Peanuts by Charles Schulz for May 04, 2021

The answer is four. You don’t have to move the three math books anywhere. You simply have to move the four science books around the three math books which are kept together as a single unit. And you move the science books around the math books one book at a time.

720

I head would hurt too figuring out the answer too, sir…. I mean Peppermint Patty.

Peppermint Patty never had the brain power to solve the simplest problems, did she? ;/

The librarian would add alphabetical order, series order if any, age group for school textbooks, height, and quite possibly Dewey decimal and/or Library of Congress specifications. It’s not all about units.

Phobia alert! Phobia alert! Get the smelling salts.

Peppermint Patty has math anxiety.

I didn’t get the punch line. What did she mean by “DEFENSE! DEFENSE!”? Is it a sports term?

Is this really a problem for a six year old (the age usually given for Peanuts characters)?

Why is she yelling “DEFENSE! DEFENSE!”? This isn’t like the second half of a basketball game!

I got five

Whenever I hear “Defense” on the TV and it’s a team that I’m rooting against, I usually yell back “Offense”…

It’s four. Four ways.

Math is for losers.

Looks like Patty stumbled into a class on Discrete Math?

Easy. The answer is one: get somebody else to do it.

Problem solved.

Word problems are to show practicality. But how is this useful.

This question is irrelevant as the answer is simple. One. They would all be categorized by their placement on the Dewey Decimal System, meaning there is only one way to arrange them.

42. Go, and May the Fourth be with you.

It depends.If the order of the math books, and the order of the science books, does not matter: five (either 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 science books to the left of the math books).If the order does matter: 720 (for each of the five placements, there are 6 ways to arrange the math books, and 24 ways to arrange the science books).

It’s 720. Look at it this way. There are 5,040 ways to arrange 7 unique books on a shelf (7!). Of these, 720 would have the 3 math books together.

I hate questions like this. The unhandled exceptions are night countless: 1) Does the order of the math books count in the number of iterations? 2) How about stacking versus placing upright? 3) How about combinations of stacking and placing upright? 4) Regarding #3, does placing a stacked math book next to an upright one count? 5) How about placing front-to-back? 6) Does rotating books count? (Laying on side, placing the spine to the rear, or even placing them diagonally?) 7) How about leaning the books in some fashion? - Some idea of restriction needs to be explicit in the question because I can place books on a shelf in countless ways. What amount of deviation counts as different?

M = math book

S = science book

Combinations:

SSSSMMM

SMMMSSS

SSMMMSS

SSSMMMS

MMMSSSS

Do you count them if they are set up vertical or horizontally? Some sitting on the top of the stack, or some sitting underneath a stack? Spines facing in or facing out? Sorted by color, or by size?

Or you could arrange by size, or alphabetically, or by color…

The answer is 5. 3 math, 4 science; 1 science, 3 math, 3 science; 2 science, 3 math, 2 science; 3 science, 3 math 1 science; 4 science, 3 math.

Wizard of Ahz-no relation: That’s assuming that all the math and all the science books are the same ( m1 and s1) but if they are m1,m2,m3 and s1,s2,s3,and s4, then the answer is 720.

Math was invented to mess with young minds, PP!

Too many

The problem specifies that the books are on a “library shelf”. Perhaps that makes it more likely than not (no guarantees, though) that the math books are three different math books an the science books are four different science books? In that case, the answer 720 seems best, and we are left to wonder why an elementary-school student was given such a difficult problem. On the other hand, on a “classroom shelf” perhaps it is more likely that the three math books are three copies of “the same” math book (we’ll ignore what a students might have scribbled in them to make them distinct, because of course that never happens), and that the four science books are four copies of “the same” text; in that case the answer 5 would be well justified, and appropriate for someone Peppermint Patty’s age.

And of course we have overlooked the possibility that perhaps one book is purely a math book, two books are purely science books, two books are about both math and science, and two books are about, say, politics and do not address either math or science. (This turns out not to affect the answer for this particular problem, but still.)

All of which goes to show that it is very difficult to write clear word problems. Unfortunately, exceptionally clear word problems don’t win Pulitzer prizes, so most of them are written by perhaps not the most highly skilled authors.

I think Peppermint Patty is just gonna book it out of there…

Just reading this cartoon makes me sweat…

No it is actually fiveYou and the science books on the left or right side there’s 2ways- and then three book on the side two which books on the side one on on the sideBelow is math table proving itmmmssssssssmmmsmmmssssmmmssssssmmms

NOBODY CARES!!

bonzai boobaloo!