Are You Smart Enough to Finish 6th Grade Math Homework

If two wrongs don't make a right, try three. ~Author Unknown

Thank goodness Brian understands Math a hell of a lot better than I. Ty came home last night and started right in on his "only 5" problems. They're learning to work problems backwards. It wasn't too long until we sat that aside had an early dinner than then off to football practice. I played Bunko last night (winner of most Bunkos - 3 winning $32, thank you!) and came home to find Ty in bed and Brian at the table struggling with the last problem. He asked me to look at it and not to look at his nor Ty's answers.

Dave and his dad go to the circus. Walt decides to count all the animals. 1/2 were elephants, 1/4 were big cats, 1/8 were camels, 1/16 were horses and 8 monkeys. How many animals of each. And how many in total.

sidebar - LOL!!! Too funny Stac, I cannot believe your post was about the VERY same thing. I FEEL your pain. I already knew I was going to write about this before reading yours!!! I too, think there are misprints on these sheets and do not give all the information (as Tyler had a 'Sara' problem night before last). And Ty rarely gets to bring home a text book for the very same reason you give. Err.! I bought some Scholastic "Everything you need to know about _____ homework", they cover Math, English, Science, World history and American history - they cannot get here soon enough! They also have other books available for parents re: homework help. We also learned that Ty leaves his Math class early to go to the Learning Center for his reading. (Bri is bringing that up at conference! so tell K not to feel too bad - other parents speak up too! :))

SO, back to the problem. Brian was thinking on a college level doing all these equations and I was looking at it on an elementary level. It's been 17 yrs since I've taken a Math class and haven't looked back since. So low and behold, I (yes I - not Bri) figured it out! Made me feel REALLY good. We got Ty out of bed, to write his work down and as we have him doing that - we noticed - I too was wrong!!! ERR!!! Ty goes back to bed and Bri and I continue to look at it. After an hour, I gave up and went to bed, Bri stayed up a little longer trying to work it out. I feel asleep thinking about it, as Bri did too! This morning Bri tells me the answer is out there on the counter. I asked if he got up in the middle of the night to do it and he said while he was in bed thinking about it - it came to him. (only an hour later!) OK, so it FINALLY was solved and I was on track with my thinking, just slightly off.

HERE is MY challenge to you - Can you solve the problem? All the info is there. Mom, need not to reply - I know you know as we've already discussed! ; ) I'll post the answer later.

Peace