Chicago Parent was out and about at the Chocolate Fest in Long Grove this weekend, and one of our contests was a "Guess-how-many-gumballs-are-in-this-jar." Now, we run these pretty frequently and we've seen our share of goofy methods. But this one, so thoroughly un-goofy -- and, by the way, producing an answer with a 1.1 percent margin of error, wins.

By the way, the correct answer was 803. Sadly, other people guessed 800, so this entrant, a teenage boy, didn't win. But somewhere in Chicagoland, a geometry teacher can rest easy.

Just to break it down:

 

 

---> C = circumference of the jar
---> H = height of the jar

 

---> formula for the circumference of a circle

 

--->  calculates radius of the jar's cross-section

 

---> formula for volume of a cylinder (SATs, here he comes!)


---> some nifty arithmetic

 

---> an answer with a 1.1 percent margin of error. Not too shabby.

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