Tristan de Boer, Brandon Burton, Sandy Fitzgerald, Terra Huntley, Heather Johnson, Andre Johnston, Vanessa MacBurney, Alex Macneill, Katie Mason, Stephanie Millett, Alison Montena, Diandra Phipps, Sarah Pinkney, Andrew Pye, Tiffany Richards, Simone Simmons, Alaina, Dennis, Lance, David and Jason.

These problems were created by students at Truro Junior High School in Truro, Nova Scotia. Their teacher, Mr. Paul Dennis (pdennis@tjhs.ednet.ns.ca) had them solve the problems in the resource Middle Years Problems - 1999 and send us their solutions. We suggested that they make up some problems of their own to put on the Math Central site and these are the problems that they sent us.

   The Centralizer

Tristan, David and Jason decided to raise money to buy three bikes at $106.86 with 15% tax each. They put $13 in a bottle everyday for 30 days. Then they took $7 out of the bottle every three days. How much money do they have at the end of the month and do they have enough money for the three bikes? If so how much money would they have left over? If not how much more money do they need to buy the bikes?

Molly's dad circles the school half an hour before the bell rings. He travels at a speed of 45 k/h, and makes four stops. Every circle he makes around the school it takes him 3.5 minutes. How many circles will he have made? How many many stops will he have made? How many km did he travel?

John and Mary went to the mall. They were both looking for new clothes, and to pay, John was using Interac and Mary was using cash ($). They went into Sears since it was "no tax day at Sears", and they tried some clothes on. Mary chose to buy 2 t-shirts which were $15.00 each, as well as a pair of shorts which was $10.00. She had $63.01 to spend. How much money did she spend? Did Mary have to borrow any money from John to pay for the clothes, or did she have extra money? If she had money left over, how much? If she needed to borrow from John, how much did she need? John chose to buy 3 pairs of jeans which were each $45.00, as well as a Nike jacket that was $50.00, and a pair of Adidas shoes that were $35.99. In his bank account (Interac), John had $207.53. How much money did John spend? Did John have to borrow any money from Mary to pay for the clothes, or did he have extra money? If he had money left over, how much? If he had to borrow from Mary, how much did he need?

ELECTRICAL MIX-UP
If there were two rooms side by side and a door connecting the two. There are three light switches in one room and three 180 watt bulbs in the other.

THE PROBLEM
What switch turns on what bulb.

THE RULES
You can only pass OR look through the door ONCE. You can flip any switch any amount of times but only one at a time. (assuming all switches and bulbs are off upon arrival)

Nick, Tylor, Becky, Jessica, and Jade all went to an opening at the new mall. Together they bought 20 items including Tommy jeans, Ikeda sweater, Adidas shorts, Adidas Flip-Flops, Nike hat, Tommy t-shirt, Bluenotes Flares, Nike sweater, Club Monaco t-shirt, Gap sweater, Nike sneakers, Roots sweater, Adidas snap pants, Exhaust jeans, Southpole jeans, Adidas jacket, Silver shorts, Champion shorts, Brooks jacket, and Adidas sneakers.Try to find out who bought what with the following clues:

1. The person who bought the Tommy jeans didn't buy the Ikeda sweater, but bought the Nike hat.

2. Nick bought the Roots sweater.

3. The person who bought the Ikeda sweater, also bought the Adidas jacket.

4. Becky bought the Nike sneakers because they went good with her Bluenotes Flares.

5. Tylor bought the Brooks jacket because it matched his Tommy jeans.

6. Jessica bought the Adidas shorts to go with her Adidas Flip-Flops.

7. Jade didn't have much money, so she only bought two items, one included the Adidas jacket.

8. The person who bought the Roots sweater, also bought the Tommy t-shirt.

9. Tylor bought six items.

10. The person who bought the Nike sweater, also bought the Exhaust jeans.

11. Jessica had the most money, so she bought the Club Monaco t-shirt to match her Silver shorts.

12. Tylor bought the Adidas sneakers when he bought the Exhaust jeans.

13. The Champion shorts matched the Roots sweater, so the person who bought the sweater, also bought the shorts.

14. Becky helped Jessica pick out the Gap sweater and the Southpole jeans after Jessica helped her pick out the Adidas snap pants

Tom has a box of 480 marbles. 40% of the marbles are blue. 30% or the marbles have a swirl going through them. 25% are large marbles and 5% are metal marbles. Show the percents on a circle graph in degrees.
    Tom wanted to sell the marbles. He invited 30 people over to sell the marbles to. He decided to sell the same amount to everyone. How many marbles did each person buy?

Julie moved into a new apartment. She went on a $600 shopping spree for new clothes and furniture. First she went to Berry's Furniture for a chair and a sofa. The sofa cost $122 and the chair was half that price, at the cash register they added 10% tax. She went to HolyOak Mall and bought a pair of overalls for $101.30 less than the price of the sofa and chair. She then bought a sweater for 3/4 the price of the overalls. She bought shoes for $60 and three new t-shirts that each cost 1/4 the price of the shoes. There was no tax on clothes. After the shopping spree, how much did she have left?