Problems of the Week - March 21 to March 27

Rewards for Problems of the week:

5 stars for the correct answer at your level; 10 stars for the next level; 20 stars for 2+ levels up.

Lower Elementary:

Question: A woolly mammoth weighs 6 tons. A ton is 2,000 pounds. If a caveman weighs 200 pounds, then how many pounds heavier is the woolly mammoth than the caveman?

Upper Elementary:

Question: The probability that a saber-toothed tiger catches its prey is 3 out of 4. If a saber-toothed tiger has caught the past 3 rhinos it chased after, what is the probability that it will catch the next rhino it chases?

Middle School:

Question: A Neanderthal hunting party caught between 20 and 30 animals. If a sixth of the animals were reindeer, a fourth of them were goats, a third of them were sheep, and the rest were rabbits, then how many rabbits did the Neanderthals catch?

Algebra and Up:

Question: The Siberian unicorn, a ginormous prehistoric rhinoceros-like animal, survived until around 37,000 BCE. Assume the population of Siberian unicorns was exactly 262,144 in the year 39,000 BCE and followed the model f(t) = 262,144(2)^-t, a function of t time in centuries. According to the model, what year did the population of Siberian unicorns decline to exactly 1? You may use your calculator to solve this problem.

Challenge problem to take home. 5 stars for the correct answer. 

The number 10 can be written as the sum of four consecutive integers: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10. The number 100 can be written as the sum of five consecutive integers: 18 + 19 + 20 + 21 + 22 = 100. Is there a way to write 100 as the sum of fewer than five consecutive integers? If so, show which integers you can use. If not, why not?