MATH: Here are some math problems from Rural Arithmetic (1913) by John E. Calfee.

The answers weren’t included, so we’ll have to trust that we can figure them out.

“Cordwood is 4 feet long.

A cord of wood is a pile 8 feet long and 4 feet high.

A cord of stove wood is a pile of wood 8 feet long, 4 feet high, and of any length that will fit a stove.

Rule: To find the number of cords of wood in a pile, multiply the length of the pile by the height in feet and divide by 32.”

Problems

1. How many cords of wood are there in a pile 18 feet long and 4 feet high?

2. At $6 per cord, what is the value of a pile of oak cordwood 40 feet long and 6 feet high?

3. Which is cheaper for a man living in town: to buy stove wood 16 inches long at $3 per cord, or to pay $6 per cord for cordwood and give a man $2 to saw and split it into stove wood?

4. How many cords of wood 16 inches long can be placed crosswise in a wagon bed 10 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 14 inches deep?

5. Make an estimate of the number of cords of wood in the fallen trees that are wasting on your father’s farm. What is the value of this wood at $2 per cord?

From the 1911 Kimball’s Commercial Arithmetic:

If 44 cannons, firing 30 rounds an hour for 3 hours a day consume 300 barrels of powder in 5 days, how long will 400 barrels last 66 cannons, firing 40 rounds an hour for 5 hours a day?