...it's not dark yet, but it's gettin' there...
Teaching Math in 1950: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?
Teaching Math in 1960: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?
Teaching Math in 1970: A logger exchanges a set "L" of lumber for a set "M" of money. The cardinality of set "M" is 100. Each element is worth one dollar. Make 100 dots representing the elements of set "M." Set "C," the cost of production, contains 20 fewer points than set "M." Represent set "C" as a subset of set "M" and answer the following question: What is the cardinality of the set "P" of profits?
Teaching Math in 1980: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.
Teaching Math in 1990: By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the logger makes $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the forest birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down the trees? There are no wrong answers.
Teaching Math in 2000: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $120. How does Arthur Andersen determine that his profit is $60?
[Hard Law Firms, Soft Law Schools, 83 N.C. L. Rev. 667, fn. 12]
Funny, but it is no joke in Minnesota.
Schools here used an algebra textbook with the first 183 pages detailing how Amerika is destroying the environment (mathematics are not mentioned until page 184).
Posted by: Jake on Apr. 25, 2005Jake, I'd be curious to see a link.
Posted by: Preston on Apr. 25, 2005not really surprising. I just had an interesting discussion with a proffessor at a local university who assured me that because of the evils of the white man, western civilization, global corporations, and George W. Bush, we are doomed, past the point of no return, and will not survive as a species in ten more years. He was very serious.
Posted by: Kyle on Apr. 25, 2005This is so funny. I'm going to steal it now.
Posted by: michelle on Apr. 26, 2005The answer to the last question is easy: If the cost of "production" is $120 and Arthur Andersen claims the company made $60 profit, the other $60 is the amount paid to Arthur Andersen for filing a favorable report with the SEC.
Posted by: Woody on Apr. 26, 2005Funny, but I think the problem for 1990 applies to 2000 and 2005 of course.
Students should be assigned Bjorn Lomborg's "The Skeptical Environmentalist." I love the environment too, but truth above all.
Posted by: Mark on Apr. 29, 2005ROFLMAO on 1970. The "New Math"! I remember it well... **shudder**
Posted by: Tuning Spork on May. 2, 2005Ya Mum's Really Hot
Posted by: Bobbie on Sep. 19, 2005