Beefsteak 305 Posted July 28, 2009 Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 Just got this via email. It's an oldie but it's been updated .IanTeaching Maths In 1970 A logger sells a truckload of timber for £100. <LI class=MsoNormal>His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit? Teaching Maths In 1980 A logger sells a truckload of timber for £100. <LI class=MsoNormal>His cost of production is 80% of the price. What is his profit? Teaching Maths In 1990 A logger sells a truckload of timber for £100. <LI class=MsoNormal>His cost of production is £80. How much was his profit? Teaching Maths In 2000 A logger sells a truckload of timber for £100. His cost of production is £80 and his profit is £20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20. Teaching Maths In 2005 A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habit of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. Your assignment: Discuss how might the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes just for a measly profit of £20. Teaching Maths In 2009 A logger is arrested for trying to cut down a tree in case it may be offensive to Muslims or other religious groups not consulted in the felling licence. He is also fined a £100 as his chainsaw is in breach of Health & Safety legislation as it deemed too dangerous and could cut something. He has used the chainsaw for over 20 years without incident however he does not have the correct certificate of competence and is therefore considered to be a recidivist and habitual criminal. His DNA is sampled and his details circulated throughout all government agencies. He protests and is taken to court and fined another £100 because he is such an easy target. When he is released he returns to find Gypsies have cut down half his wood to build a camp on his land. He tries to throw them off but is arrested, prosecuted for harassing an ethnic minority, imprisoned and fined a further £100. While he is in jail the Gypsies cut down the rest of his wood and sell it on the black market for £100 cash. They also have a loving BBQ of squirrel and pheasant and depart leaving behind several tonnes of rubbish and asbestos sheeting. The forester on release is warned that failure to clear the fly tipped rubbish immediately at his own cost is an offence. He complains and is arrested for environmental pollution, breach of the peace and invoiced £12000 plus VAT for safe disposal costs by a regulated government contractor. Your assignment: How many times is the logger going to have to be arrested and fined before he realises that he is never going to make £20 profit by hard work, give up, sign onto the dole and live off the state for the rest of his life? Teaching Maths In 2010 A logger doesn't sell a lorry load of timber because he can't get a loan to buy a new lorry because his bank has spent all his and their money on a derivative of securitised debt related to sub- prime mortgages in Alabama and lost the lot with only some government money left to pay a few million pound bonuses to their senior directors and the traders who made the biggest losses. The logger struggles to pay the £1200 road tax on his old lorry however, as it was built in the 1970s it no longer meets the emissions regulations and he is forced to scrap it. Some Bulgarian loggers buy the lorry from the scrap merchant and put it back on the road They undercut everyone on price for haulage and send their cash back home, while claiming unemployment for themselves and their relatives. If questioned they speak no English and it is easier to deport them at the governments expense Following their holiday back home they return to the UK with different names and fresh girls and start again. The logger protests, is accused of being a bigoted racist and as his name is on the side of his old lorry he is forced to pay £1500 registration fees as a gang master. The Government borrows more money to pay more to the bankers as bonus's are not cheap. The parliamentarians feel they are missing out and claim the difference on expenses and allowances. You do the maths 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
radfordred 6,284 Posted October 21, 2013 Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 Statistically 10 out 6 people prefer English to Maths. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bubblewrap 3,815 Posted October 21, 2013 Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 One thing I like about £.s.d/ pounds & ounces you can't do them with a calculator Yards feet & inches are not that easy unless you know how many inches(") in a foot(') or how many inches in a mile(should be general knowledge.) P.S. my Mother still writes cheques out in £.s.d (only full pounds though no s.d.) 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted October 21, 2013 Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 if it takes 3 men a week to dig a hole 8ft x 8ft x 20ft deep how deep would 2 men have got by wednesday morning Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BulwellBrian 107 Posted October 21, 2013 Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 Just got the shovels out and put the kettle on. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bilbraborn 1,594 Posted October 21, 2013 Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 It took me 3 attempts to get my Maths GCE (please note NOT GCSE) back in the 60s. When I did milkrounds I had to really learn how to do mental arithmetic (no tiny calculators then) or I got an ear bashing off the customer if I over charged. These days, when I work on tills in the course of my work, I do not need to use the keys to calculate the change. I just do it in my head as it is quicker. Why do kids need to learn maths now. They have machines to do it for them. In fact why do they have to learn to do anything? I am sure you do not need to go to school to learn how to walk around like a Zombie wearing headphones and dabbing at the keys of a mobile phone. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
denshaw 2,872 Posted October 21, 2013 Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 There are 3 types of people, those who can do maths and those who can't. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BulwellBrian 107 Posted October 21, 2013 Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 Them that can don't understand them that can't. Them that can't don't understand them that can. Two species. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tomlinson 879 Posted October 21, 2013 Report Share Posted October 21, 2013 A friend of mine once described his wife to a maths professor as being, 'A mathematic dyslexic'. The prof' said there was no such thing. I don't see why not. I've suffered from it for years! I suppose his view was that maths is basically logic. Fine, if you have a logical mind. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bilbraborn 1,594 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 I would say that it is absolutely vital to teach mathematics to children particularly if they have aspirations to high profile careers. Engineering, science and medicine need a very high level of mathematical know-how, and even dust bin men need to make sure their employer isn't fiddling them out of an hours overtime. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 Most of what I learnt at Claremont 1958-1962 a total waste of time in the real world, learnt French, used once to chat up a bird in Spain, failed miserably! and Chaucer came in very useful when I started work as apprentice electrician "pass me that f.......... spanner, no the other one you thick ............ b............" then there was religion, christian of course, not a word re islam, (wonder what they do now?) and music, a quaver? and 4 beats to the bar? wasn't that that got me to The Royal Concert Hall, (delivered some plumbing fittings there) same with Art, history and a lot of science, am sure subjects just there for teachers, same today with 15 o levels 8 a levels, what's it mean, 6 months later they get a pub barman job 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bilbraborn 1,594 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 Come on! Lighten up! We probably have the worlds cleverest street cleaners. They need something interesting to rattle about when they're leaning on their brushes. And how can people sit in the pub and put the world to rights when they know sod all about the world to put it to rights. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beefsteak 305 Posted October 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 Cleverest street cleaners!? I told you all the tale recently of our local street cleaner who always had a fag hanging from his mouth ( Grow up !) He was told that (When the smoking in the work place ban came in) as his workplace was outdoors he couldn't smoke in the street any more (Only on his way to and from work) And he fell for it , hook line and sinker!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bilbraborn 1,594 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 He'll be a lot healthier then. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ayupmeducks 1,730 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 I think I used about everything I was taught, in one way or another from school in my life.. Now Maths, some not all, and those calculations I was taught and forgot at Tech during my apprenticeship, about 99% NEVER...If I'd gone on and got my Engineers ticket, probably maybe I'd have used more of them. BUT, I recall a question posed to a teacher at Tech, "Why do we have to learn this crap when we will never use it practically on the job" "Well one thing, we DON'T expect you to remember it all, but we will have taught you what and how to look it up in a book should you ever need it" Wise words I always remembered, maybe I have forgotten phase angles in 3 phase circuits etc, But I can dig a book out and refresh my memory should I need to. Pre calculator days, I was working as an underground electrician at BG's Marblaegis mine, cable testing for statutory tests, had it been a very large mine complex it would have had an Engineer.. But alas it didn't, so when doing tests we had to calculate maximum leakage to earth per phase, plus earthing continuity calculations on site and correct any problems while doing the tests. So had to revert to log tables to carry out the calculations, which answered a nagging question I'd had for years..Whats the use of logs and anti logs....Probably saved me hours of calculations and errors too!! Once the figures seemed correct, we signed the statutory test sheets.... I did learn an unorthodox procedure carried out on the Mines main Bunny substation earthing system.......Have a pee on it near where the earthing cable goes in the ground..... Made hell of a difference in the readings taken, didn't do the copper wire much good, but satisfied the Electrical Inspector for Mines when he checked the paperwork.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 See no one has managed to answer my hole dig question? so much for O levels Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colly0410 1,181 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 # 18. Good job that earth electrode you wee wee'd on wasn't one of those high voltage 'single wire earth return' systems, could have been not good. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BulwellBrian 107 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 if it takes 3 men a week to dig a hole 8ft x 8ft x 20ft deep how deep would 2 men have got by wednesday morning If it was 8ft x8ft and they worked till lunch time (i.e. half a day) then it would by 8ft deep. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tomlinson 879 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 If it was 8ft x8ft and they worked till lunch time (i.e. half a day) then it would by 8ft deep. We'll have to look into it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ayupmeducks 1,730 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 That's the beauty of mining elec systems, they are all three phase circuits..... Weren't allowed single wire earth returns...LOL Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bing 78 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 there are 10 kinds of people. Those that understand binary, and those who don't. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 Re the hole, the answer was of course 2 fathoms! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bilbraborn 1,594 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 If I needed to know I would definitely work it out. But tell me this. Why is it that when I try to dig a level pond with modern tools, I make a right pig's ear of it. But 200 years ago, those canal engineers built canals many miles long with primitive tools and got it all right? Huh? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 ditto the railways, though as that big guess more room for error that would not be noticed? read somewhere that the workforce on The Great Central Bagthorpe Junction embankments through to New Basford Station numbered 3000! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rob.L 1,090 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 Agree about the canals. Every time I walk along a towpath, it always amazes me how they managed to get the water dead level. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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