Pizza math

[Rick Courtright]

These are young tradesmen, working hard to better themselves and doing the heavy work the apprentices get stuck with. Not one of them is out of shape. Their instructor is another story.

Hi,

Life's too short to be serious all the time. I was just having fun. "Hey, Teacher, I'm still not sure about these fractions. Can we get another pizza to practice on?" ;)

A joke's no good if it has to be explained. My apologies.

Rick C

 

[Wyandot Jim]

↑ If you bought Cherry Bombs in bulk as a kid like we did, you would have learned what a gross was at a young innocent age :) It's not a word used much anymore.

Yep stated on the box Quantity One Gross :wink: :wink:

 

[caryc]

How about the "bakers dozen"
or "troy ounces"

don't hear much use of them lately either.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Yeah, the only place I see "troy ounces" is in numismatic discussions.

Wonder how many youngsters know what a "baker's dozen" is? :wink:

 

[Dan in MI]

I just want to know if square pizza confuses them.

 

[eveled]

No harm Rick I was just wanted to understand.

The square pizza might help with the area problems. Figuring out square inches and square feet.

Another stumbling block is square inches vs cubic inches. If they mess up I show them a Rubix cube, or a flat Rubix square made out of paper. The visual reminder seems to help.

 

[Phoenix too]

... It’s fun to teach, but frustrating too. When you see the light come on and the blank stare becomes an excited look of enlightenment. It’s pretty cool.

You, Sir, show yourself a teacher. I know I'm outa step, but, IMHO, teachers are born, not made. But I do note some heavy ignorance aloft. (No reflection on you!)

Blume!!! Celestial! Way cool. I never progressed beyond a Noon sight. When i was a travelling fool I would sometimes carry my sextant along for practice. It's for surveying work (my Father was with the Coast & Geodetic Survey), and has a 140-degree arc rather than the normal 120. This is quite handy as one could bring the sun down to its reflection in a puddle, divide that by two and there's your angle.

And while we're talking celestial: https://mashable.com/article/hubble-nasa-space-images/ !!!!!

 

[Jeepnik]

Now days, most people think that's what a phone's for.
When I conduct a "new hire" interview and competency test, phones/calculators are not allowed. I watch the candidate to see how he'/she handles the math questions and it's a fairly good indicator of how successful or effective the candidate will be. I have an employee with an 8th grade education, one with a Masters degree, and one PhD. The one with a grade school education quit school because he simply couldn't learn(and he still can't). He functioned by rote through out his entire life and any attempt to teach him something new requires continual coaching.
If you tried to use "pizza math" on him, he'd tell you he doesn't like pizza and return to his own version of reality. I'll be glad to see him retire.

But does he have a good work ethic. I'll take that over a brilliant but lazy employee every day.

 

[Dan in MI]

The square pizza might help with the area problems. Figuring out square inches and square feet.

Another stumbling block is square inches vs cubic inches. If they mess up I show them a Rubix cube, or a flat Rubix square made out of paper. The visual reminder seems to help.

Just order thin and deep dish. More basis for pizza being the perfect math tool.
:mrgreen:

But does he have a good work ethic. I'll take that over a brilliant but lazy employee every day.

Years back, I had kid call me every day after the interview looking for a job. Everything about him said no, I don't want him. After two more weeks of no good candidates I rewarded his persistence. He wasn't much above a box of rocks, but he worked and worked.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Wonder how many youngsters know what a "baker's dozen" is? :wink:

Hi,

Or how it came about? I dunno if it's true, but have heard one story a time or two... ;)

Rick C

 

[Colonialgirl]

Wonder how many youngsters know what a "baker's dozen" is? :wink:

Hi,

Or how it came about? I dunno if it's true, but have heard one story a time or two... ;)

Rick C

I KNOW !! I KNOW!!

It's Thirteen of an item.

 

[Rick Courtright]

I KNOW !! I KNOW!!

It's Thirteen of an item.

Hi,

You're halfway there... now how did it come to be thirteen?

Rick C

 

[Colonialgirl]

I KNOW !! I KNOW!!

It's Thirteen of an item.

Hi,

You're halfway there... now how did it come to be thirteen?

Rick C

Beats Me; was it due to the baker keeping one to sample?

Research says:

Due to olde Laws in England a baker could be penalized if found selling twelve loaves of bread that were short in weight, to prevent that from happening an extra loaf was included; various side reasons and stuff, but it was to make sure the buyer got a FULL measure.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Research says:

Due to olde Laws in England a baker could be penalized if found selling twelve loaves of bread that were short in weight, to prevent that from happening an extra loaf was included; various side reasons and stuff, but it was to make sure the buyer got a FULL measure.

Hi,

We've got a winner!

Rick C

 

[coach]

I went to school with a guy who grew up in Denmark and he said he had trouble learning fractions since everything was metric. I’m not sure how they cut pizza in Scandinavia but I doubt it’s based on 10.

 

[eveled]

I’ve heard that before and it baffles me. Fractions and decimals are two ways of writing a number smaller than zero. Neither had anything to do specifically with the metric system.

 

[Dave P.]

A couple of years ago I was asked to make a couple of parts for a very old loom.
They brought in an old print, was actually a real "blueprint".
The dimensions were called out in fractions of 100, say 375/100 instead of .375
all hand written and really well drawn.
Dave

 

[Rick Courtright]

Just order thin and deep dish. More basis for pizza being the perfect math tool.

Hi,

But how do you handle figuring the area of a circle? Here the student is looking at a round pie while the instructor's telling him "pi r squared"--confusion, confusion? ;)

Rick C

 

[JFB]

...Fractions and decimals are two ways of writing a number smaller than zero. ,,,.

:lol:
now that's funny
"zero" looks sort of like a "hole" and "hole" sounding like "whole" meaning being ONE COMPLETE (Not cut up)

 

[Colonialgirl]

ANd never forget , "A PINT is a POUND"* the world around !


* of WATER 8.33 pounds per gallon, 4 Quarts = 8 pints !!

Learned that LONG ago working as a Lab Tech/Paint Chemist at DeSoto Paint and Coatings Inc.

 

[JFB]

I'll remember that ! (then fudge with the SG of the oil being used)

my tidbit of useful obscure constants /
the "James Bond" thermal expansion of cast steel
0.007 X inch X deltaF = mils growth

and the value 231 seems to be imbedded. cubic inches per gallon (hydrulic cylinder trouble shooting)

 

[Dan in MI]

If we're talking unique ways to remember rules. In chemistry the rule was acid to water never the other way around. I called it the "root beer rule" A&W

 

[Rick Courtright]

If we're talking unique ways to remember rules. In chemistry the rule was acid to water never the other way around. I called it the "root beer rule" A&W

Hi,

My neighborhood has very hard water, and an acid based toilet cleaner is needed every so often to break the ring that builds up in the unused bathroom. I think about Mr. W telling us over and over the acid goes in first as I do just the opposite! Fortunately the concentration in the cleaner's so low it's not a problem... I like the A&W rule. ;)

Rick C

 

[eveled]

Just order thin and deep dish. More basis for pizza being the perfect math tool.

Hi,

But how do you handle figuring the area of a circle? Here the student is looking at a round pie while the instructor's telling him "pi r squared"--confusion, confusion? ;)

Rick C

I don’t know if I made this up or it’s a real episode? If someone taught me I don’t remember it. Has anyone heard this one before?

To teach the formula:

Break out your best 3 stooges voices. Use your imagination.

Larry. Hey Moe what’s the formula for area of a circle?

Moe. Pie are squared, stupid!

Curly. No they’re not! Pie are round! Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck!

Make a motion like Moe poking curly in the eyes.

Nobody ever forgets that formula after that!

In case anyone doesn’t know.

Take any circle divide the circumference by the diameter. It always equals pi. Which is approximately 3.1416, every time no matter how large or small the circle is! How cool is that?

To remember a number like pi, I just repeat it over and over again. Out loud or in my head. While I’m doing something else menial.

Pi day, March 14th has taken on an almost holiday status among nerds the world over.

Pie day is January 23rd

 

[eveled]

ANd never forget , "A PINT is a POUND"* the world around !


* of WATER 8.33 pounds per gallon, 4 Quarts = 8 pints !!

Learned that LONG ago working as a Lab Tech/Paint Chemist at DeSoto Paint and Coatings Inc.

I never heard of that one. It’s not extremely accurate, but close enough. If you are only dealing with one or two pints.
But when I taught my kids measurements. I told them to remember Pint and Pound both start with the same letter, and they both have 16 ounces. Different ounces weight vs volume obviously, but both 16.

I never realized that a pint of water was both 16 fluid ounces and 16 weight ounces. Thank you for that one. Which means a fluid ounce of water weighs an ounce too. How did I not know that?

 

[eveled]

This is a plumbing only one.

A leader and a conductor are both pipes to handle rain water. From a roof or parking garage. They are plumbing because they are part of the bldg. They haven’t connected to the storm drain yet.

They only difference between a conductor and a leader? Conductor is in the house a Leader is outside. Much confusion and difficult to remember which is which.

I draw Thomas the Tank engine. The conductor is in the train, Sir Topham Hat (the leader) is always outside the train on the station platform.

Problem solved, nobody ever forgets that one again.

I

 

[6GUNSONLY]

I thought I wasn't good at math I'm school. Later when I had jobs where I needed to apply math skills (construction trades, water/wastewater treatment), I found out I wasn't bad at it, I just hadn't had a context for understanding and applying it. Shooting and reloading has also helped me to understand it better, fractions/decimals and English vs metric system.

 

[protoolman]

Everyone using quickrete to build concrete pads had trouble figuring it. There is 1/2 cubic foot in one bag. In other words, one square foot 6" thick or two square feet 3" thick. Makes it easier than figuring the cubic inches which I could also do. Also it's not pure math. When ordering concrete you always order 10% more.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

P=IE

Heard that somewhere. HS physics? ;)

Rick C

 

[eveled]

A box of 12 pencils = dozen
12 boxes of 12 is a case = 144 or a gross
12 cases = 1728 or a Great GROSS.

I’ve never heard of a great gross before.

A small gross or great 100 is 120 items. Or 12 groups of 10.

Old school stuff that faded out of use.