2. Mark’s Winter Vacation Math Curse 10 Horrifying Math Problems By Mark H. 10 Horrifying Math Problems By Mark H.

3. Dedication I dedicate this book to my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Weissman. She helped me realize and appreciate the fact that we use math in our everyday lives. She also helped me discover that math is an essential and important skill to know.

4. Problem One I was at my grandma’s house for Christmas and we had a cake. There were eight people there, and we all got equally sized pieces. Two people had second slices, also. Half of the cake remained. The diameter of the cake was 8 in. What was the area of ONE slice of cake? Answer Choices B: 10.048 in 2 C: 5.024 in 2 D: 3.14 in 2 A: 2.512 in 2

5. Problem Two I was looking at the cost for photos at Walgreen’s on the day of a special sale. You could buy one photo for 12 cents if you bought 25 or more. You could buy one photo for 11 cents if you bought 50 or more. You could buy one photo for 10 cents if you bought 75 or more. If you were to buy 225 photos, what would your total cost be? Answer Choices A: $7.50 B: $20.45 D: $18.75 C: $22.50

6. Problem Three I was driving from one place to another based upon a Yahoo! map. According to the map, the distance was 32.47 miles, and the travel time was 51 minutes. What is the average speed the map shows the car going, in miles per hour? Answer Choices A: 43.8 mph D: 47 mph C: 1.57 mph B: 38.2 mph

7. Problem Four I was building a snow fort with my backyard neighbor. We were building it four layers high. Each layer was 6 and a half inches high. The dimensions of the snow fort were 8 blocks by 10 blocks, and each block had a length of 1 foot. What was the volume of the inside of the snow fort in inches? Answer Choices A: 287,660 in 3 D: 2,080 in 3 C: 299,520 in 3 B: 184,220 in 3

8. Problem Five It took my friend and me about 25 minutes to clear out the space inside of the snow fort. It took us about another 25 minutes to build the first layer. If we slowed down by 5% each layer, and we had four layers to do, about how many minutes did it take to build the snow fort, rounded to the nearest hundredth? Answer Choices A: 107.75 min. C: 128.75 min. B: 122.75 min. D: 132.75 min.

9. Problem Six I was wondering what year it would be when I graduate high school. I’ll be 11 when I graduate 5th grade. Knowing that in January thru September, the year is my age plus 2,000, find out what year it would be when I graduate high school, based upon my age. Answer Choices A: 2017 C: 2019 B: 2018 D: 2020

10. Problem Seven At the airport, we paid to park at the lot for 3 days. If the fare was $17 per day, how much did we end up paying when we got back? Answer Choices A: $47 C: $45 B: $54 D: $51

11. Problem Eight At the airport, our plane was scheduled to take off at 7:04 pm. It got delayed and ended up taking off at about 10:00. How long was our flight delayed? Answer Choices C: 3 hrs, 36 min. B: 3 hrs, 16 min. D: 2 hrs, 46 min. A: 2 hrs, 56 min.

12. Problem Nine When my family was in Nashville, we stopped for a snack at a restaurant in the Hilton. We ordered tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole. My dad also ordered a Diet Coke. The tortilla chips were $9.99 and the Diet Coke was $1.99. Tax is 9.75%. However, the waitress messed up and gave us a check for about $9.00. How much cheaper was this bill compared to what it should’ve been? Answer Choices C: $4.18 B: $5.15 D: $5.18 A: $4.15

13. Problem Ten At the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, there are three different packages you can buy. There is the general admission to the museum, the gold package, and the platinum package. The gold package includes general admission and an audio tour. The platinum package includes general admission, the audio tour, and a tour of Studio B, a historic recording studio. We wanted to know the best deal. General admission is $19.99 for adults and $11.95 for children. The gold package is $21.99 for adults and $14.99 for children. The platinum package is $29.99 for adults and $21.99 for children. Buying the audio tour by itself is $5 and buying the Studio B tour by itself is $12.99 for adults and $10.99 for children. How much cheaper are the gold and platinum packages compared to general admission with the add-ons for my family (two adults, one child)? Answer Choices C: Gold: $7.96 Platinum: $21.93 B: Gold: $7.96 Platinum: $6.93 D: Gold: $7.04 Platinum: $18.73 A: Gold: $7.04 Platinum: $24.03

14. About +he Author Mark Heymann is a student in 5th grade at Braeside School in Highland Park, IL. Math is his favorite subject, and he loves doing everyday math. In his free time, Mark likes to read, discover new ways to use the computer, and play outside. Mark currently lives with his mom and his dad in their house in Highland Park.

15. Mark’s Winter Vacation Math Curse But one day, he woke up and went downstairs. As he nervously reached for the Cheerios box, he discovered that he wasn’t forced to figure out the percentage of daily calories one serving contained. He wasn’t even forced to find out the percentage of daily calories TWO servings contained. And that ended it. He was happy as a clam. That is, until school when English came by. The teacher said, “You know, you can turn any situation into a novel.” You know, you can turn any situation into a novel.