School Coffee

Students in their spare period often visit a coffee house that is close to the school. During one period the manager kept track of coffee sales to students and reported that there were twice as many girls as boys.

But when the results of the survey were reported in the student paper, the headline read: “Girls Twice as Likely as Boys to Drink Coffee.”

Are these two assertions equivalent?  [Note that we assume all coffee drinkers buy their coffee at the coffee house.]

Curriculum Expectations

  • A1. Mathematical Processes

  • A2. Making Connections

  • C1. Algebraic Expressions and Equations

  • D1. Collection, Representation, and Analysis of Data