Math explanation

[sc3283]

With the current "pay before pumping" of gasoline.....go inside and tell the cashier you want 5 gallons of regular....you will get the same look!
I had a young girl tell me she couldn't do that...they only sell by dollar amounts...I told her I had a 5 gallon gas can for my lawnmower and needed to fill it and I had the cash(holding a $20 in my hand) but want the can full of 5 gallons. She replies..."So you want $20 worth?" I stated once again..."I want 5 gallons of regular"

She was SO lost!!!

I'm SURE she was fluent in tattoos, piercings, cell phones, apps, facebook, twitter...you know ALL the IMPORTANT stuff in life

[wa8yxm]

Oh, and you left out a few itterations on the Logger.

The one where "The logger sells his trees for 100 each and keeps 20 dollars profit? How do you think the tree feels about that?

(That was in one of the other versions of that "Teaching Math" post that I read a few years back.

NOTE: I do not care how the tree feels and will not even speculate, let alone discuss that... But it was in the earlier version of this that I read,, There were a few more steps I recall about "Feelings" and such but frankly forgot those. (Or rather thestory did not trip the memory release catch).

[danf7]

As a math teacher I can only cringe in agreement. My idea of fun is to but something for say $2. 78 give the cashier a Five let them ring it up and then say oh I have 3 cents.... watch the fun begin. The goods ones are at least smart enough to grab a calculator. The rest...not so much!!!!

When I ran my restaurant I had to fire an employee. Adam's register was $45 short. I looked over his register tape and noticed that he took in a $50 early in his shift for a milk shake, but there was no $50's in his drawer. When I asked him about it he remembered the customer. He said yea he gave me a $5!!!! Adam put an extra zero into the key pad and gave him $47 dollars and some change after the customer gave him a $5!!!!!! Adam had a hard time understanding why I fired him. As the saying goes..."YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID, BUT YOU CAN FIRE HIM! "

Dan

[Tony Lee]

He said yea he gave me a $5!!!! Adam put an extra zero into the key pad and gave him $47 dollars and some change after the customer gave him a $5!!!!!! Adam had a hard time understanding why I fired him. As the saying goes..."YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID, BUT YOU CAN FIRE HIM! "

Hence the introduction of unfair dismissal laws.

[Wayne M]

Back in the mid 80's I was managing a lab that required some basic math skills to calculate results for abrasion resistance, modulus of rupture, compression strength, etc. Really some simple stuff requiring some measurements, wights, and then some calculations. One person I hired appeared to have all the qualifications, however we did not give a math test. (That changed on the next applicant)

Anyhow, all of the answers this hire came up with were wrong. I could tell just by looking at the results. So I stood with him an asked him to do the math while I watched. He did, and when he came to a part of a formula that has (for simplicity) 8/2 he would divide 8 into 2. I told him that it was incorrect and he argued with me, emphatically telling me that the teacher taught him that you divided the bottom number by the top number. He stated he could not do it the other way no matter how hard I tried to explain it to him, he just refused to do it correctly. His teach was right, not my math.

Was I right in firing him??

Ladies and gentlemen, math is not our only problem with today's children. Ask any teenager what the know about Gettysburg, and see what type of an answer you get. Or ask where Cairo is located, better yet, ask where Egypt is located. It boggles the mind.

[wa8yxm]

One of the things I used to do was go into a specific fast food place, I'd make sure I got in a specific clerk's line and then I'd place my order, never the same order twice in a row. Finally She'd give me the total (Different every time of course) and I'd lift my hand off the pile of money I'd put on the counter..... always exact change.. Drove her crazy how I did that. (I do admit to palming a penny cause sometimes the tax break was not where I thought it was).

Simple arithmetic.

A Captcha site ask the question "Which is easiest" and listed several options, among them Walking (The answer they wanted) and Differential Calculus) The answer I gave cause for me... it is)

[mgscott4]

You were right in firing him, and take the $45 he is short out of his last check.