Math quiz

The attention to detail in Peanuts is truly amazing. Schroeder’s scores are authentic, the trivia and general knowledge are accurate, and the math problems are actually solvable. Try your hand at the following mathematical Peanuts quiz.

1. “Keep in mind that a numeral stands for a certain number of objects. Now, when you count, what you are doing is matching elements one-to-one with a set of counting numbers. In a set of numbers the last numeral matched to that set is the cardinal number.” Whose explanation of “new math” is this?

2. Peppermint Patty couldn’t solve the following math problems. Can you do better?

2a. A man has a daughter and a son...the son is three years older than the daughter. In one year the man will be six times as old as the daughter is now, and in ten years he will be fourteen years older than the combined ages of his children. What is the man’s present age?

2b. A library shelf contains seven books. Three books are math books and four books are science books. Problem: In how many ways may the books be arranged on the shelf so that all the math books will be together?

2c. A man has twenty coins consisting of dimes and quarters. If the dimes were quarters and the quarters were dimes, he would have ninety cents more than he has now..how many dimes and quarters does he have?

2d. In driving from town A to town D you pass first through town B and then through town C. It is 10 miles farther from A to B than from B to C and 10 miles farther from B to C than from C to D. If it is 390 miles from A to D, how far is it from A to B?

3. After meeting 5, Linus asked Charlie Brown, “If we all had numbers instead of names, what number do you think you’d like to have?” What was Charlie Brown’s reply?

4. What proposed explanation for banning The Six Bunny-Wunnies Freak Out from the school library led Sally to quip, “In that case, they should also ban my math book!”?

5. Who said, “Nothing spoils numbers faster than a lot of arithmetic!”?

6. “ ‘Two times two is four..three times three is nine.’ That’s all we learned today..that’s not enough. What if I have four cows, and I want to buy each cow four bags of feed, how many bags do I buy? How would I know?” Whose complaint was this?

7. Who said, “Over the years I’ve learned a few things,” including the fact that x²/36 - 9y⁴ = (x/6)² - (3y²)² = (x/6 - 3y²)(x/6 + 3y²)?

8a. What did Schroeder give odds of a googol to one against?

8b. How much is a googol?

9. Who, surprisingly enough, knows how to “rationalize the denominator”?

10. Which two kids sometimes mention their trouble with fractions while waiting for the bus?

Answer Key List of Quizzes Fun Stuff

Back to Timothy Chow's Homepage