February 2017
Problem of the Month

A Painted House

On page three of John Grisham's novel, A Painted House, he states,
"The distance from our farm to town was fewer than eight miles,
but at thirty-seven miles an hour, the trip took twenty minutes."

What is wrong with that sentence?   Be specific!   Use algebra.

Solution to the Problem:

If he traveled at thirty-seven miles an hour and it took twenty minutes,
then he must have lived 12.33 miles from town, (and not fewer than eight miles as he states).



Martin Round pointed out that Steinbeck should have used "less than" instead of "fewer than" as a distance isn't really a countable quantity
(for example the distance might be Pi miles, or the square root of fifty miles.

Correctly solved by:

1. James Alarie	Flint, Michigan
2. Martin Round	Studley, Warwickshire, West Midlands, United Kingdom
3. Anna Tetzlaf and Eliza Sheffield	Tuscaloosa, Alabama
4. Jim Hooker	Johnson City, Tennessee
5. Brijesh Dave	Mumbai city, Maharashtra, India

Send any comments or questions to: David Pleacher