Seriously, Dr. Moses? Algebra is all around us (No One Asked Me But…: Progress Nov. 20, 2013)!
Try to solve these problems without it:
1. One-third of all my pomegranates are split open, which is 24 split pomegranates. How many pomegranates of any condition do I have altogether?
2. You and your husband share a joint checking account and its register balance reads –$75. Your husband needs new fishing lures and spends a certain number of dollars (he didn’t write in how much) and now the balance is –$132. How much did your husband spend on those new lures he absolutely couldn’t live without? What will your balance read when the bank charges you a $35 overdraft fee?
3. A candy store mixes cherry chocolates at $3.25/lb. and pecan chocolates at $4.50/lb. so that the overall mix costs $4.00/ lb. If the store has 45 lbs. of cherry chocolates, how many lbs. of pecan chocolates will be needed to make the mix?
4. Hortense buys 7 lbs. of ribs and 3 lbs. of chicken tenders and pays $22. Cecil buys 3 lbs. of ribs and 1 lb. of chicken tenders at the same store and pays $9. What is the price per lb. of the ribs and chicken?
5. Mechanical engineers used algebra to design the Gubler and Yamashita bridges so they, and we, won’t fall into the Muddy River when we drive across them. Thank our mathematicians for getting their algebra answers correct.
Algebra is everywhere, even where you can’t see it. My father, an electrical engineer, couldn’t get through his day without algebra. So this little tongue in cheek is for him–(Hi Dad!).
And kiss my grits!. . . . I come from Florida where there’s a Southern expression (the south including Kentucky) that says to keep your words sweet because one day you just might have to eat them. So now I’m fixin to ask Dr. Moses (No One Asked Me…: Progress, Nov. 20, 2013) to do just that. Cause even if I can’t lay claim to Kentucky, it’s close enough that his words about it hurt my heart.
Go ahead, Larry, I’m asking you nicely.
Nancy Grimes
