6
 
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Posted: #70

1582

 
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Posted: #71

10,990...final answer!

 
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Posted: #72
Quote Originally Posted by ABooksNightmare:

Alright Covers forum, let's test your math knowledge.
This is not a trick question. This is a real math  
problem given to 5th graders, so the answer isn't 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?

And no...there is no bus driver!
 
Good Luck, I will post the answer in a bit if someone doesn't get it......

1 bus < 7 girls < 7 backpacks < 7 big cats < 7 little cats < 4 legs per cat...?

Here's how I would go about solving this...

1) Find how many little cat legs:
legs per little cat (4) * little cats per big cat (7) * big cats per back (7) * backpacks per girl (7) * girls per bus (7) * number of buses (1) =
4*7*7*7*7*1 = 9604 little cat legs

2) Find how many big cat legs:
legs per big cat (4) * big cats per backpack (7) * backpacks per girl (7) * girls per bus (7) * number of buses (1) =
4*7*7*7*1 = 1372 big cat legs

3) Find how many girl legs:
legs per girl (2) * girls per bus (7) * number of buses(1) =
2*7*1 = 14 girl legs

4) Add up all the legs:

9604 + 1372 + 14 = 10990 legs

Interestingly enough, my first instinct was to just google the problem (link to google results). 

Which is funny because I just read this article, titled something like "why remember anything when you have google"proposing that humans are replacing their memory of answers with memory of where to find answers.  The article says, "The authors pose one simple example that had me immediately agreeing with their conclusions. Test yourself: how many countries have flags with only one color? Regardless of your answer, was your first thought about actual flags, or was it to consider where you would find that information? Without realizing it (even though I knew the content of the paper), I found myself mentally planning on opening up my Web browser and heading for a search engine."


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