Problem-Solving Poll: What’s Your Answer?

[Photo by Alex E. Proimos via flickr.]

Patrick Vennebush, author of Math Jokes 4 Mathy Folks (the book and the blog) wants to know how you and your children would answer a tricky math problem.

He’s taking a poll:

I have often heard that, “Good teachers borrow, great teachers steal.” So today, I am stealing one of Marilyn Burns’s most famous problems. She takes this problem to the streets, and various adults give lots of different answers. When I’ve used it in workshops, even among a mathy crowd, I get lots of different answers, too.

What’s your answer?

“A man buys a truck for $600, then sells it for $700. Later, he decides to buy it back again and pays $800 dollars. However…”

Go to Patrick’s blog to read the whole problem and submit your answer. Let everybody in the family try it!

Update: Patrick posted the solution and percentages correct for students of various ages.