Problems of The Week

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.