Alfred's uncle, a marine biologist, visited him one day and told him this riddle:
'Twas a strange school of fish in the deep blue sea
Wearing hunters' grins, swimming wild and free
Five and fifty jaws would snap with glee
And their teeth were ten thousand times thirty-three
"Now," said Alfred's uncle, "how many teeth do you think each shark has?"
Alfred set out to solve the problem:
Ten thousand times thirty-three is three hundred thirty thousand. So the total number of teeth for the group of sharks is 330,000 teeth. Five and fifty jaws means there were 55 jaws, or 55 sharks. So how many teeth did each shark have? Let's help Alfred solve the problem by writing it down:
Now, do you think you can help Alfred solve this?
It turns out Alfred's uncle has many riddles. Here are a few of his other riddles. Can you solve the riddle for each one?
Jellyfish glowed in the dark of night
Waking animals with their watery light
Seven hundred yellow eyes blinked awake
On the thirty shiny heads of the deep-sea snake
Riddle: How many eyes are on each head?
Crawling on the bottom of the deep blue sea,
Sixteen octopuses played in a reef
They were colored blue, yellow, and red
And eight hundred eighty spots on all of their heads
Riddle: How many spots did each octopus have?
Ready to move on to the next lesson?
Long Division with Estimation Review
