Pancakes for Your Pets

We people love pancakes, and some tortoises do, too. They’re the round-shelled reptile stars of this video. The big tortoise dives right in, but the little tortoise — who is shorter than his stack of pancakes — isn’t so sure. How would you feel if you were served a stack of pancakes that’s taller than you? Actually, you might dive right in, too.

Wee ones: What shape do you think these tiny tortoise pancakes are?

Little kids: If the big tortoise has 3 pancakes and the teeny tortoise has 3 of his own, how many do they have together?  Bonus: If the big guy eats all 3 pancakes and the little tortoise ends up eating 1, how many pancakes are left for you?

Big kids: If you can stack 10 people pancakes in a foot, how many pancakes would make a stack as tall as you? You can round your height to the nearest foot or half-foot for this one!  Bonus: If you’re handed a stack of 60 pancakes and are hungry enough for only 1/4 of them, how many do you eat?

The sky’s the limit: If a group of 4 big tortoises and 2 tiny tortoises eats 30 pancakes in total, and each big tortoise eats twice as many as each tiny tortoise, how much does each size tortoise eat?

Answers:
Wee ones: A circle. Their 3D shape is actually a very short, wide cylinder.

Little kids: 6 pancakes.  Bonus: 2 pancakes.

Big kids: Different for everyone…round off your height, and add up 10 for every foot of height and another 5 pancakes for a half-foot.  Bonus: 15 of them.

The sky’s the limit: Each tiny tortoise eats 3 pancakes, and each big tortoise eats 6 pancakes. Since each big tortoise eats double a tiny tortoise, together 2 big tortoises eat 4 times as much as each tiny tortoise, and thus, 4 big ones together also eat 4 times as much as 2 tiny tortoises. That means the tiny tortoises’ set plus 4 more of these sets makes 5 sets of pancakes, which means the pair of tinies eats 6 pancakes. So each tiny tortoise eats 3, and each big one eats double that, which is 6 apiece.

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