What Did You Do Last Summer?Back to Ron's Puzzle Page!
The first day of school is always interesting. Bobby had heard about Mr. Lestor C. Matthews, and today he was going to find out just why his new math teacher has such a reputation.
In the middle of his desk Mr. Matthews had something covered with a black, silk-like cloth. Bobby was sure it was over a foot tall, but it was harder to guess the width and depth. Like most everyone else he started thinking, "OK, what's going on here?"
Once every one was seated Mr. Matthews quietly walked over to the door and closed it. Then while slowly walking around the room he spoke.
"Welcome back to school. My name is Mr. Matthews. I hope you'll enjoy this math class. For some of you it's going to be an easy year, for others it's going to be tough. For those of you who need it, I'll be here to help. And to keep everyone interested, I'm going to try and show you how math can be both useful and fun."
Then, slowly, he walked over to his desk. In a fairly loud voice he said, "Over the summer I collected pennies." As he said that Mr. Matthews pulled away the cloth, revealing a large jar filled nearly to the top.
In a lower, mischievous voice he continued, "You learned a lot of math last year, but I'm willing to bet you've forgotten most of it. How much am I willing to bet?"
Beep! He started the timer on his watch. "You've got five minutes to determine how many pennies I collected." Then with a small grin on his face, he said, "The first one to correctly calculate the number of pennies"-- then he paused for several seconds--"gets to keep them!"
Now with a straight face he continued, "If you divide the number of pennies by two, you'll have one left over. If you divide it by three, you'll have two left over. The same pattern holds true up to the number nine, in which case you'll have eight left over."
He was now sitting in his chair. "I will give you a small hint. There are multiple answers to the math problem. But I'm not giving away any more money than I have to."
Can you calculate how many pennies Mr. Lestor C. Matthews collected?
Solution to What Did You Do Last Summer?!