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To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (130004)	8/13/2001 4:19:37 PM
From: H James Morris	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

SB, I'd rather a ceo who obsesses over business than spending 5 days a week pumping their stocks at investment banker seminars. Btw The point of algebra is figuring out whether to take the 10-pound box of $100 bills or the 100-pound box of $10 bills--before whoever offered it has second thoughts. Algebra is the kind of math you use to figure out what you don't know using pieces of information that you do know. It's my favorite kind of math, because each algebra question is a little mystery, and I like mysteries. (I also had a great algebra teacher. What makes a great teacher?) The mystery here is what each box of bills is worth. Want to Learn More? Get the facts about money and then take our money quiz. Need help with your algebra? Still need help? Ask a math expert. Want to make $67 billion a year? Want to search for a class that would help you get you closer to making $67 billion a year? To calculate that, multiply the weight of the box (in pounds) by the denomination of the bill, then multiply this by the number of bills per pound. At this point, we don't know how many $10 bills and how many $100 bills make up a pound. But we won't worry about that yet. Here are our equations: 10 x 100 x the number of bills per pound = value of 10-pound box of $100 bills 100 x 10 x the number of bills per pound = value of 100-pound box of $10 bills If you're sharp, you notice that each equation has 10 x 100 of the mysterious number of bills per pound. Whether you have ten 100s or a hundred 10s, you've got the same thing--1,000. So, all we need to know is how many of each denomination make up a pound of bills, multiply that by 1,000, and we'll have our answer. Where do you find out things like how many bills there are in a pound? With most things, the best way to find information is to go to the source. The United States Treasury prints money. (And if you didn't know that, you could always ask a librarian. They know lots of things.) The U.S. Treasury Web site will teach you, in their facts and trivia section, that all bills weigh the same regardless of denomination. What this means is that we can quit our algebra exercise right now, because we've already determined that the value of the money is 1,000 x number of bills per pound. But who wants to quit so close to the finish line? We should know how much money we're getting, right? The site also says there are 454 bills in a pound. So, if we have 10 pounds of $100 bills, we have 10 pounds x $100 x 454 = $454,000. Now, since we already know the 100-pound box of $10 bills is worth the same (because 10 pounds x $100 is the same as 100 pounds x $10), we can stop, put our pencils down, and wait for someone to hand us all that money. The real question is, how long do you suppose we'll have to wait for that to happen?