What is your favorite color to wear? One person who had a real favorite was Queen Elizabeth II of England, who passed away last week. Today is the first day people can say goodbye to her, and as we remember her, we can look at her 70 years of beautiful outfits as Queen. Years ago Vogue Magazine made this picture of all her suits and dresses, and found that Her Royal Highness wore blue 29% of the time. Almost a third of her clothes were blue! But in any color, she looked stunning.
Wee ones: How many pieces of clothing are you wearing right now? Count them up – and don’t forget your socks and underwear!
Little kids: If the Queen wore 7 blue dresses last month and 5 green dresses, how many more blue than green did she wear? Bonus: How many dresses is that in total?
Big kids: Queen Elizabeth really did NOT like beige, which she wore only 1% of the time. If she had worn beige on April 12 and not again until May 29, how many days later was the second beige outfit? Bonus: The Queen’s next favorite colors were purple and pink. She wore each color 10% of the time (1/10). Out of 70 outfits following that pattern, how many were either purple or pink?
The sky’s the limit: If in March 2022 you wore YOUR favorite color every 5th day starting March 5, but also wore your favorite color every Wednesday, how many days did you wear your favorite color that month? See if you can figure it out without looking at the calendar! (March began on a Tuesday.)
Answers:
Wee ones: Different for everyone…count each thing you’re wearing. Each sock and shoe is its own piece!
Little kids: 2 more blue dresses than green. Bonus: 12 dresses.
Big kids: 47 days. April 30 is 18 days later, and then May 29 is 29 days after that. Bonus: 14 outfits in those colors.
The sky’s the limit: 10 times. There are 6 days that are multiples of 5 (from March 5 to March 30) and there are also 5 Wednesdays – but one of the Wednesdays, March 30, is already counted in that first bucket.
Laura Bilodeau Overdeck is founder and president of Bedtime Math Foundation. Her goal is to make math as playful for kids as it was for her when she was a child. Her mom had Laura baking before she could walk, and her dad had her using power tools at a very unsafe age, measuring lengths, widths and angles in the process. Armed with this early love of numbers, Laura went on to get a BA in astrophysics from Princeton University, and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business; she continues to star-gaze today. Laura’s other interests include her three lively children, chocolate, extreme vehicles, and Lego Mindstorms.