In Case You’re Ever Asked
Last night when I went into 5yo Drake and 3yo Guppy’s room to turn out the light before 11, Drake was still awake, though punchy. (Damn you, Daylight Savings Time!) He was on the bottom bunk, Guppy’s bed, using the pillow at the top to prop up books while poor sleeping Guppy was curled up sideways at the end of his bed.
“Time for bed,” I said in my best Voice of Authority.
“But, Mom,” he said, pointing to a page in Richard Scarry’s Best Storybook Ever.
“What is it?” I asked.
“How many is this?” he said, gesturing to the illustration of a group of wives, cats and kits in sacks coming from St. Ives.
“It doesn’t matter. Bed.” I said, trying to maintain the VoA in spite of rising frustration and desire to get into my own bed.
“But, Mom. How many?” He was plaintive.
I tried to wiggle out by spoiling the punchline. “One. Only one is going to St. Ive’s. All those cats are coming FROM St. Ives.”
Drake kept woozily pointing at the page. “But seven cats, and sacks, and kits…”
“A lot,” I snapped. “There are a lot, and I’d need a calculator, and I don’t have one. Get off Guppy’s bed. Get in your own.”
“I want to figure it out,” he begged.
“We’ll discuss this tomorrow. Get in bed.”
Finally, he listened and did what I said. I moved Guppy back to his pillow, then left the room.
The next morning, in typical fashion, Drake shoved a calculator and the book at me. I shoved the calculator back.
“OK, One man. Plus 7 wives. Plus seven wives times seven sacks times seven cats. Plus seven wives, times seven sacks, times seven cats times seven kits. Hit equals. What do you get?”
(I didn’t think we should count the sacks, only the man, his wives, the cats and the kits.)
He showed me the display with a grin. Two thousand seven hundred fifty two, he crowed. Finally satisfied, he went on to play with Legos.
So there you are, folks. If your kid ever holds you hostage at 11pm and won’t get off his sibling’s bed, you’ll know the answer to how many are coming from St. Ives. 2,752.
You’re welcome.
(If you’re going to verify my math, be sure you have a calculator that does order of operations. You remember: MDAS, My Dear Aunt Sally Multiplication and Division first, then Addition and Subtraction. Don’t know how to tell? Key in 2 + 3 X 2. A good calculator will give you 8. A cheap one will give you 10.)
March 12th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
LOL - I will keep that in mind - I have a very inquisitive child or two around here.
March 14th, 2009 at 11:53 am
LOL Yes, JediBoy wanted to figure this out too - from the Jack Kent version - but I think we did include the sacks.
March 16th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
I’m going to have to go back and calculate sacks. It’s in the poem even though sacks are beings as are the others. Sigh.
March 16th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I was always told it was “PLEASE my dear aunt Sally.” You forgot “Plus.”
March 17th, 2009 at 7:24 am
The P is correct, but it’s for parentheses, not plus. I’m glad you mentioned this, as I’d thought of it later. But a good calculator that does these orders of operations will treat multiplication and division as if they’re in parentheses, and thus actual parens will trump them