Who doesn't love the story Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss. For those of you who aren't familiar with this particular tale, Horton the elephant takes on the task of protecting tiny creatures living on a dust speck that he has placed on a clover.
At one point in the story, a bird steals the clover from Horton and drops it over a very large clover field at 6:56 a.m. Ever the faithful protector and true to his promise to save them, "Because, after all, a person's a person, no matter how small," Horton begins the enormous task of searching for the lost clover.
But clover, by clover, by clover he found
That the one that he sought for was just not around.
And by noon poor old Horton, more dead than alive,
Had picked, searched, and piled up, nine thousand and five.
1. At this rate, estimate how many clovers Horton picked each minute.
2. Approximately how many seconds did Horton spend on each clover?
For each of the above answers, round to the nearest whole unit.
The story continues
Then, on through the afternoon, hour after hour...
Till he found them at last! On the three millionth flower!
You need only choose one of these questions to answer:
A. If Horton continued at the rate you calculated above without pausing, how long would it take him to reach the three millionth flower? Be sure to answer this question in a way that makes sense (in other words, don't give an answer like 72 hours when 3 days would give us a better sense of how long this is).
or
B. In the story it seems that Horton finds the clover later the same day. If he continued picking from noon until he found the clover at six o'clock that same evening, approximately how fast would he have to work?
This weeks POW is fun,
Comprehensive answers will be done,
Incomplete answers are not fine,
Nor is just having the "answer" in mind,
Working in partners will do
But don't post until your answer is true. :-)
Dr. Suesseckman
Solution:
1. At this rate, estimate how many clovers Horton picked each minute.
a. 30 clovers per minute
2. Approximately how many seconds did Horton spend on each clover?
a. 2 seconds per clover.
You need only choose one of these questions to answer:
a. If Horton continued at the rate you calculated above without pausing, how long would it take him to reach the three millionth flower? Be sure to answer this question in a way that makes sense (in other words, don't give an answer like 72 hours when 3 days would give us a better sense of how long this is).
a. It would take Horton about 10 weeks of non-stop picking to get 3 million clovers.
or
b. In the story it seems that Horton finds the clover later the same day. If he continued picking from noon until he found the clover at six o'clock that same evening, approximately how fast would he have to work?
a. 8,308 clovers per minute to finish by 6:00 pm.
