Friday, October 5, 2012

Joe and Wife

I have a math word problem for you:

Joe and his wife are retired and decided to go on a fabulous trip to Alaska. Because they are retired they're a little closer to relocating to the cemetery than most of us, but they have years of wisdom behind them. Joe and his wife attend a popular tourist attraction in Fairbanks, Alaska, where they are dropped off by a 45 ft. motor coach.

There are 21 other large motor coaches in the vicinity. All of them either coming or going. If Joe and his wife walk directly in front of a motor coach without bothering to
a) look to see if the coach is about to move
b) look to see if there's a driver frustrated that dumb tourists won't move out of her way or
c) notice that they are, in fact, in front of a 46,000 pound metal beast; how long will it take before Joe and his wife relocate their retirement home to the cemetery?

 There are actually 3 possible answers for this question (I didn't say this was normal math).
1) Joe and his wife will not die because the bus will hit Marge and her husband who are closer to the front of the bus than Joe and his wife.

2) Joe will die, but not by being hit by the bus, because the bus driver is responsible and courteous and doesn't feel like having a death on her hands. Joe will die because he ate too much salmon at the Salmon Bake the night before.

3) Joe will almost die, but be saved by the cushioning of his billowing nose hairs. His wife will almost die, but the motor coach will be stopped by the absurd amounts of souvenirs that say "Alaska" (but were made in China).

Thank you, Joe and wife.


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