Mr. Patel
Mr. Patel found a job in the branch of a major company in Pennsylvania, USA. Therefore, the Patel family moved to the small city of Allentown in this state. The Patel family consisted of the couple with a an older daughter and a 4 year old son. They found a nice small house on a cul de sac (dead end street) called Dryden street. There were only 7 houses on this cul de sac. As a result, there was only a nominal car traffic. It was cars of the neighbors and people visiting them. It was a friendly atmosphere and the real estate agent told them that the street residents had three parties a year – one indoor gathering around Christmas and two outdoor parties in the summer. So all the neighbors knew each other. Here is an aerial view of Dryden street cul de sac with the seven houses on it.
Chunnu and Emily
The Patel daughter Deepika went to a primary school nearby. The smart four year old Chunnu Patel just started his junior kindergarten in the same school as his sister. Emily Smith, a four year old girl was in the same school and same class as Chunnu. She also lived on Dryden street next door to him. The two became very good friends. On most days they played together after school.
Emily was just chatting with Chunnu when she told him that she knew everyone on this street. Chunnu: How many people live on Dryden ?
Emily: I don’t know how to count that high or add but I know everyone.
Chunnu: You know we just moved in. I don’t know all the people who live here. Tell you what, you tell me about the people in each house and I will teach you how to count.
Emily: Okay. The corner house belongs to the Merkel family. Mr. and Mrs. Merkel have three children – one girl and two boys.
Chunnu: You count the two parents and then add the three children on your fingers, and keep counting to add. So that is 5 persons in the first house,
Emily: The next house belongs to the Johnsons. They also have three children. Like you said the three children and their mom and dad makes it 5 persons in this house.
Chunnu: You know there are 5 persons in the first house. To add the people in the second house you can count 5 more like 6,7,8,9 and 10. That way we have 10 people in the first two houses.
Emily: Next house belongs to the Jeminzez family which also has 5 people. So I guess you would say that I should count 5 more numbers 11,12,13, 14 and 15 to say that there are 15 people in the three houses.
Chunnu: I know that in the next house is the Davidson family which has 4 members, and then it is your house with 4 members, So 4 plus 15 is 19 and 4 plus 19 is 23. That means 15 plus 8 or 23 persons live in the five houses.
Chunnu: The next house is ours with four members and that would make 4 plus 23 which is 27 people in the six houses.
Emily: The last house is the Rollo family. There are Mr, and Mrs. Rollo, 3 children and Mr Rollos mom and dad. Let me count, so that is 7 persons in the Rollo house.
Chunnu: If I add 7 to 27 by counting 7 fingers, it comes to 34 persons living on Dryden. That’s a lot of people. Will they all come to the street party next week ?
Emily: I think so. There may be even more. Last year, my mom invited her brother, his wife and their daughter to the party. I don’t know how many more people will come but it will be a lot of fun. You will meet them all. I think we should get to know all the kids our own age and maybe we can play soccer together on Dryden.
Challenge
Count the number of people who live in 5 houses on your street.
Supplementary
Chunnu and Emily found that one of the families had brought a box of chocolate bars. They counted that there were 5 Oh Henry bars and 5 Reese chocolates. How many chocolates would 5 + 5 be?
The box also had 4 each of two types of Hershy’s. That made it 8;
So how many bars were there in the box in total, Figure it our or look at the box for the answer.
Math Stories For You 