[SOC] Sennight

Sat, 6 Sep 2003 20:05:57 +0100

Hi Jan,

Thank the Lord for the internet. The last two had me floored. I question,
however, what place such problems have in ALGEBRA. And, if the question is
complete, there's no spec. for what units the answer's required in.
Fortnights? Lustra?

Paul ;-)

p.s. Pedant that I am, millennium has two 'en's. Your error or the sod who
set the question? ;-)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jan" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, September 06, 2003 7:24 PM
Subject: [SOC] Sennight

> I found his Algebra book, Paul. Here is the question and the foils.
> This man must be a sadist:
>
> "24. Each of the words below stands for an interval of time. How long is
>      the interval?
>
>       a. decade       b. century           c. millenium
>       d. fortnight    e. sennight          f. lustrum"
>
> These are 11-12 year olds. My wife and I have 42 years of education
between
> us. When we saw "e" and "f" we just stared at each other with our jaws
agape.
>
> The first line we could handle and both of us knew what "fortnight" was,
even
> though it is archaic in Yankish (as opposed to contemporary Brit or Oz...
> I don't know about modern Canuck, do you guys use it up there?).
>
> This is the third kid to get to the point of making me anticipate
humiliation
> as he asks for help with his math. His sisters each got to this point a
little
> earlier in their education. I had hoped to wait a little longer with him.
> Ah, well....... the joys of aging. 73 Jan N0AAA #389
>
>
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