12│THE CAR WASH CONUNDRUM

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❝Good teachers know how to bring out the best in students

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❝Good teachers know how to bring out the best in students.❞ 

Charles Kuralt

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"Al washes a car in six minutes." Mr. Feeny tells the class, "Fred washes the same car in eight minutes. How long will it take Al and Fred to wash the car together?"

"Piece of cake." Cory said confidently.

"Think about it, Mr. Matthews."

"I don't have to think about it, Mr. Feeny. It's simple." Cory said and Elena scoffed.

"You can barley remember what five times four is, so how is this simple?" She asked incredulously.

"It is anything but simple Mr. Matthews." Mr. Feeny informed him.

"But I have the answer." Cory said immediately.

"I'm not interested in the answer, because I'm more interested in how you arrived at the answer." And you couldn't possibly have arrived at the correct answer so rapidly."

"But I did. I've arrived, I'm here. I'm ahead of you."

"Oh, well then if you're ahead of me what is the answer?"

"Seven." The said in unison.

"That's not the correct answer." Mr. Feeny told him.

"Apperently, seven is the answer to everything in Cory world." Elena commented.

Cory thinks seven is always the right answer, it's weird. She thought to herself.

"But it has to be." Cory insisted, "Al speeds Fred up, Fred slows Al down. So the answer is halfway between six and eight. Seven."

"That is not the correct answer." Cory and Mr. Feeny said in unison once again.

"But it has to be." Cory insisted.

Elena's eyes wander around the class as she tried to think of a way to solve the question. She wouldn't admit that a butterfly on the windowpane caught her attention and kept her from trying to answer the question.

"No, it doesn't." Stuart jumped in as he walked to stand in front of Cory's desk with his calculator.

"Why not?"

"Fred can't slow Al down. Even if Al washes most of the car and Fred just washes a hubcap the total time still has to be faster than Al's time alone. So if Fred is 25% slower than Al, and 25% of 6 minutes is... Anybody? It's a minute and a half which leaves us with four point five, four minutes and a half is the correct answer. Hold your applause, please."

"Mr. Minkus, you're wrong." Mr. Feeny informed him.

This isn't going to end well, Elena thought to herself.

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