PRACTICE MIDTERM #1

Time: 70 minutes

You must show your work.  If you use a calculator, you must
state what keys you pressed, *and* what the calculator showed
as the result of the calculation.  If you merely state the right 
answer but show no work to support it, or your work does not 
support your answer, you will not receive credit.

1. I have 36 pills.  If I take a pill every ten days, starting 
   from Feb. 23, 2006, when will I take the last pill?  (Hint: 
   I'll run out of pills in about a year, so the problem will be 
   easier to solve if you make use of the fact that 2/23/07 is 
   exactly 365 days later than 2/23/06, and work backwards from 
   there.)

   A. January 4, 2007
   B. January 13, 2007
   C. February 8, 2007
   D. February 18, 2007

2. Which gives better value: a 5-ounce bottle of shampoo that
   costs $3, or an 8-ounce bottle of shampoo that costs $5?
   Do not use a calculator for this problem.

   A. The smaller bottle
   B. The larger bottle

3. What is the fallacy that *best* matches the mistake in reasoning
   displayed by the following argument?  (The ten fallacies discussed
   in the book are: Appeal to Popularity, False Cause, Appeal to
   Ignorance, Hasty Generalization, Limited Choice, Appeal to
   Emotion, Personal Attack, Circular Reasoning, Diversion
   (Red Herring), and Straw Man.)

   "Two months ago I stopped drinking, and my boss offered
   me a raise.  If only I'd stopped drinking a year earlier,
   I would've gotten a raise a year earlier, when I really
   needed it!" 

4. What is the fallacy that *best* matches the mistake in reasoning
   displayed by the following argument?

   "I went to a talk about Intelligent Design.  The speaker
   pointed out that science can't currently account for the
   development of the flagellum, and none of the scientists
   on the panel disputed this.  But the guy who was advocating
   Intelligent Design is a Christian fundamentalist, so I don't 
   buy his argument."

5. If a snail crawls 990 feet per day, what is its approximate
   speed in furlongs per fortnight?  (A furlong is 660 feet.  
   A fortnight is 14 days.)

   A. 0.1
   B. 9
   C. 20
   D. 50,000

6. How many U.S. dollars (to the nearest dollar) can you buy 
   with 100 Euros and 100 Canadian dollars?  (1 Euro equals 
   1.169 U.S. dollars; one U.S. dollar equals 1.336 Canadian 
   dollars.)  Read the preceding sentence very carefully before 
   you dive in and start doing calculations!

   A. 160
   B. 192
   C. 219
   D. 250

7. You have a half-gallon milk jug.  How many liquid pints
   can it hold?  How many dry pints can it hold?  (1 gallon 
   equals 8 liquid pints.  1 liquid pint is 28.88 cubic inches.
   1 dry pint is 33.60 cubic inches.)  Round each of your
   answers to the nearest whole number.

   A. 4 liquid pints; 4 dry pints
   B. 4 liquid pints; 3 dry pints
   C. 3 liquid pints; 4 dry pints
   D. 3 liquid pints; 3 dry pints

8. If you leave the water dripping all the time, how much does it 
   cost you per day?  Assume that the water drips at a rate of 3 gallons
   per day.  The water company charges $2.50 per 100 cubic feet.  One
   cubic foot equals 7.5 gallons.  Do not use a calculator for this problem.

   A. 1/10 of a cent
   B. 1 cent
   C. 10 cents
   D. $1