Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Groceries in Bandar Seri Begawan



This bottle holds 875 ml of body wash. It cost $6.40. 

A smaller bottle of 450ml cost $4.30. In Brunei there is no taxes. Also one can use Singapore currency here. 

What's the original volume of the $6.40 bottle given that 20% of it is free?

Without the free 20% is the bigger bottle still better value for money than the smaller bottle?

Location | The Mall in Brunei

in Seoul

in Helsinki

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Pop Art in Jakarta



Pop Art at Pullman Hotel

How many art pieces need to be commissioned to fill the rooms and hallway of the hotel? 

It has 43 rooms per floor and 12 floors of guest rooms. Each room has two art pieces with 18 more lining the corridor of each floor. | Jakarta

Penang

Peabody

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Pecan Pie in Houston

I found this in my hotel in Houston which incidentally houses Singapore Airlines crew when they are in between flights to and from Moscow.

5 cups each of pecan, corn syrup, sugar and butter are available. Using this recipe, how many pecan pie can be made and what ingredients are left over and by how much?

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Tangrams in Kansas City



I found these on the walls of Westin Crown Center. I wonder if there are others on other floors?

What other shapes can you make using these two squares and four triangles given that each shape has at least one line of symmetry?

Phoenix

Scottsdale

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Yummy in Las Vegas


$9.95 for a box of 4
$18.95 for a box of 7
$29.95 for a box of 12
$36.95 for a box of 16

Comment on the way this shop at The Venetian price it's macaroons.

Location | The Venetian

Monday, July 6, 2015

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Monday, May 25, 2015

BTS in Bangkok

The BTS is god-sent and probably made Bangkok more tourist-friendly than say Jakarta or Manila that do not have a mass transit system.

If you stay in a hotel near a station, just hop onto a BTS and travel to Phaya Thai Station to catch the Airport Link. 

That way your travel time to the airport is not subjected to traffic conditions and taxis that fly at break-neck speed. I got to the airport 45 minutes and for less than B100.

Five friends, after a movie, went their separate ways. Each of them paid a different fare and, together, their fare is an even number of baht. Explain if this is possible.

Number sense can be developed and assessed using anchor tasks / items like this one. 

Location | National Station BTS Station in Bangkok  

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Play in Penang


Yang weighs 43 kg less than his uncle.
Together, they weigh 76 kg.
How much does Yang weigh?

Location | Youth Park

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Statues in London


Statues and monuments are common in the historic city of London.

Develop a mathematical model for best view of a statue. Your model should comprise of an equation to suggestion the best location to stand to view a statue of a certain height x placed on a pedestal of a height h. 

Location | Buckingham Palace in London

Monday, April 20, 2015

Football Club in Cardiff


Cardiff City F.C. played in the Premier League for the first time in 2013-14 season. At the end of that season, Cardiff City F.C. finished 20th, collecting only 7 wins and 30 points. In soccer, a win earns a team three points and a draw, one point. No point is awarded for losses. 

Which of the following questions can be answered without using information other than those given?

(a) How many times did it draw in that season?
(b) How many times did it win in that season?
(c) How many times did it lose in that season?

Location | Cardiff City F.C.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Shoe Shine in Chicago


At the rate of $6 for shoes and $8 for boots, how much could the shoeshine man make from polishing shoes and boots (excluding tips)? I heard four travelers arguing. 

Anne thinks that the amount has to be a multiple of 6 and 8. Ben thinks it has to be s multiple of 6 or 8. Cheryl thinks it has to be a multiple of 14. Dan thinks it can be any number. Who is/are correct? 

Location | O'hare Airport 

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Statues in Bangkok

At 39.5 cm, this piece of art is exquisite. But it is not in any museum. It was impounded by a Samut Prakan police station and is now sitting in some storage place in another province. I wonder what's the story.

There are five rows of smaller Buddhas forming the base. 11 statues on the lowest base and one fewer in each successive steps. How many smaller Buddhas make up the base? What if the height of the entire work is doubled by keeping the height of the largest Buddha and increasing the height of the base - how many small Buddha statues are needed on the lowest step? 

Location | Siam Paragon, Bangkok

Prayers in Osaka



Friday, April 3, 2015

Homes in Ridgefield

Many of the homes lining Main Street of Ridgefield have cones and pyramids sitting on cylinders and prisms. 

Monday, March 9, 2015

Waterfront in Alexandria

Each of these poles has a diameter of 2 units and the distance between successive poles is 15 units. There are 8 poles. How long is the platform?

If the platform is 150 units long, and the same poles are used, what should the distance between two successive poles be if it has to be beyween 10 units and 15 units and the distance between poles must always be equal?

Location | Marina at Waterfront in Alexandria VA

Tomatoes in Stamford

Did you know that President Jefferson introduced tomatoes to Americans. It was previously thought to be poisonous. In this supermarket in Stamford CT, I saw these rather large tomatoes. Each pound costs $2.49. How many tomatoes weigh a pound? How much does a bag of 3 lbs tomatoes cost?

Based in Stamford, I travelled to the towns where I presented - Weston, Bedford, and Danbury and Greenwich and Westport the following week. 

Location | Stop & Shop, Stamford CT

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Juice in Frankfurt (Transit)

Estimate the percentage, to the nearest percent, of the different fruits in each of the three smoothie (purple, pink and yellow) where the relative amount of the different fruits is shown.

Location | Frankfurt International Airport 

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Blessings in Penang

In this Thai temple in Penang, locals like to light a candle for blessings.

Each of thaws long table hold 102 rows of candles with 11 candles in each row. How many candles can each table hold?

The candles are in the shape of pineapple because the name of the fruit is homonym to the phrase 'luck comes' in Hokkien, the local dialect.

Location | Wat Buppharam in Penang

Congkak in Cebu


At the start of a game of congkak (the Filipino name) is the same as the Malay name) - congkak mean mental calculation - there are seven seeds in each hole. The game is played by putting a seed in each hole including your home which is the big hole to your left. The best strategy involves ending with the last seed in your home. This allows you to select any hole on your side to start. 

By naming the hole 1 for the first from your home, which hole must 21 seeds be for you to have the last seed in your home?

Location | An old family home from 1675 in Cebu 

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Hero in Jakarta

Apples at IDR257,950 per box in a local grocery store in Jakarta. Find the total amount paid for 4 of these boxes. How many apples are there in these 4 boxes? 

Mrs Ratna wanted to repackage these into bags of 4 apples as gifts for relatives. How many bags can she get from 4 boxes?

As the Chinese in Jakarta prepare to celebrate Chinese New Year, stores in the Chinese area are filled with red-colored goodies. To think that celebrating the lunar new year was not allowed not too long ago, Indonesia seems to have changed somewhat in the last few decades. 

Location | Ciputra Mall in Jakarta
 

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Airline Lounge in Manila

The Singapore Airlines lounge in Manila is still under renovation since it moved into Terminsl 3 last year. 

This cup arrangement was seen in the lounge.

In a 4-cup high arrangement, the base is 3 x 5 cups. How many cups are there in a 5-cup high arrangement?

Location | Manila International Airport

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Art in London

This is extracted from A View from Iden (1929) by Paul Nash. 

This painting has several elements that suggest all was not well with repainted. Noticed the shadow of the pile of wood hunch represents fallen humanity.

The pile has 25 pieces in the bottom row and it is stacked up 15 rows tall. 

How many pieces should there be in the top row if each row has one fewer than the row just below it?

When the number of pieces of wood in each pile is one less than the number of pieces of wood in the row just below it, how many pieces should there be in the pile in the painting?

Location | Tate Britain in London



Saturday, January 10, 2015

Crocodiles in Davao

At D'Bone Museum, you will see bones and fossils of a lot of animals, many native to Davao. This crocodile's head is displayed with the number of teeth (3600) it shed by the time it was 14 years old, according to the guide.



Each of crocodile's 80 teeth is replaced 50 times during its life span which is about 35 to 70 years, according to Wikipedia.

Using these two pieces of information, what can you say about the rate of teeth replacement in a crocodile as it grows older? Check on the internet if your conclusion based on the given information is true or otherwise.

Location | Davao, The Philippines


Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Statues in Siem Reap


When I visited Wat Bo, these statues were still being put in place. They lined a path that is made up of two straight sections joined by a little curve. The path leads to a Buddhist cemetery. 

Each statue stands on a 40-cm long base and the distance between adjacent statues is 80 cm. the path comprises two straight sections. The first section comprises 28 statues (in pairs) and the second section comprises 54 statues (also in pairs). Find the length of each of the two straight sections, giving your estimate to the nearest meter.

Location | Siem Reap, Cambodia