This one kinda hits home as I grew up on a sawmill
Teaching Math in 1950: A logger sells a truck load 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 truck load 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 the set "M." The set "C," the cost of production,
contains 20 fewer points than set "M." Represent the set "C" as a
subset of set "M" and answer the following question: What is the
cardinality of the set "P" for profits?
Teaching Math in 1980: A logger sells a truck load of
lumber for $100. Her cost of production is $80 and her 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 1996: By laying off 40% of its loggers, a
company improves its stock price from $80 to $100. How much capital
gain per share does the CEO make by exercising his stock options at
$80? Assume capital gains are no longer taxed, because this
encourages investment.
Teaching Math in 1997: A company outsources all of its
loggers. The firm saves on benefits, and when demand for its product
is down, the logging work force can easily be cut back. The average
logger employed by the company earned $50,000, had three weeks
vacation, a nice retirement plan and medical insurance. The
contracted logger charges $50 an hour. Was outsourcing a good
move?
Teaching Math in 1998: A laid-off logger with four kids at
home and a ridiculous alimony from his first failed marriage comes
into the logging company corporate offices and goes postal, mowing
down 16 executives and and a couple of secretaries, and gets lucky
when he nails a politician on the premises collecting his kickback.
Was outsourcing the loggers a good move for the company?
Teaching Math in 1999: A laid-off logger serving time in
Federal Prison for blowing away several people is being trained as a
COBOL programmer in order to work on Y2K projects. What is the
probability that the automatic cell doors will open on their own as
of 00:00:01, 01/01/00?