Things I Learned While Reading This Summer (1998)
(and will use to develop problems for my class) by Dick Sietz
First published in FACTORIAL, a publication
of the Detroit Area Council of Teachers of
Mathematics, Vol. 30, No. 1.
Reprinted in the VIRGINIA MATHEMATICS TEACHER, Volume 25, No.2, Winter 1999
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One in 6000 first novels gets published.
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80% of U.S. households have no connection to the
internet.
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16.25 million miles of fiber optic cable was
installed in 1996.
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Nerve impulses travel 300 feet per second.
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The farthest an electric car has traveled on one
charge is 373 miles.
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9% of December's electric bills go toward Christmas
lights.
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Tiger stadium has the deepest center field at 440
feet.
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Almost 60% of American households buy chewing gum.
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The yearly U.S. consumption of chocolate is 12
pounds per person.
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There are 300 chemicals contained in chocolate.
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$3 billion of bagels were sold in 1997.
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Bags of coffee beans that come from the fields
weigh 132 pounds.
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Every mile a normally inactive person walks will
add 21 minutes to their life.
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According to Fitness magazine, the average
nurse walks 2.4 miles per day.
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15% of the $400 billion grocery business will be
done on the internet by the year 2000.
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The goods in an average house weigh between 7000
and 8000 pounds.
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Webster's Collegiate Dictionary is on laser disk
and it took an actor 140 hours to say the words.
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Each year there are 35 million doctor visits
related to ear infections.
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Every year, 75 percent of all toys are new-meaning
newly designed that year.
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Today's typical toy costs $20, which means it
wholesales for $14, and is made for about $5.
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Ford Motor Company uses enough recycled pop
bottles in their cars to cover a lake of 400
acres.
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A simple silk-denim jacket by fashion designer
Prada costs more than $850.
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The movie "Dumb and Dumber" grossed $340 million
worldwide.
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The cells in the maximum-secu(ity ADX prison are 8
ft. 8 in. by 12 ft. 3 in.
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The average size of a teenager's room is 10 ft by
11 ft.
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El Nin-o has slowed the rotation of the earth and
lengthened the day by a microsecond.
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The 3-D image of Michelangelo's 'Pieta' will take
80 gigabytes worth of hard drive space.
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Forty-four BILLION? pieces of mail were sent on
April 15,1998.
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It takes 300 gallons of water to make one computer
chip.
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One dandelion can produce 300,000 other dandelions
during one summer.
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This year Old Navy will add 120 outlets to the 321
the company already operates.
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Last year teenagers spent $85 billion dollars on
themselves.
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The average teenage boy spends 20 minutes a day
looking at his hair.
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There are about 30 million teenagers in the United
States.
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In January, eleven of the European Union's fifteen
nations will adopt a single currency.
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There are now 91 Hard Rock Cafes in 31 countries.
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15% of Kodak's sales are in Asia and these sales
are down 14% this year.
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The Wealth of Nations cost $7.99 when published in
1776. In today's dollars it would cost $615.38.