Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1910-07-27
FIGURE PROBLEMS
ALL OF THEM practical"


Was education more practical gen.
Grafton ago. or ala Jchn's father study
IFS books more thoroughly than John
doesi John II a seventh grade steisnt
An the public schools. He asked MS
father to help him solve the following
problem:
"a. asked how much money be has
in the bank. replied. II had SO
more 1 would have $1,000 more than
half what now have How much
money had A.
SSuch a fool problem" said the Ia
Their Tell that teacher 70 ask the
cashier. You have been Fostering me
with problems like that Tor a week.
Suppose your teacher asked you how
old you are. Would you tell her If
were ten times AZ old as I am, dimln-
ished by forty-two. would DO thirty
years older than dad. and II dad wero
one-fourth as old as hs now 81 be
would be my sgeT What would your
teacher do II you answered In such d
manneri In my day we had practical
problems In our arithmetic"
In order to investigate his fathers
statement John went TO the public II
brary and asked for an old arithmetic.
The librarian gave him Richards
Natural Arithmetic. he turned 60 the
page marked Practical Exercises"
and read:
"a. puts his whole flock OF sheep into
three pastures Half 60 into one pas
ture. one-third into another and thirty
two into q third How many In the
dockr'
That's queer" said John. "Prac-
teal exercises too. Hero Is a man who
wants to flpd how many sheep be has.
He counts them 10 he win know when
be has half OF them. This haif he
puts into a pasture. Then he counts
out a third and puts Il In another pen
Next he counts what's left and finds
he has thirty-two. After a little ngur-
ing he finds how many In the whole
flock Very practical. guess dad
didn't study that book"
The next book be examined was
Mines lnductive Arithmetic. edition
Of 1870. In miscellaneous examples he
found the following:
1.-TWO ladders win together just reach
the top OF n building seventy-dve feet
high II the shortes ladder is two
thirds tina length OF the other. what Is
the length OF eachr
why didn't he measure each ladder
separatelyY' John asked himself. THAT
problem Is not practical i guess dad
Is older than I thought. want an
older book"
The text written in 1893 was handed
to him. The book was evidently infi6-
enced by the civil war. for II was Oiled
with problems dealing with battering
down Notifications and tho .sustenancs
Of soldiers Ono problem was:
IF twelve pieces OF cannon (eight-
cen poundersl can batter down a for
tress In three hours. how long win &c
take for nineteen twenty-four- pound
ers to batter down the same fortressT'
That's 1ne for a general" John re-
nected. but dad says that am going
to be q captain OF Industry"
Another arithmetic or the same date
had the famous fsh problem with
which Johns teacher had troubled him
for six weeks before be himself nnally
explained II TO tho class. Tho fish
problem Is:
Tho head OF fsh Is ten inches
long. Its tail Is AZ long az its head and
one-half the body. The body In az long
as the head and tail both. How long IN
the fishr'
Very handy problem for a butcher.
John turned to the Common School
Arithmetic. edition OF 1853. Here
I'm cure TO nnd something good" he
reflected aud read:
"a hare starts up twelve rods bcfore a
hound, but she Is not perceived by him
TIL she has been up one and one-fourth
minutes She runs at the rate OF thir-
U-six rods n minute. and the hound
runs at the ratio Of forty rods a min
ute. How long win the race last. and
what viii be the distance the hound
runsr'
What difference does tt make how
far the hound runsf" John asked as be
turned to the Scholars Arithmetic,
edition Of 1907. The present high cost
or living made the frst problem i'm.
practical for present day purposes.
John concluded. The problem was as
follows:
II give eighty bushels OF potatoes
at Fl cents bushei and 24o pounds OF
rax at 10 cents n pound for sixty -four
bushels OF salt. what is the salt worth
q busheir'
Another problem was:
"A good man driving his guest to
market was met by another. who said,
Hood morrow. master. With your 100
geese Says he In reply. 7 have not
100 geese. but II had half as many
as now have and two and one-half
geese besides the number I now have
already should have 100 How
many geese had the manr'
How long would you permit q man
to live II ne made such an answer to
your
"Phewr John sighed az he wiped his
forehead and handed the book back to
the librarian. dad must have skipped
these practical problems" - Kansas
City Star.
We are never so ridiculous by tn,
Qualities we have az by those we az
fect to kaye.-Rochefopcnpid.