Question

Dear Mitch,

With just a few days remaining before our school breaks for the Christmas holiday, I was wondering if you could post one last group of math questions with a Christmas theme that would be fun but not so challenginng that the students end up getting frustrated right before vacation.

Happy Holidays,

Mrs. Beckham

High School and Middle School Math Coordinator

Answer

Dear Mrs. Beckham,

Sure!

How about these:

1) A local bakery is running a special holiday offer.  For every five Christmas cookies a customer purchases, the customer receives one additional Christmas cookie for free.

Mrs. Hockenfoffer and her lovely daughter Fluffy learn about the offer and rushed right over to the shop to load up on cookies.  They had a very nice time shopping and left the store with a total of 54 cookies.  If they spent $22.50 on the cookies, and -- other than the ones given out for free for the holiday promotion --each cookie in the store was priced equally, what is the price of one Christmas cookie in that bakery?

2. At the holiday dance hosted by the local high school, there was one adult chaperone for every nine students.

I) How many people could have been at the dance altogether?

A) 106

B) 107

C) 108

D) 109

E) 110

II) What portion of the people at the dance were chaperones?

A) 1/8

B) 1/9

C) 1/10

D) 1/12

E) 9/10

3) An antique Christmas ornament was on sale and reduced by 20%.  If its newly reduced price is $100, its original price must have been:

A) $110.00

B) $120.00

C) $122.00

D) $122.50

E) $125.00

4) If another sale included Christmas trees, and a 20% discount represented a savings of $50.00, how much was that tree's original price?

A)  $ 60.00

B)  $ 80.00

C) $150.00

D) $200.00

E) $250.00

I will post more problems (and answer each of the above) before school begins this Monday, but for now, I hope these help!

Happy Holidays,

Mitch