So I’m in a certain store in Jamaica Plain today — name kept anonymous to protect the oh-so-innocent — and I ask the clerk if they sell Hennessy Privilege (a cognac, for those of you who don’t know). She says yes, and I ask for a one-liter bottle. The clerk looked about 16, though she must have been at least 21 to be working in a store that sold potent potables, as Alex Trebek would say.
“We only have a 750-milliliter bottle,” she replies, “… but I don’t know how many milliliters there are in a liter.”
“One thousand,” I said. “I’m sure you learned in school that milli- means 1/1000,” I unwisely added. “That will be fine. I just can’t help being a math teacher.”
No further comment.
Categories: Math, Teaching & Learning
Learning Strategies 