Maths through the years

Teaching Maths in 1950

A lumberjack sells a truckload of timber for £100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

Teaching Maths in 1960

A lumberjack sells a truckload of timber for £100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or £80. What is his profit?

Teaching Maths in 1970

A lumberjack exchanges a set "T" of timber for a set "M" of money. The cardinality of set "M" is 100. Each element is worth one pound. 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" of profits?

Teaching Maths in 1980

A lumberjack 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 1990

By cutting down beautiful forest frees. the lumberjack 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 lumberjack cut down the trees? There are no wrong answers.

Teaching Maths in 1996

By laying off 40% of its lumberjacks, a company improves its stock price from £80 to £100. How much capital gain per share does the Forestry Commission make by exercising his stock options at £80. Assume capital gains are no longer taxed, because this encourages investment.

Teaching Maths in 1997

A company outsources all of its lumberjacks. They save on benefits and when demand for their product is down the lumberjack work force can easily be cut back. The average lumberjack employed by the company earned £23,000, had 3 weeks holiday, received a nice retirement plan and medical insurance. The contracted logger charges £30 an hour. Was outsourcing a good move?

Teaching Maths in 1998

A timber company exports its wood-finishing jobs to its Indonesian subsidiary and lays off the corresponding half of its UK workers (the higher-paid half), it clear-cuts 95% of the forest, leaving the rest for the spotted owl, and lays off all its remaining UK workers. It tells the workers that the spotted owl is responsible for the absence of fellable trees and prosecutes the government for refusing exemption from the Endangered Species Act. The crown court instead exempts the company from all government regulation. What is the return on investment of the lobbying costs?

Credits: adapted by Chris Scott, September 1998