In short, these word problems have the effect – despite our intentions – of teaching students that mathematics has no applications, that you should not use common-sense arithmetic to solve them, and that algebra is difficult.
-- Zalman Usiskin, What Should Not Be in the Algebra and Geometry Curricula of Average College-Bound Students?

From the same paper as the above quote is the following problem:

 John can shovel snow from a walk in 4 minutes. Mary can shovel the same walk in 3 minutes. How long will it take them to do it together? 

This is precisely the sort of random and irrelevant problem I have railed against. I shall note also however that the fiction of the world is uninteresting. Here we have a character called John and a character called Mary; why should we care about them? In a story writing class, the above story would get an F.

 A Story through Word Problems 

Creating a fiction is not necessarily about a lengthy back story. Consider these two questions (quoted from a set of six in the comments at this blog):

 It takes Gworghulm the dragon 7 hours to fly across the kingdom. If the Kingdom is 280 miles across, how fast does he fly?

Gworghulm has 47,000 pounds of gold. If his cave has an area of 2000 square feet, how many pounds of gold does he have per square foot? 

A More Extensive Universe

Advantages and Disadvantages Compared to Real Life Problems 

Jason Dyer holds degrees in Fine Arts Studies and Math and teaches at Pueblo High School in Arizona. His school mascot is the Warriors and his other blog of residence is The Number Warrior.

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