Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for February 03, 2020

I hope Calvin is getting help for his drinking.

And the answer is 15 miles.

I love Tracer Bullet!

Always pulling out the big guns, aren’t they?

yay,it’s Tracer Bullet ! now I’ve got the theme to ’ Peter Gunn ’ going through my head.

Why are you asking me? If you know so much about Jack and Joe, why don’t you know how far apart their homes are? I don’t care.

The last few weeks RIP HAYWIRE was doing a private eye spoof too.

Not to far because Joe drove Jack off the road, the end.

I always hated word problems in math.

You play detective in a pop quiz. I wish I could do that

I wonder how many readers could not go on with their day without working this out – to answer that little voice of insecurity telling them that they don’t remember anything from their school days. I know I am one of them.

If he struggles with 5+4 then this one is gonna be above his pay grade.

Only in Cartoonland do they ask 6-year-olds to solve problems like this when they won’t even learn to multiply or divide for another year or so….

and probably haven’t gotten to “borrowing” in subtraction.

They may figure it out for the sake of the joke…but next week will go back to not being able to solve “what is 26 minus 9?”

So glad I’m no longer in school! God, how I HATED those kinds of math problems!

15 miles, but you’d better check Susie’s answer.

Back in the day when I was in school, we had the same problem except that it was trains and one of them left Pennsylvania Station at 3:45 PM bound for Baltimore. I never understood why until https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XQybKMXL-k

Jack is moving at 60 MPH. Joe is moving at 30 MPH.

What time is it in Bora Bora?

Calvin is so easily distracted.

I have not lead a sheltered life and I swear I have never, ever had to figure out one of those stupid questions in real life.

This is First Grade math?

0. The answer is zero because neither Jack nor Joe went anywhere that day. They decided to stay home and watch TV.

Well, Jack was a Dallas Fan and Joe loved the Packers…so pretty far, really.

Tracer has a bottle of whiskey, a gun, two bullets and playing cards on the table. He’s concentrating hard while smoking up the room. The baffling case doesn’t stand a chance.

Hey, as long as it gets Calvin to the right answer…

Wow, accelerated learning. Algebra in first grade.

Or as Douglas Adams would have it: 42

When I pick up medication, my pharmacist assistant asks me if I have any questions. I used the trains leaving Chicago and New York just once. Now they ask me if I have any questions that the pharmacist can answer.

WHAT “satanic force” would even GIVE such a problem to a first grader! There are high school Algebra students that would struggle with that problem. I suffered through algebra! I was one of them!

Seems a little advanced for elementary school

I think I remember these kind of math problems. But I remember a lot of things that might have happened to me when I was daydreaming in class too. “Rock on” Calvin

Please show your work.

Closing speed is 60+90 = 90mph10 minutes @ 90 mph = 10/60 * 90 = 15 miles

I sucked at arithmetic, did OK at algebra, did well at calculus, and was outstanding at differential equations. My usual nonconforming pattern.

60 mph is 1 mi per minute + 30 mph = .5 mi per minute is 1.5 mi per minute X 10 minutes = 15 miles

Algebra in what, first grade?

“The dame seeking answers was big and had white hair and glasses – just like every other grandmother in this dark and grimy city…”

This is a variation on a famous humorous anecdote about the math wizard John Von Neuman. His immediate answer gave the impression that he knew the shortcut way of solving it rather than summing the infinite series. He said No; that he indeed summed the series! Google Von Neuman anecdote.

What kind of road? gravel with two lanes.. or one of those interstate where the lanes may be miles apart.. Too many variables to figure this out. Did one go thru the drive thru at McDonald’s…was there a lineup.

My answer to this: in my entire adult life and up through retirement I have NOT ONCE had to calculate a problem like this. I’m sure some folks do… but some folks climb Everest. All through school they taught stuff like this… but not once did they ever teach me how to fill out an income tax form or a myriad other things that would have come in handy throughout life. I really don’t care who the 12th President of the Unites States was and don’t believe I should A) Be required to memorize such nor appreciate that B) Part of my grades were based on such ‘priceless’ information.

The main problem with the education system is it really doesn’t prepare people for everyday life and instead teaches us useless trivia we’ll never need… ever.

That’s my dwagon soapbox for the day. I stickin’ to it unless someone bribes me with pie.

the kid is gonna be a rocket scientist

Wow one day he’s being asked to add 3+2, the next day he’s getting an Algebra word problem you might see on the SAT. No wonder he hates school.

The most baffling part of the question is why is the United States the only major country that still does not use the metric System?

14.925

He’ll need more than a PI if they tell him to factor in acceleration.

Maybe the math question needs to be personally relevant:

If Hobbes throws a snowball at Susie at 60 Mph, and you throw one at Susie at 30 mph, how far from Susie do you both need to be to hit her simultaneously?

So glad someone else solved this. I’m not quite awake enough yet.

Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy. Film Noir! Is the ‘Dame’ that shows up with a ‘mysterious package’ and a ‘story’ to go with it going to be Suzy Derkins??? “Stay Tuned!”

It occurs to me that nowadays, newspapers would get complaints for showing a six-year-old smoking with a whiskey bottle and a revolver nearby. Even if it’s all in his head.

Why are so many people eager to point out that they hate the study of how numbers behave?

I have never understood why so many people hear “word problem” and have their brain freeze up. Most word problems are actually pretty straight forward. Unlike real world problems which require you to make several guesses before you can even get started…

I think you can file this under Common Bore… ZZZZZZZZZ

They both made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs.

This problem seems a bit too complex for first graders.

You can’t be sure about distance, because Jack was stopped for doing 60 in a school zone. You need to figure in the time it takes for a police officer to complete the background check on the vehicle and driver, write the ticket and possibly lecture Joe for being so irresponsible. There may also be other circumstances involved here. For example, Joe may be 92 years old and has a tendency to drive very slowly. Just sayin’. Hiring the detective is the best possible way to solve this dilemma.