[pct-l] Brian in Big Bear........

[TOKTAADN@aol.com (TOKTAADN@aol.com)]

In a message dated 5/8/2001 7:58:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
howie@jschool.troyst.edu writes:

> I can remember sitting
>  in the Pub at the Inn at the Long Trail eating my third hamburger of the
>  third day of my stay there.

Hiker math -- my specialty!  OK, here are the possibilities, based on the 
sketchy info provided (just like all math word problems hatched by sadistic 
math teachers):

A.  The problem mentions only three hamburgers, so the answer must be THREE

B.  Howie was there three days, so he must have eaten three hamburgers each 
day, so this is obviously a multiplication problem, where three times three 
equals NINE, the number of hamburgers Howie ate during his stay.

C. But his trail name is HUNGRY HOWIE and he had a huge appetite after 1500 
miles, so this obviously is an exponential problem, so three to the third 
power equals EIGHTY-ONE hamburgers!

Obviously C. is the correct answer.  Now be honest.  How many of you got 
sucked in by all that completely extraneous info about Brian Robinson and the 
college kid hiking 30 miles a day?  That stuff was just put in there to lead 
you astray from the correct answer.  Pay closer attention next time!  :)

For those of you who got the answer wrong, your assignment is to calculate 
the net vertical elevation gain on a northbound thruhike starting on April 26 
and ending on October 2 during a high snowpack year.

Smile!

Professor Solar Bear