[Ichneumon]

Headline: Actress can do high-school math.

Don't be too quick to scoff -- a *lot* of high-schoolers (probably a large majority) couldn't solve that problem.

[dfwgator]

Solving the equations is the easy part, it's figuring out which equations to use to solve a problem that is the trick.

[bummerdude]

Don't be too quick to scoff -- a *lot* of high-schoolers (probably a large majority) couldn't solve that problem.

And those that can don't get an article in the NY Times about their genius !

[gridlock]

An engineer will answer that question in two seconds with "3 and a half minutes". And that is the right answer, because it is delivered in two seconds, and it is pretty darn close.

[mc6809e]

Don't be too quick to scoff -- a *lot* of high-schoolers (probably a large majority) couldn't solve that problem.

Yep.

And recall that recently an Asian manufacturer chose Canada for a factory rather than the US.

Why?

Because American workers couldn't handle the machine even when given pictures on how to operate them.

[RipSawyer]

I went for the "close enough for government work" answer on that one. It is obvious that the one will do half the car in three minutes while the other will take four minutes to do half the car, assuming the faster one continues working after he does his half they should complete the job in about three and a half minutes, this was an almost instantaneous computation. I am a high school graduate but I have seen college graduates who could not set up the formula and come up with the precise answer.