Fun With Math, Word Problem
The Haywards are remodeling their bathroom. The contractor promises that he and his assistant, Ernest, can do the job in fifteen days. Ernest works three times as fast as the contractor. On Day Two, Ernest is stricken with an itchy mosquito bite and cannot work. The contractor hires Stan and Oliver, who together can work one-fourth as fast as Ernest worked. Stan and Oliver put the toilet in upside down. The resulting flood spreads to the kitchen. The contractor says that redoing the kitchen and replacing the drowned cat will take six times as long as the bathroom. The contractor fires Stan and Oliver and employs a team whose religious habits permit them to work only on days that begin with the letter “W.” The first day on the job, the team works ten times as fast as the contractor. Every day thereafter, it works half as fast as the day before. The Haywards divorce. Mrs. Hayward is institutionalized. Will the bathroom be painted by the time Mrs. Hayward gets out of the hospital?
Answer: Yes, but when she sees that it is painted Winter Green
instead of Green Winter, she will check herself back in.
“Work With What You Got!”
© Victoria Hart Glavin Tiny New York Kitchen © 2015 All Rights Reserved
