Idaho Society of Professional Engineers
Friday Update – 12/01/06
UPCOMING EVENTS:
• December 5, 2006 –
ISPE Southwest Chapter
Noon Meeting (Please note that this is a change from the usual meeting
date. The November and December meetings are being combined for this meeting.)
• January 6, 2007 –
Idaho Future City
Competition – Boise State University, Boise
• February 3, 2007 - Northern
Chapter
MATHCOUNTS Competition -
Lewiston
• February 5, 2007 – Deadline for
submissions of 2007 ISPE Award
Nominations
• February 6 – 10, 2007 –
Idaho Society of Professional Land
Surveyors Conference - Coeur d' Alene Casino - Worley, Idaho
• February 10, 2007 - Southeast
Chapter
MATHCOUNTS Competition –
Pocatello
• February 13, 2007 - Northern
Chapter
MATHCOUNTS Competition –
Coeur d’Alene
• February 24, 2007 - Southwest
Chapter
MATHCOUNTS Competition -
Boise
• March 10, 2007 – State
MATHCOUNTS Competition –
Boise State University, Boise
• March 22 & 23, 2007 –
ISPE 2007 Annual Meeting –
Oxford Suites, Boise
• May 11, 2007 – National
MATHCOUNTS Competition –
Convention Center, Fort Worth, Texas
NSPE has recently partnered with Chase Education Finance Services to enable
members to consolidate federal student loans into a single, lower-interest loan
through the Student Loan Consolidation Program, a federally guaranteed program
established by Congress to help student borrowers manage the burden of student
loans.
This program enables anyone with more than $7,500 in outstanding Federal student
loans (including PLUS loans) to reduce monthly student loan repayments and lock
in a low fixed interest rate.
Visit nspe.slcp.com, or call (800)
832-5109 to learn more about consolidating your student loans today.
A range of products dealing with consulting start-up to essential communication
skills for engineers are currently on sale. Further information can be found in
November’s PE magazine or on the
NSPE Web
site.
Discounted items include:
Engineer Your Way to Success (2011-A) $10.00
Essential Communication Skills for Scientists, Engineers, and Tech.
Professionals (5500) $16.95
Engineering Your Start Up (5402) $24.95
Flying Solo (7200) $27.95
Glass Ceiling (2232) $19.95
Just Added! IEEE Career Asset Manager (CAM)
$10.00
MATHCOUNTS PROBLEM OF THE WEEK
Can you solve this MATHCOUNTS problem? The answer will appear in next week's
edition of the Friday Update!
Holiday Sales
A department store advertises that all of its CDs are on sale at 35% off their
regular price. However, if you use the store’s coupon this Saturday, you will
get an additional 15% off. Norm and Sara explore different ways this information
might be interpreted.
Norm says the purchase price is 35% + 15% = 50% off the original price. Sara
disagrees and says the purchase price is 35% off the original price and then 15%
off the sale price. The regular price of the CD they plan to buy is $13.99.
Which interpretation of the advertisement leads to the least purchase price?
What is the positive difference between Norm’s purchase price and Sara’s
purchase price?
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The Shopwise Market advertises 12 to 22-pound frozen turkeys for $1.19 per
pound. However, the turkey is free if a customer spends at least $100.00 on
other groceries. Norm spends $100 on other groceries and gets a free 22-pound
turkey. Sara spends $90 on other groceries and buys a 22-pound turkey. What is
the positive difference between the amount of money Norm spent and the amount of
money Sara spent to get their groceries and turkey? (Assume there is no sales
tax taken into account in these problems.)
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The Speedy Market advertises 12 to 22-pound turkeys for $0.19 per pound with a
minimum $25.00 purchase of other groceries. Otherwise, turkeys are $2.11 per
pound. The same groceries that cost Norm $100.00 at Shopwise Market can be
purchased at Speedy Market for only $80.00 since Speedy Market has lower prices.
What is the total cost of these groceries and a 22-pound turkey at Speedy
Market?
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What percent of Norm’s total cost for the groceries and 22-pound turkey at
Shopwise Market could be saved by purchasing the same groceries and turkey at
Speedy Market? Express your answer to the nearest whole number.
Answer to last week’s MATHCOUNTS problem:
To have majority control of the House a party needed at least 218 seats. If the
Democrats held 201 seats, they needed to gain 218 − 201 = 17 seats. There were
435 − 201 = 234 remaining seats. This results in 17 ÷ 234 = .0726495... Rounding
to the nearest whole percent gives 7%. However, we see 7% of 234 is 16.38 seats,
which is not enough to gain majority control. It is necessary to round up to the
next nearest whole percent, or 8% to assure enough seats were gained. 8% of 234
is 18.72 seats.
________________________________________
If the Democrats held 44 seats, they needed to gain 51 − 44 = 7 seats to get to
the desirable 51 seats. There were 33 − 17 = 16 possible seats for the
Democratic Party to win. This is 7 ÷ 16 = 0.4375. Rounding to the nearest whole
percent gives 44%. We can see 44% of 16 is 7.08 seats, which is enough to gain
majority control. Checking 43% of 16 is 6.88, which is not enough.
________________________________________
The number 229 is a prime number so a is 229. The prime factorization of 201 is
3 ×67 so b is 3. Therefore, a × b = 687.
________________________________________
Some reasoning eliminates many possibilities for the value of x. The value of x
cannot be odd since 229 minus an odd number and 201 plus an odd number are both
even. Then a and b are both 2 resulting in 2 × 2 = 4. We are told that 25 is the
product of a and b which are the least prime factors of two numbers. For a × b
to equal 25 both a and b must be 5. Therefore we are looking for a pair of
numbers whose least prime factor is 5. When x is 4, (229 − x) is 225 and (201 +
x) is 205. Though 5 is a prime factor of 225, the least prime factor of 225 is 3
so x is not 4. The next possibility is when x is 14. Then (229 − x) is 215 and
(201 + x ) is 215. The prime factorization of 215 is 5 × 41. Now a and b are
both 5 and a × b is 25, so the value of x is 14.
If you want to see last week's problem again, click
http://www.mathcounts.org/webarticles/anmviewer.asp?a=933&z=107
Idaho Society of Professional Engineers
PO Box 170239
Boise, ID 83717-0239
208-426-0636
Fax: 208-426-0639
E-Mail: ispe@idahospe.org
Web Site: www.Idahospe.org
Idaho
Society of Professional Engineers
