Today is Cinco de Mayo (“5th of May” in Spanish), the anniversary of Mexican troops fending off the invading French army in 1862 in the city of Puebla . Today the holiday is celebrated mostly in Puebla, but Mexico’s neighbors to the north, the Americans, are always looking for a party, so people all over the U.S. are celebrating Cinco de Mayo, too. Many people celebrate with nachos, but if you’d like to make tacos instead with your own customized math, click here to try out your own “add-lib” version of this story!
Wee Ones: If your nachos have 4 layers including that first crunchy layer of chips, how many layers of toppings do they have?
Little Kids: If you can top your nachos with cheese, beans and chopped tomato, and can choose any 2, how many different pairs can you choose?
Bonus: If you decide to double the number of toppings how many toppings do you have now?
Big Kids: The world’s largest tray of nachos, made at the University of Kansas in 2012, were 2 feet wide by 80 feet long! How many square feet of nachos was that?
Bonus: The nachos weighed 5,000 pounds, including 860 pounds of cheese and 860 pounds of beef. How much did the rest of the ingredients weigh?
Answers:
Wee Ones: 3 layers.
Little Kids: 3 different pairs (cheese and beans, cheese and tomato, beans and tomato).
Bonus: 6 toppings.
Big Kids: 160 square feet.
Bonus: 3,280 pounds.
