Phantom Lake Math Challenge
March
Problem Solving with the Seuss
The Phantom Lake Math Challenge is an open invitation to have fun solving problems at home with family. It’s an
opportunity for students to discover different ways to approach problems and a chance for students to share their
math thinking and ideas with others. Anyone can participate. Choose the problem that fits your math
ability/interest. These problems are generally in an order of increasing difficulty (A-L). Please submit your answer
using the response form attached. You should turn in one form for each problem you solve. Feel free to showcase
your creativity and design a poster or chart to show your work as well. Sometimes acting out problems and using
objects can help students develop a deeper understanding of the problem. Please put the letter or title of your
problem, your first and last name, and your teacher’s name on the form when you submit it. All solutions are due
to Mrs. Gaylord by Friday, March 31, 2017. Bring your completed form(s), charts, and posters to your teacher.
Students who successfully complete the challenge with the correct answer and an explanation of their
mathematical thinking will receive a certificate and their name listed in the PTA newsletter. Happy problem solving!
A. 20 Sneetch Children
Altogether, exactly 20 Sneetch children live on the beaches. How many might be Star-Belly Children, and how
many might be Plain-Belly children? What if there were 10 Star Belly children; how many Plain-Belly children
would there be?
B. Mr. McBean’s Fortune:
The Sneetches spent all their money going through Mr. McBean’s star-on and star-off machines. It costs $3 to
go through the star-on machine and $10 to go through the star-off machine. How much did it cost a Sneetch
to go through both the star-on machine and the star-off machine one time?
C. The Zax: 59 days, 59 years
The Zax are all about 59! Just like the Sneetches, the Zax certainly wasted a lot of time arguing. One of the Zax
threatened to stand there for 59 days, and the other Zax, for 59 years! 59 is an interesting number. Can you
use blocks to represent 59 as groups of 10’s and 1’s? Can you find another way of representing 59 with groups
of 10’s and 1’s? Hint: Think about how many 10’s are needed to make 50. Now think about how many 1’s are
needed to make 9.
D. Too Many Daves’ Brilliantly Big Bunkbeds
Mrs. McCave had 23 sons called Dave. Mrs. McCave and her sons called Dave all slept on 3 gigantic bunk beds,
all of which were the same size. How many people slept on each of the bunk beds? Draw a pictures to show
what it would look like. Hint: Remember, the bunk beds are the same size, so there are the same number of
people on each bed. Get some blocks to help you figure out the problem. Remember, you will need 23 blocks
for the Daves and 1 block for Mrs. McCave.
E. How Many Sneetches
How many Sneetches are on the beaches? Altogether, 101 Sneetches lived on the beaches. At the beginning of
the story, there were more Star-Belly Sneetches than Plain-Belly Sneetches. How many Star-Belly Sneetches
were there? How many Plain-Belly Sneetches? What if there were exactly 17 more Star-Belly Sneetches than
Plain-Belly Sneetches? How many of each type of Sneetch lived on the beaches?
F. Mr. McBean’s Fortune
The Sneetches spent all of their money going through Mr. McBean’s star-on star-off machines, and
Mr. McBean got very, very rich. Even the poorest Sneetch on the beach, who went by the name of
Snuffles and kepts its money in cash under its mattress, spent $780! All of the Snuffle’s money was
kept in $10, $20, and $50 bills. What might its stash of money have looked like? What if Snuffles had
only $10 bills? How many $10 bills would it have? What if it had only $20 bills? How many $20 bills
ould it have?
G. Getting older and Grumpier:
The stubborn standoff between the Zax began on May 17, 1894, and it was 59 years and 59 days
later that Dr. Seuss decided to put pen to paper and tell the story of the Zax. What year did Dr. Seuss
write the story? Hint: Think of how many years passed between 1894 and 1900. How many more
years until 59 years would have passed?
H. Killing Time in a Brickel Bush:
The character in the “What Was I Scared Of?” story was so frightened of those pants that he hid in a
Brickel bush for a very long time indeed. In fact, he climbed into the bush at 6 p.m. on a Sunday
night and did not come out again until 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday night. How long did he have to spend
hiding in the Brickel bush? Hint: By 6 p.m. Monday, how long had the character spent in the Brickel
bush?
I.
How Many Sneetches 2
How many Sneetches are on the beaches? Altogether, 101 Sneetches lived on the beaches.
At the beginning of the story, more than 1/2 of the Sneetches were Star-Belly Sneetches
and more than 2/5 were Plain-Belly Sneetches. How many of each type of Sneetch might
there have been? What is the fewest number of Star-Belly Sneetches there could have been?
J.
Mr. McBean’s Fortune 2
The Sneetches spent all their money on Mr McBean’s star-on and star-off machines, but they also
wasted a lot of their time as well. It takes 1 minute to line up and go through the star-off machine
and 1 minute to line up and go through the star-on machine. If the poorest Sneetch on the beach
had $780, how much time would it spend going through the machines? The richest Sneetch on the
beach spends exactly 1 week going through the machines. How much money did it have to begin
with? Hint: in 2 minutes, a Sneetch will go through both machines and spend $13. How much money
would it spend in 1 hour?
K. Getting Older and Grumpier 2
Just like the Sneetches, the Zax certainly wasted a lot of time arguing. One Zax threatened to stand
there for 59 years! This turned out to be almostly exactly right. At the time Dr. Seuss wrote his book,
the Zax had spent 60 years arguing with each other about who had the right of way. When they first
began arguing, the South-Going Zax was half the age of the North-Going Zax. By the time 60 years
had passed, the South-Going Zax was ¾ of the age of the North-Going Zax. How old were they when
Dr. Seuss wrote his story?
L. Pick a Peck of Snide
The snide-field in the story is 9 miles wide. Imagine the snide-field is square in shape. How many
feet long is each side? What is the perimeter and area of the snide-field, expressed in miles? Can
you express the perimeter and area of the snide-field in square feet? Hint: Remember, a mile is
5,280 feet.