"spamtrap1888" > wrote in message
...

>
> I wish elementary math classes spent more time on practical
> applications and less time on pure manipulation. (Mom and Dad want to
> paint their bedroom. Given that their room is 10 feet by 15 feet by 8
> feet high, how many gallons of paint do they need to buy, given that
> one gallon of paint covers 500 square feet, and two coats will be
> needed to cover the existing color.)
>
> The vast majority of students, even ones good at manipulation, will
> find setting up this problem to be difficult.

To make this on topic, there is a lot of math in cooking. Doubling or
halving recipes, how much of something you need to fit into a certain size
pot/pan, etc. I used doubling a recipe as an example of the distributed
property.