In 2018, in order to be more inclusive to fat girls and unattractive women, the Miss America pageant under the leadership of Gretchen Carlson, decided to discontinue the swimsuit competition.  So that fat girls and unattractive women have a chance at winning, the pageants have decided to include math word problems.

My understanding is that the competition will now be judged as follows:  Personal interview 40%, evening gown 30%, math word problems 30%.  The math word problem section, will consist of three problems, each worth 10%, and you have to show your work, or you will receive 0% credit.

What this means is, that in order to win, a pageant contestant will probably have to correctly answer all three math word problems.  For example, a very attractive young lady with a good personality might get very high points in the personal interview phase and the evening gown phase, but if she misses one or two math word problems, points-wise, there is almost no way she could win.

Here are some examples of the kind of math word problems that will be given in the North Dakota pageants:

A 2010 Dodge 2500 diesel with a 6.7 liter Cummins engine gets 17 miles per gallon in town, and 22 miles per gallon on the highway.  If you had to drive this truck from Amidon to Belfield on Highway 85 for 34 miles, how many gallons of diesel fuel would you need?

Answer:  one gallon/22 miles x 34 miles =  1.545 gallons

Your boyfriend works as an apprentice electrician and he makes $3,200 per month gross pay before taxes are taken out.  After taxes are taken out, his take home pay is $2,560 per month.  However, $400 in child support payments are then taken from his take home pay each month.  A bank is willing to lend him money for a home mortgage, with monthly payments not to exceed 40% of $2,160.  What is the maximum monthly mortgage payment that your boyfriend could make?

Answer:  0.40 x $2,160 = $864

Walmart sells packages of three women’s panties for $21.50.  Target sells packages of two women’s panties for $20.  And Victoria’s Secret sells women’s panties for $25 each.  Given $100, and the ability to buy these women’s panties from Walmart, Target, and Victoria’s Secret, what is the most amount of panties that you could buy?

Answer:  Twelve panties.  You could buy four packages of Walmart Panties for $86, giving you twelve panties.  Buying from Target would give you only ten panties for $100.