Math on a Pirate Ship

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Math on a Pirate Ship

• By Kerry McKeon and Jess Neill

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Cannon balls are found all around the ship and
need to be moved from place to place. The pirates
need to know how many cannon balls they can
comfortably carry at one time.
These are the cannon balls that the pirates load
into the cannons. Each cannon ball weighs 20
pounds. If a pirate can lift 125 pounds, how many
cannon balls can he lift at once?
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To be ready for battle, the pirates need to know
which cannon balls fit inside each cannon.
The pirates need to know if this cannon ball will
fit into their new cannon. The cannon can
accommodate cannon balls with a circumference of
up to 15 inches. What is the circumference of
this cannon ball? Will it fit inside the cannon?
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Pirates need to know the length of their swords
so they can decide which to use in certain
situations.
B
A
C
The captain of the ship wants to find the longest
sword. How long is each sword in inches? In feet?
Which one is the longest?
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Pirates have many different hats that they can
wear and need to be able to find the appropriate
one quickly.
A pirate is searching through a bag full of hats.
If he were to reach into the bag and pull one
out, what would be the probability of pulling out
a red hat.
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This is the icon found on the pirate flag. The
cross bones create four angles that can be
measured mathematically.
You can use a protractor to measure the four
angles created by the cross bones. How many
different angles are there? What do you notice
about the angles that are directly across from
each other?
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The number of oars on a pirate ship affects the
number of men that are needed to row it. It is
very important for pirates to know this
information so that they are rowing their ship
properly and most efficiently.
There are 9 oars on each side of this pirate
ship. It takes three prisoners to row each oar.
How many prisoners do the pirates need to take
captive to successfully steer their ship?
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Pirates use treasure maps to navigate their way
to the hidden treasure, but they need to use
scales to determine how far they are from the
treasure.
The pirates are using this map to find the hidden
treasure. If ½ inch on this map equals 5 miles,
how far are the pirates from the treasure if they
are at Smugglers Isle? Are there different routes
that they could take?
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In order to be ready for battle on time, the
pirates need to know when they are going to
arrive at the place in which they are attacking.
They can use how fast the ship is moving and how
far away the destination is to determine how long
it will take them to arrive.
If a pirate ship is planning to attack an island
200 miles away and the ship is moving 15 miles
per hour, how long will it take them to get there?
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Pirates often have different flags that they hang
on the ship. They alternate them so that they do
not always have the same flag flying.
These are each different flags that are
traditionally hung on a pirate ship. If there are
six flags and they are alternated equally every
day, how many times will each flag be hung after
2 months?
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Many people think that pirates wear the same
clothes every day, but this is not true. Pirates
have different colored shirts and pants that they
can wear.
One fashionable pirate was wondering how many
days he could go without wearing the same outfit.
He has a red, blue, white, and black shirt. He
has green, blue, black, red, brown, and purple
pants. How many different outfits can the pirate
make?
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Before embarking on a trip, the pirates must plan
for how many barrels of water they will need.
They can do this by calculating how much water
each pirate will need in a day and how much water
each barrel holds.
There are 15 pirates aboard a ship that will
travel for 5 days. If each pirate needs to drink
8 cups of water each day, and each barrel
contains 48 gallons of water, how many barrels
should they bring with them?
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Angles can be found everywhere on a pirate ship,
especially created by the masts that hold the
sails.
Can you find a right angle? Can you find a 45
angle? What other angles can you find?
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Pirates often lose their legs in battles against
other pirates. Therefore, knowing how to make a
peg leg is an important skill, but there are many
measurements involved.
Pete the pirate is 6 feet tall and he lost his
leg. The distance from his head to his waist is
33 inches. How long do the pirates need to make
his peg leg?
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The crows nest is the highest point of the ship.
Pirates use this so that that can spot advancing
ships. However, it takes quite some time for the
pirates to climb to the top. The pirates need to
know how long the average trip to the top takes.

• Pirate Bob can climb the pole in 5 minutes, 30
  seconds.
• Pirate Joe can climb the pole in 4 minutes, 45
  seconds.
• Pirate Stan can climb the pole in 9 minutes.
• Pirate Sam can climb the pole in 7 minutes, 15
  seconds.
• What is the average amount of time that it takes
  these pirates to reach the crows nest?

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In case of an emergency, pirates need to know how
long it will take them to throw the anchor down.
With a few calculations, they can determine how
long it will take the anchor to hit the ocean
floor.
The pirates are in 270 feet of water and need to
drop the anchor. Pirate Bill dropped the anchor
at 30 feet per second into the water. How long
will it take the anchor to reach the ocean floor?
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Pirates use treasure chests to store their gold.
By measuring the dimensions of the chest, the
pirates can calculate the volume, which will help
them determine how much gold is inside.
This chest is 8 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 3
feet tall. What is the volume of the chest? If
each gold nugget takes up 2 cubic feet of space,
how many gold nuggets will fit inside the
treasure chest?
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When fishing for their dinner, pirates need to
know who the best fisherman is so that he can
spend the most time fishing.
Pirate Dave and Pirate Sebastian were fishing on
the front deck. Pirate Dave caught 30 fish and
Pirate Sebastian caught 12. How many fish did
they catch altogether? How many more fish did
Dave catch than Sebastian?
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After finding a treasure, pirates need to divide
it amongst themselves. With different people
getting different amounts of the treasure, this
task can be more difficult than it seems.
There are 500 gold nuggets in the treasure chest
and 20 pirates. The captain receives 25 of the
gold and the rest is divided evenly amongst the
remaining 19 pirates. How many gold nuggets does
the captain receive? How many gold nuggets does
each pirate receive?
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In case their ship is ever attacked, pirates need
to have an escape plan. They need to know how
many rescue boats they have and how many pirates
they can safely fit into each boat.
The pirate ship was attacked and is sinking.
There are 5 rescue boats attached to the ship and
there are 23 pirates. How many pirates will need
to go in each rescue boat without overloading any
one boat?
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Pirates use a special steering wheel to maneuver
the ship. The spokes of the steering wheel create
many angles.
How many sections is this steering wheel divided
into? Are the angles all the same size? If a
complete circle is 360, what is the measure of
each angle created by the spokes?