Ice Cream on Wheels
How many ice creams and popsicles does a truck sell in a day? Well, it depends where the truck goes. From our own experience, at a park a truck can unload 20-30 treats to one crowd. If the truck finds 10 good places like that, it can sell 200 to 300 bars that day.
Remember, around 100 years ago we didn’t even have ice cream trucks. But in 1913 the electric freezer was invented, and in 1920 Harry Burt figured out how to coat ice cream in hardened dark chocolate. Suddenly people could sell ice cream from trucks. The driver pays less for the ice cream than he/she sells it for, so that’s how the driver makes money – and that’s where the math comes in.
Wee ones: Lots of ice blocks look like rectangles. How many sides does a rectangle have? Is the floor of your room a rectangle?
Little kids: If a driver sells 4 ice creams and 2 popsicles, how many treats is that? Bonus: If he sells an orange popsicle, then a lemon, then a cherry, then orange, lemon, cherry…what flavor is the 11th popsicle?
Big kids: If they keep selling orange, lemon, cherry, then orange to repeat, what flavor is the 25thpopsicle? See if you can get it without counting up! Bonus: If the truck sells twice as many treats at the second stop as at the first, and sells 60 total, how many did it sell at each stop?
The sky’s the limit: If the driver buys each treat for $1, which way will make more money, selling 20 of them for $5 each or 30 of them for $4 each?
Answers:
Wee ones: 4 sides.
Little kids: 6 treats. Bonus: Lemon.
Big kids: Orange, since it’s the first treat in a new set of 3. Bonus: 20 treats, then 40 treats.
The sky’s the limit: Selling 30 of them for $4. In the first way, selling them for $5 will make $4 extra on each, so 20 treats make $80. Selling for $4 will make only $3 on each, but 30 of those will make $90 total.
Remember, around 100 years ago we didn’t even have ice cream trucks. But in 1913 the electric freezer was invented, and in 1920 Harry Burt figured out how to coat ice cream in hardened dark chocolate. Suddenly people could sell ice cream from trucks. The driver pays less for the ice cream than he/she sells it for, so that’s how the driver makes money – and that’s where the math comes in.
Wee ones: Lots of ice blocks look like rectangles. How many sides does a rectangle have? Is the floor of your room a rectangle?
Little kids: If a driver sells 4 ice creams and 2 popsicles, how many treats is that? Bonus: If he sells an orange popsicle, then a lemon, then a cherry, then orange, lemon, cherry…what flavor is the 11th popsicle?
Big kids: If they keep selling orange, lemon, cherry, then orange to repeat, what flavor is the 25thpopsicle? See if you can get it without counting up! Bonus: If the truck sells twice as many treats at the second stop as at the first, and sells 60 total, how many did it sell at each stop?
The sky’s the limit: If the driver buys each treat for $1, which way will make more money, selling 20 of them for $5 each or 30 of them for $4 each?
Answers:
Wee ones: 4 sides.
Little kids: 6 treats. Bonus: Lemon.
Big kids: Orange, since it’s the first treat in a new set of 3. Bonus: 20 treats, then 40 treats.
The sky’s the limit: Selling 30 of them for $4. In the first way, selling them for $5 will make $4 extra on each, so 20 treats make $80. Selling for $4 will make only $3 on each, but 30 of those will make $90 total.