A history of maths lessons

[Mick Cliff]

Teaching maths in 1970

1. A logger sells a truckload of timber for £100.
His cost of production is 4/5 of the price.
What is his profit?

2. Teaching Maths In 1980
A logger sells a truckload of timber for £100.
His cost of production is 80% of the price.
What is his profit?

3. Teaching Maths In 1990
A logger sells a truckload of timber for £100.
His cost of production is £ 80.
How much was his profit?

4. Teaching Maths In 2000
A logger sells a truckload of timber for £100.
His cost of production is £80 and his profit is £20.
Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

5. Teaching Maths In 2005
A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and
inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the
preservation of our woodlands. Your assignment: Discuss how the birds and
squirrels might feel as the logger cut down their homes just for a measly
profit of £20.

6. Teaching Maths In 2009
A logger is arrested for trying to cut down a tree in case it may be
offensive to Muslims or other religious groups not consulted in the felling
licence. He is also fined a £100 as his chainsaw is in breach of Health and
Safety legislation as it deemed too dangerous and could cut something. He
has used the chainsaw for over 20 years without incident however he does not
have the correct certificate of competence and is therefore considered to be
a recidivist and habitual criminal. His DNA is sampled and his details
circulated throughout all government agencies. He protests and is taken to
court and fined another £100 because he is such an easy target. When he is
released he returns t o find Gypsies have cut down half his wood to build a
camp on his land. He tries to throw them off but is arrested, prosecuted for
harassing an ethnic minority, imprisoned and fined a further £100. While he
is in jail the Gypsies cut down the rest of his wood and sell it on the
black market for £100 cash. They also have a leaving BBQ of squirrel and
pheasant and depart leaving behind several tonnes of rubbish and asbestos
sheeting. The forester on release is warned that failure to clear the fly
tipped rubbish immediately at his own cost is an offence. He complains and
is arrested for environmental pollution, breach of the peace and invoiced
£12,000 plus VAT for safe disposal costs by a regulated government
contractor.

Your assignment: How many times is the logger going to have to be arrested
and fined before he realises that he is never going to make £20 profit by
hard work, give up, sign onto the dole and live off the state for the rest
of his life?

7. Teaching Maths In 2010
A logger doesn’t sell a lorry load of timber because he can’t get a loan to
buy a new lorry because his bank has spent all his and their money on a
derivative of securitised debt related to sub- prime mortgages in Alabama
and lost the lot with only some government money left to pay a few million
pound bonuses to their senior directors and the traders who made the biggest
loss es.
The logger struggles to pay the £1,200 road tax on his old lorry however, as
it was built in the 1970s it no longer meets the emissions regulations and
he is forced to scrap it.
Some Bulgarian loggers buy the lorry from the scrap merchant and put it back
on the road. They undercut everyone on price for haulage and send their cash
back home, while claiming unemployment for themselves and their relatives.
If questioned they speak no English and it is easier to deport them at the
governments expense. Following their holiday back home they return to the UK
with different names and fresh girls and start again. The logger protests,
is accused of being a bigoted racist and as his name is on the side of his
old lorry he is forced to pay £1,500 registration fees as a gang master.

The Government borrows more money to pay more to the bankers as bonus's are
not cheap. The parliamentarians feel they are missing out and claim the
difference on expenses and allowances.
You do the maths.

8. Teaching Maths 2017
أ المسجل تبيع حموله شاحنة من الخشب من اجل 100 دولار. صاحب تكلفة الانت=D 8ج
من
الثمن. ما هو الربح ل ه؟

[KS]

Worryingly true...

[carreracat]

perhaps the last bit should read:

日志记录器为£100卖货车木材。他的生产成本是价格的4/5。什么是他的赢利？

[porscheman]

Absolutely brilliant observation. Can I assume you're snowed in in Selby at the moment and so have plenty of time on your hands writing this years DDK joke book?

[Mick Cliff]

Can I assume you're snowed in in Selby at the moment and so have plenty of time on your hands...

Nope, I'm in the Philippines, away from all the crap weather
No cars to play with, no tools, nowt to do, except watch the builders making a new house..... in the rain .... the warm rain
One has to amuse oneself somehow

[porscheman]

Green with envy here in snowbound York.

[mark020]

Painfully true. As is: this could happen in the Netherlands as well.