Phantom Lake Math Challenge

November 2017

Mr. Men Inspired Mathematics

The Phantom Lake Math Challenge is an open invitation to have fun solving problems at home with family. It’s an opportunity for students to discover different ways to approach problems and a chance for students to share their math thinking and ideas with others. Anyone can participate. Choose the problem that fits your math ability/interest. These problems are generallyin an order of increasing difficulty (A-L). Please submit your answer using the response form attached. You should turn in one form for each problem you solve.Feel free to showcase your creativity and design a poster or chart to show your work as well. Sometimes acting out problems and using objects can help students develop a deeper understanding of the problem. Please put the letter or title of your problem, your first and last name and your teacher’s name on the form when you submit it. All solutions are due to Mrs.Gaylord by the last school day of the month. Bring your completed form(s),charts, and posters to your teacher. Students who successfully complete the challenge with the correct answer and an explanation of their mathematical thinking will receive a certificate and their name listed in thePTA newsletter.Happy problem solving!

This month’s theme was inspired by Roger Hargreaves.

  1. Mr. Strong

The secret to Mr. Strong’s strength is eggs. The more eggs he eats, the stronger he gets. He eats boiled eggs for breakfast, fried eggs for lunch, and fried eggs for supper. If Mr. Strong eats 20 eggs every single day, how many eggs might he have at each meal? How many fried eggs and boiled eggs might he eat in a day? Show as many possibilities as you can.

  1. Sleepyland

The clock in Sleepyland has only 4 hours on it because Mr. Lazy is asleep for the rest of the day. Can you work out how long Mr. Lazy is asleep each day? Are you as lazy as Mr. Lazy? How do you know? Work out how much sleep you had last night. How much more or less sleep did you have than Mr. Lazy?

  1. Mr. Silly

Mr. Silly lives in Nonsenseland, a place where even dogs wear hats. One sunny day, Mr. Silly went for a walk to the park. When he arrived, a group of dogs was throwing balls and the dogs’ owners were fetching them. All the dogs and owners were wearing hats, of course. In total, Mr. Silly saw 7 hats and 20 legs. How many dogs and how many people did Mr. Silly see? If you get stuck, draw a picture to help you. Later in the day, even more dogs and their owners arrived at the Nonsenseland park. In total, 13 hats and 40 legs were in the park. How many dogs and how many people were in the park now?

  1. Little Miss Lucky

Little Miss Lucky had a terrible dream about a frightening Midnight Tree chasing her across the field. In Little Miss Lucky’s dream, the Midnight Tree looked particularly scary because it was autmn and the tree had lost all its leaves. While she was running away from the horrible tree, Little Miss Lucky counted the red, orange, and purple autumn leaves that were fluttering around in the wind. In total, Little Miss Lucy counted 12 leaves. How many leaves of each color might have she seen? Show as many possibilities as you can.

  1. Mr. Bump

Mr. Bump finally found a job where he can be successful; in fact, his tendency to bump into things is actually really useful. Mr. Bump is a fantastic apple picker. Every time he bumps into an apple tree, half the apples fall down and can be collected for Mr. Barley. If a tree has 64 apples on it, how many times must Mr. Bump bumped into the tree before only 1 apple is left? One tree in the orchard has lots of apples on it. Mr. bump actually bumps into this tree 9 times until there is only 1 apple left. How many apples were on this tree to begin with?

  1. Mr. Mean

Mr. Mean’s favorite thing to do is count his money. He has a collection of coins hidden in a box in the kitchen. When he pours his box of coins out onto the floor, he can see a collection of quarters and dollars. He sees 26 coins, and he counts $20 total. Can you work out how many quarters and how many dollars he has? After saving for another year, Mr. Mean has $32 worth of coins and exactly 72 coins (made up of dimes, quarters, and silver dollars). Can you work out how many of each coin he has? (Hint: The last question has more than 1 possible answer.) For an extra challenge, try to find at least 2 different answers.

  1. Mr. Miserable

It takes a while living in Happyland before a miserable person starts to feel less miserable. How long it takes a person to become happy depends on how long he or she spent being miserable to begin with. For example, every year that a person has been miserable, it takes 1 month, 1 week, and 1 day of living in Happyland to become happy. Mr. Miserable has been miserable his whole life, and he is 36 years old. How long would it take him to become happy after he moved to Happyland? Mr. Miserable’s father is 72 years old and is about to move to Happyland to join his son. He also has spent his whole life being miserable. How long must he live in Happyland to become happy?

  1. Mr. Slow

Mr. Slow is such a slow eater that when he eats peas, he eats only 1 pea at a time! Guess what? It takes him 20 seconds to chew and swallow just 1 pea. If 48 peas are on his plate with his roast dinner, how long does it take him to eat all of his peas? After his peas, Mr. Slow slowly begins eating 3 roast potatoes (each one takes 15 minutes to eat) and 2 pieces of lamb (each piece takes an hour to eat). If he starts eating his dinner at 6:30 p.m., what time will he finish?

  1. Mr. Tall

Mr. Tall is a fast walker. At the end of the story, we learned that Mr. Tall covers the 40 miles from the beach to his home in just 4 minutes! How far can you walk in 4 minutes? How much faster than you does Mr. Tall walk? We also learned that it took Mr. Small a whole year to walk 40 miles! How much slower than you does Mr. Small walk? How much slower than Mr. Tall does Mr. Small walk?

  1. Mr. Rush

Mr. Rush has a new job delivering express letters. He can deliver twice as many letters, in half as much time, as the former postman, who used to deliver 60 letters in his 8-hour shift. He is paid 50¢ per letter delivered. Each day, Mr. Rush does an 8-hour shift, working as much as he can to save for his beach holiday. How long will it take him to earn $1200? Mr. Rush is so good at his job that he is given a pay raise while he is on vacation. After his holiday, he is paid 70¢ per letter. How many 8-hour shifts must he work to save $5000 to buy a new car?

  1. Little Miss Princess

Little Miss Princess was all mixed up. She tried to buy sausages at the bakery, peas from the butcher, and bread at the Green Grocery. She got everything wrong because she had spent her whole life living as a princess, and she had never had to do anything for herself. Poor Little Miss Princess! Even though she did not know which shop sold what, it did not have to be this way. She might have bought the right items, from the right shops, just by chance. She might have guessed right. What is the probability that she would have brought sausages from the butcher, bread from the bakery, and peas from the Green Grocery?