DAY 292

An electrician charges a basic fee plus an hourly rate. For 2 hours of work, he charged $74. For 4 hours of work, he charged $118. What is his basic fee and what is his hourly rate? This problem can be solved without algebra.

Answer:

His hourly rate is $22/hour and his basic fee is $30.

4 hours + fee - 2 hours + fee = 2 hours

$118 - $74 = $44 (2 hours of work without the fee)

$22 = hourly rate

$74 --- $44 = $30 (basic fee)

Using algebra:

Let x = fee

(74 - x) = 2 hours of work without fee

x + 2(74 - x) = $118

DAY 291

A $1 coin costs $.08 to make and will last 30 years. A $1 bill costs $.04 to make and will last 20 months. Over a 30-year period, how much more will it cost to replace the $1 bill than to produce the coin?

Answer:

$2.44

DAY 290

20 vehicles---cars and motorcycles---56 wheels. How many cars, how many motorcycles?

Answer:

8 cars and 12 motorcycles

Let n = cars ............ 4n + 2(20 - n) = 56

DAY 289

PIZZA PARTY

Fred's survey of 72 students found that 3 out of 8 preferred pepperoni pizza and 1 out of 8 preferred mushroom pizza. How many more students preferred pepperoni to mushroom?

Answer:

18 ........ 1/8 = 9/72 ......... 3/8 = 27/72 ........ 27 - 9 = 18

DAY 288

GO FIGURE

Credit: L.M. Boyd

If you multiply 15,873 by any single-digit number, then multiply that by 7, all the answer's numerals will be the first single number you multiplied it with.

If you multiply 37,037 by any single-digit number, then multiply that by 3, every number in the answer will be the same as that first single number.

(Multiplying 37,037 by any single-digit number yields some interesting number patterns.)

Consider the number 512........ 5 + 1 + 2 =8..........8 X 8 X 8 = 512

DAY 287

What do these numbers have in common?

4

200

1500

HINT:

Think Roman Numerals

Answer:

In Roman Numerals, they are medical terms: IV, CC, MD

DAY 286

What time comes next in this sequence?

1:38

2:44

3:49

4:55

????

Answer:

6:00 --- In each of these times, the hour and minute hands form a straight line.