The Problem With Story Problems

This post will contain the exact e-mail that was forwarded to me from my wife. It contains one of those math questions that was forwarded from one of her coworkers. After the e-mail, you'll see my reply. You can tell a lot about someone's personality by reading their answers to questions like this.

The Problem
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenore Cooley [mailto:lenorelouise@ameritech.net]
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 1:11 PM
To: Cooley, Scott
Subject: how_smart_are_u(1)(1) (4).xlsx



How many legs are there in the bus?

They are looking for an actual number - not the word! It's not a trick
question. Can you figure this one out...

.
There are 7 girls on a bus.

. Each girl has 7 backpacks.
. In each backpack, there are 7 big cats.
. For every big cat there are 7 little cats.

How many legs are there in the bus?


The number of legs is the password to unlock the Excel sheet. If you open
it, add your name and send it on to see who else can unlock it.


My Solution

-----Original Message-----
From: Cooley, Scott
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 2:18 PM
To: 'Lenore Cooley'
Subject: RE: how_smart_are_u(1)(1) (4).xlsx


One of those logic deals, huh? As a wordsmith, I have to examine this from all angles. Hmmm...well, first of all, there's no spreadsheet attached to your e-mail, which makes me suspicious of the legitimacy from the get go. I don't find chain e-mails or letters to be reliable in general - they frequently contain errors, mistakes, and such. The writer of this was probably into the math part only, and if the words signify anything to the reader that would make them think it was a trick question in any way, there's the built-in caveat that it's not (although I don't know if you wrote this, or a forwarder, or the original author). To begin with, I tend to assume people who write these kinds of things on the internet or in e-mail are into the kick of a tough math problem, and are not worried about the details of the precision of the words (particularly when it states that it's the actual number being sought, and not a word). Sometimes you can sort of guess what their true intent was and correct the wording inconsistencies for them in your interpretation of the meaning of what they probably meant. I work with math nerds like this, and in fact, I have to do this very thing - make corrections to their words based on what I think they likely meant to say. If you were to assume further the question writer intended it to be a true story problem and simply used "on" instead of "in" by mistake, and that all girls had two legs each and that all cats had four each and that all girls and backpacks and cats (both large and small) were in the bus, there are still more things to consider. It's really a statement of facts with a question, hence a story "problem" rather than just a question. Another thing that is weird is that "they" are named, but not identified or defined. Who are they? I would want to know that. Yet another dilemma is that if the whole point is to unlock a spreadsheet and be able to pass it on, then it's pointless for me to reply to you with my answer in the first place! Let's see, what else is wrong here? There's probably one driver who probably has two legs. The seats inside the bus each have legs....Some of the girls and/or cats may have less than two legs due to birth defects, disease, or accidents....If some are hanging their legs out the windows, those legs would not be considered "in" the bus.....Since you say "it's not a trick question", then I can only assume that the backpacks and cats are also "in" the bus....And also, since you say it's not a trick question, I can only assume that the inconsistent usage of locators "on" and "in" are of no significance, and simply a reflection of a poor question writer.......However, I'm not going to infer that, and instead, I'm going to perceive it as a completely accurate question as worded, and therefore say that the number-only answer is 0 (zero) because the girls are "on" the bus and not in it. How did the girls get on top of the bus anyway? I wonder if "they" know the answer to that, and if not, I would say this whole thing is definitely a sham. I can't tell if you or someone else along the way added text to this or not, so it's hard to tell what is the original. Since the question is first, but you can't answer it until you read the fact statements, the logical explanations to arrive at my "0" answer might need to be explained for full credit (again, even though the absence of the actual spreadsheet defeats the purpose). So, I guess to prove my math though, I have to point out more stuff, even though it's totally irrelevant, but "they" might be looking for how I arrived at the answer. The fact that the girls have backpacks with big cats in them doesn't matter, because the question says nothing about those backpacks w/ big cats being "in" the bus...they could be anywhere. Likewise the little cats could be anywhere, and not in the bus. The possibility that they could all be amputees has no bearing. The second to last sentence says "The number of legs is the password", so maybe the total number of legs is the answer, whether any of them were in a bus or not, and hence, when you focus on that goal, the previous question of "How many legs are there in the bus", which was repeated twice, matters not. If one was to judge this as a true math problem then, below would be my calculations to arrive at a number of legs and thus the password for the missing spreadsheet:

-----Original Message-----
From: Lenore Cooley [mailto:lenorelouise@ameritech.net]
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 1:11 PM
To: Cooley, Scott
Subject: how_smart_are_u(1)(1) (4).xlsx



How many legs are there in the bus?

They are looking for an actual number - not the word! It's not a trick
question. Can you figure this one out...

.
There are 7 girls on a bus. 7 girls X 2 legs/girl = 14 legs

. Each girl has 7 backpacks. 7 girls X 7 backpacks = 49 backpacks
. In each backpack, there are 7 big cats. 49 backpacks X 7 big cats = 343 big cats X 4 legs/cat = 1372 big cat legs
. For every big cat there are 7 little cats. 343 big X 7 little = 2401 little cats X 4 legs/cat = 9604 little cat legs

How many legs are there in the bus? 14 + 1372 + 9604 = 10990


The number of legs is the password to unlock the Excel sheet. If you open
it, add your name and send it on to see who else can unlock it.

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