26. Two and one more.
(12) Ambiguities and falsities.—Consider the ambiguities and false reasoning of these problems.
1. If you can earn 4 cents a day, how much can you earn in 6 weeks? (Are Sundays counted? Should a child who earns 4 cents some day expect to repeat the feat daily?)
2. How many lines must you make to draw ten triangles and five squares? (I can do this with 8 lines, though the answer the book requires is 50.)
3. A runner ran twice around an 1⁄8 mile track in two minutes. What distance did he run in 2⁄3 of a minute? (I do not know, but I do know that, save by chance, he did not run exactly 2⁄3 of 1⁄8 mile.)
4. John earned $4.35 in a week, and Henry earned $1.93. They put their money together and bought a gun. What did it cost? (Maybe $5, maybe $10. Did they pay for the whole of it? Did they use all their earnings, or less, or more?)
5. Richard has 12 nickels in his purse. How much more than 50 cents would you give him for them? (Would a wise child give 60 cents to a boy who wanted to swap 12 nickels therefor, or would he suspect a trick and hold on to his own coins?)
6. If a horse trots 10 miles in one hour how far will he travel in 9 hours?
7. If a girl can pick 3 quarts of berries in 1 hour how many quarts can she pick in 3 hours?