So what does basic math mean? To Einstein it might mean things like calculus and quantum physics. At Pinnacol we only go as high as algebra and trigonometry... Not really! Just kidding! However, being an insurance company, much of what we deal with are numbers and we need folks who have a good understanding of things like:
- addition and subtraction
- multiplication and division
- percentages, decimals, and fractions (really all the same thing)
- and most importantly.... the ability to apply these basic skills to the types of business problems we face every day
294 + 1201 + 33 - 12 = ?
.9045 - .32 = ?
83.45 X 2.96 = ?
93.2 / 1.7 = ?
5% of 8,942 = ?
Sally made $465 in her first week on the job. The second week she made twice as much. The third week she made $312. What was the average amount she made per week for the three weeks?
A high school has a strange principal. On the first day, he has his students perform an odd opening day ceremony:
There are one thousand lockers and one thousand students in the school. The principal asks the first student to go to every locker and open it. Then he has the second student go to every second locker and close it. The third goes to every third locker and, if it is closed, he opens it, and if it is open, he closes it. The fourth student does this to every fourth locker, and so on. After the process is completed with the thousandth student, how many lockers are open?
That last one is for the math geniuses out there and is not representative of what we ask on our math test! If you want to see the solution, click on the comments for this post. However, I make no representation as to whether the answer is actually correct!
So now you have an idea of what our "dreaded math test" is like.
The only lockers that remain open are perfect squares (1, 4, 9, 16, etc) because they are the only numbers divisible by an odd number of whole numbers; every factor other than the number's square root is paired up with another. Thus, these lockers will be "changed" an odd number of times, which means they will be left open. All the other numbers are divisible by an even number of factors and will consequently end up closed.
ReplyDeleteSo the number of open lockers is the number of perfect squares less than or equal to one thousand. These numbers are one squared, two squared, three squared, four squared, and so on, up to thirty one squared. (Thirty two squared is greater than one thousand, and therefore out of range.) So the answer is thirty one.
The only lockers that remain open are perfect squares (1, 4, 9, 16, etc) because they are the only numbers divisible by an odd number of whole numbers; every factor other than the number's square root is paired up with another. Thus, these lockers will be "changed" an odd number of times, which means they will be left open. All the other numbers are divisible by an even number of factors and will consequently end up closed.
So the number of open lockers is the number of perfect squares less than or equal to one thousand. These numbers are one squared, two squared, three squared, four squared, and so on, up to thirty one squared. (Thirty two squared is greater than one thousand, and therefore out of range.) So the answer is thirty one.
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