Math Tales - How Figures Lie

Here's a what your boss could possibly tell you if you were to ask for a raise.


How Figures Lie

A young fellow had worked for a grocer for seven years and got married, when
it behooved him to ask the boss for a raise; so the latter (who was the original
inventor of the wooden nutmeg) began to do a little figuring.

"You see," he pointed out to his clerk, "there are 365 days in a year and
you work 8 hours a day, which makes 121 1/2 days; then there are 52 Sundays and
subtracting these leaves 69 1/2 days. There are 13 legal, 2 race, and 1 circus days,
and taking these away 54 1/2 days are left."

"You have 1 hour for lunch every day which, summed up, makes 14 days
and this leaves 40 ½ days. Every Saturday afternoon you get off to bury your
grandmother or help a maiden aunt hang pictures and this makes 25 1/2 days and
leaves 14 days. Then I have to give you a vacation of two weeks every summer
and this takes up the other 14 days. As the store is losing money I can't give you
the raise anyway. Good-night."


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Something extra:


Thirteen Six Times in Twelve


To perform this curious operation in figures write down the following numbers:
1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12

Now by adding the first and last numbers together you will have

1 + 12 = 13
2 + 11 = 13
3 + 10 = 13
4 + 9 = 13
5 + 8 = 13
6 + 7 = 13
Thus with twelve numbers you get 13 six times