Does anyone *really* like fruitcake? Grown-ups who get a fruitcake as a present sometimes re-gift it to someone else to get rid of it – and now, they can throw it. Every January there’s a National Fruitcake Toss Day, where a town in Colorado holds a big contest to find out which kid can toss fruitcake the farthest. They throw it using a catapult — a big machine with a long arm for flinging things — and as you’ll see from the math, fruitcake can fly far and fast.
Wee ones: If your fruitcake has raisins, craisins, and apricot in it, how many types of fruit does it mash together?
Little kids: If you toss your 6th fruitcake, then your 7th, then your 8th, what number fruitcake do you toss next? Bonus: If each fruitcake uses 4 cups of dried fruit, how many cups do you need to make your next 2 fruitcakes?
Big kids: If your catapult has a 5-foot-long arm and can hurl a fruitcake 5 times as far as that, how far will it fly? Bonus: If you want the fruitcake to fly 80 feet, how long would the arm have to be if it always throws 5 times its length?
Answers:
Wee ones: 3 types of fruit.
Little kids: Your 9th fruitcake. Bonus: 8 cups.
Big kids: 25 feet. Bonus: 16 feet long.
