Choosing Charity

In the wake of the recent tsunami, a company decided to donate to a disaster relief fund. The company started by pledging a certain amount of money.

To encourage their 60 employees to make individual contributions, the company pledge to also donate an additional fixed amount for each employee who made a personal donation to the fund.

The company treasurer determined that if one-third of the employees chose to make a donation, the company’s part of the total donation would be $7000. If 50% of the employees donated, the company’s part of the total donation would be $7750.

Pooling Tips

Ethan, Fran, and Gloria have summer jobs at the local Dairy Freeze. They collect their own tips and then share them equally. One week Ethan collected $25 in tips, Fran collected $48, and Gloria collected $41.

Extending the Enneagon

Extend the sides AB and ED of the regular enneagon ABCDEFGHI until they intersect.

Regional Ratios

A regular hexagon and an equilateral triangle have the same perimeter.

Lincoln’s Top Hat

Did you know that there is a famous illusion associated with Lincoln’s “stove pipe” hat? The hat looks like it’s taller than it is wide, even when the height and width (including the brim) are the same. Let’s make a hat:

1. Cut a circle with a radius of 5 1/2 inches.
2. Cut a circle from the center of the first circle with a radius of 3 1/2 inches.

The smaller circle will form the tip of the hat, and what’s left of the larger circle will form the hat brim. If we had a rectangular sheet of paper of the right size, we could make the cylindrical part of the top hat.

Name That Shape

Mia drew a shape with exactly 4 sides.

It has 4 lines of symmetry.

The Take-Away Game

• Write 23 X’s on a piece of paper.
• On your turn you can erase or take away 1, 2, or 3 of the X’s.
• Turns alternate. You cannot skip your turn.
• The person who erases or takes away the last X wins.

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

I’m a Groundhog?

I’ve always felt a connection to Punxsutawney Phil because my birthday is on February 2nd, the same day folks watch to see if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow! One year, I noticed:

• Phil’s height = 51.2 cm
• Suzanne’s height = 5′ 4″
• Suzanne’s shadow length at Gobbler’s Knob = 76.2 cm

Bobsled Sums

Kelly was watching her favorite Winter Olympic event – the four-man bobsled. On each team a driver sits in front, followed by two teammates and the brakeman in the back.

The numbers 1 through 20 were assigned to the 20 athletes. The drivers wore numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Before the race Kelly studied the teams. Drivers 2, 3, and 4 were riding with brakemen 18, 15, and 20 respectively in three of the sleds. In another sled were 6 and 12, and in the remaining sled were 10 and 17.

Suddenly Kelly realized that if you added up the four numbers on each team, all five sums were the same!