p.112 (38) The number of passengers carried by Aer Lingus for the year ending March 31st was 167,349, and increase of 14,716 over the previous year. What percentage increase does this represent?
We should be able to figure out what year that was!
By comparison, they carried 8 million in 2008.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Free Meals
p. 97 (11) The total cost of free meals supplied to 160 children in this district was £138 6s. at 2.14d per meal. For how many days were the children supplied with these meals?
(1£=20s., 1s.=12d.; d. was the symbol for penny, from the latin denarius.)
When I was in Primary School, in the 50's, most of the kids lined up at lunchtime and marched to the Town Hall for a free lunch. As a trademan's son, I had to go home to dinner instead. They got thick slices of white bread with margerine, and cocoa. I got meat, vegetables and potatoes, and tea. I would have loved to go with them, but it was forbidden by the rigid social stratification. Mom occasionally made me some cocoa, as compensation. I did not miss the margerine, which was truly awful in those days: the trick was to dip the bread in the sweet cocoa.
(1£=20s., 1s.=12d.; d. was the symbol for penny, from the latin denarius.)
When I was in Primary School, in the 50's, most of the kids lined up at lunchtime and marched to the Town Hall for a free lunch. As a trademan's son, I had to go home to dinner instead. They got thick slices of white bread with margerine, and cocoa. I got meat, vegetables and potatoes, and tea. I would have loved to go with them, but it was forbidden by the rigid social stratification. Mom occasionally made me some cocoa, as compensation. I did not miss the margerine, which was truly awful in those days: the trick was to dip the bread in the sweet cocoa.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Champagne versus Whiskey
The Christian Brothers aimed to prepare us for life:
p.108 (15) If whiskey is 60% alcoholand champagne 11% alcohol, how many pints of champagne would be necessary so as to supply the same amount of alcohol as a quart of whiskey?
A quart is 2 pints. That's quite a lot of whiskey.
p.108 (15) If whiskey is 60% alcoholand champagne 11% alcohol, how many pints of champagne would be necessary so as to supply the same amount of alcohol as a quart of whiskey?
A quart is 2 pints. That's quite a lot of whiskey.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Unsubsidised tea?
p.107 (6) If 1 lb. of unsubsidised tea costs 5/6, how many francs would buy 1 kilogram? (Ans. to nearest whole franc). (1 Kilogram=2.2 lbs.; 1097 francs=£1).
What? What was subsidised tea?
For youngsters: 5/6 means 5 shillings and 6 pence.
What? What was subsidised tea?
For youngsters: 5/6 means 5 shillings and 6 pence.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Student Nurses' Pay
Page 107, problem (3): The following is a newspaper advertisement for student nurses: 1st year £ 230; 2nd year £ 240; 3rd year £ 255 with deduction of £ 100 per annum for board. What is the average annual net income of each nurse for the years in question?
(I see that the HTML for the pound symbol is £. Every day we learn a little, or increasingly, perhaps, re-learn.)
(I see that the HTML for the pound symbol is £. Every day we learn a little, or increasingly, perhaps, re-learn.)
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Seventh Class Arithmetic, 1949: Read it and weep.
The book is "Arithmetic for Sixth and Higher Standards", by The Christian Brothers. Gill and Son. Dublin. Bears no date, but internal evidence puts a lower bound of 1949 on the date.
The Christian Brothers never signed their books, individually. All were treated as the work of the community.
This copy seemed to belong to a James Hall, from Inchicore.
I'll blog a problem, perhaps regularly. The authors appear to have taken some care to use realistic numbers, so the volume has much to tell about wages, commercial practice, and even priorities and attitudes.
107(7) (Page 107, number 7): A man with two sons in a day-school and 2 in boarding school, can just pay the total school fees from the yearly interest he receives from a certain investment. If the half-yearly fee in the day-school is 8 guineas per pupil and the yearly fee in the boarding school is 93 guineas per pupil, find the amount of the investment at a rate of 4 and a half percent.
(For younger readers, wishing to understand these prices, a guinea is 21 shillings, 20 shillings make a pound, and the pound became 1.27 euro in 1999. To be precise, the pound became (1/0.787564) euro. Of course, this information is unnecessary for the solution of the problem. On the other hand, the solution may be puzzling if you don't know that a shilling is 12 pence.)
The Christian Brothers never signed their books, individually. All were treated as the work of the community.
This copy seemed to belong to a James Hall, from Inchicore.
I'll blog a problem, perhaps regularly. The authors appear to have taken some care to use realistic numbers, so the volume has much to tell about wages, commercial practice, and even priorities and attitudes.
107(7) (Page 107, number 7): A man with two sons in a day-school and 2 in boarding school, can just pay the total school fees from the yearly interest he receives from a certain investment. If the half-yearly fee in the day-school is 8 guineas per pupil and the yearly fee in the boarding school is 93 guineas per pupil, find the amount of the investment at a rate of 4 and a half percent.
(For younger readers, wishing to understand these prices, a guinea is 21 shillings, 20 shillings make a pound, and the pound became 1.27 euro in 1999. To be precise, the pound became (1/0.787564) euro. Of course, this information is unnecessary for the solution of the problem. On the other hand, the solution may be puzzling if you don't know that a shilling is 12 pence.)
Monday, March 12, 2007
Carrowkeel
On Saturday, I collected George Huxley at Buswells at 07:55, or so, to drive him to Collooney (really, to have a long chat along the way). An Goban Saor says that a story shortens the way, but the National Development Plan played no small part. I'd not been up to Sligo for several years, and was somewhat bemused to reach the Shannon at Rooski by half-past nine. His appointment was for 11:30, so we settled down at the hotel with tea and toast for an hour or so, before continuing.
Collooney has a fine-looking river (Owenmore?), and a splendidly vertical parish church high above it.
I'd thought of opening the book on the 2007 trout season, but the weather, fine in the East, like the very dawn of creation, had turned foul when we came to the Shannon. Heading back, I decided to stop to view the Carrowkeel megalithic passage-tombs. There is some seriously-misleading signposting (which is the main point of this blog). My advice is to park the car and walk when you reach the sign that says the tombs are 1km away. That way, you can't drive up the wrong dirt-track and get stuck in the mud, as I did.
I ended up two km from that point, on top of a ridge, in mist, gale and and rain, utterly stuck, with the drive-wheels dug in to the axels. But God is good. I had waterproof clothing (for fishing), so trotted out in reasonable comfort, met some amiable tourists from Colorado, walked up the right way and inspected four tombs (two with exceptionally-fine chambers), and got a lift back to the nearest farm. This proved to belong to the wonderful and great-hearted Mr. Haendel ("like the composer") and his family, who dropped everything, got out the tractor, and came back up,the mountain to haul me out
of the bog. Did my heart good to meet such people!
One tomb has no visible passage. The others are all oriented towards 300 magnetic. Possibly midwinter sunset, or simply towards Knocknarea?
Collooney has a fine-looking river (Owenmore?), and a splendidly vertical parish church high above it.
I'd thought of opening the book on the 2007 trout season, but the weather, fine in the East, like the very dawn of creation, had turned foul when we came to the Shannon. Heading back, I decided to stop to view the Carrowkeel megalithic passage-tombs. There is some seriously-misleading signposting (which is the main point of this blog). My advice is to park the car and walk when you reach the sign that says the tombs are 1km away. That way, you can't drive up the wrong dirt-track and get stuck in the mud, as I did.
I ended up two km from that point, on top of a ridge, in mist, gale and and rain, utterly stuck, with the drive-wheels dug in to the axels. But God is good. I had waterproof clothing (for fishing), so trotted out in reasonable comfort, met some amiable tourists from Colorado, walked up the right way and inspected four tombs (two with exceptionally-fine chambers), and got a lift back to the nearest farm. This proved to belong to the wonderful and great-hearted Mr. Haendel ("like the composer") and his family, who dropped everything, got out the tractor, and came back up,the mountain to haul me out
of the bog. Did my heart good to meet such people!
One tomb has no visible passage. The others are all oriented towards 300 magnetic. Possibly midwinter sunset, or simply towards Knocknarea?
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