The Book of Perfectly Perilous Math

I absolutely love the science books by Sean Connolly, in particular, his Chemistry and Engineering books. I used The Book of Ingeniously Daring Chemistry: 24 Experiments for Young Scientists for a Science Club: Chemistry topic in the fall of 2019, and The Book of Massively Epic Engineering Disasters: 33 Thrilling Experiments Based on History's Greatest Blunders for a Science Club: Engineering topic in the spring of 2022.

Now, for the first time, I'm using his Math book, The Book of Perfectly Perilous Math: 24 Death-Defying Challenges for Young Mathematicians to create a fun math skills review block for my 12 & 13 year old students.

Sean Connolly has set up 24 epic situations where math will (hopefully) save your life! Each challenge comes with a detailed mock-deadly scenario, a challenging multi-step math problem, several hints (from Euclid, no less), and a step-by-step solution so that students can independently check their work. Here is a list of the problems and the skills involved in solving them:

challenge 1: The Pit and the Pendulum

Will the rat chew through the rope before or after the blade has slashed through your chest? How much time do you have exactly?

death by: giant blade

survival strategies: operations and algebraic thinking

challenge 2: Pizza Peril

It's your turn now. Will you have enough money -- and will you have a job tomorrow?

death by: termination

survival strategies: fractions, equivalence

challenge 3: Spend a Million

How long will it take you to spend $1,000,000 if you spend it at a rate of 50¢ every second, making sure to round it to the nearest whole number?

death by: lasers

survival strategies: numbers and operations in base 10

challenge 4: The Gallon or the Gallows

Since a gallon is 4 quarts, can you work out a series of steps that will allow you to make use of these buckets to collect 1 gallon?

death by: vexed parents

survival strategies: quantitative and abstract reasoning, volume

challenge 5: Sage in the Tower

How tall is the tower? How long should you make the rope of sheets to rescue the king's scholar?

death by: enemy knights

survival strategies: ratios and proportions, geometry, triangles

challenge 6: The "Solution" Solution

Can you figure out a series of steps that will allow you to dilute the full-strength serum to 1 part per million?

death by: spider bite

survival strategies: ratios and proportions

challenge 7: The Desert Decision

If you use the $23.63 on gas, will that be enough to get you to the next gas station? Or will your bus wind up out of gas and bake in the scorching desert sun? Exactly how far will you be able to travel once you purchase the gas?

death by: scorching sun

survival strategies: ratios and proportions, unit rate, decimals

challenge 8: Make It Last!

How long will the barrel of water keep the 5 of you alive until you either reach land or get rescued at sea? How many cups of water can each person drink each day? And, based on how many days you can survive with the available water supply, how can you divide the cookies between you so that each person gets a piece every day?

death by: dehydration

survival strategies: ratios and proportions, unit rate

challenge 9: The Secret Code

He must have come up with a pattern for these numbers. If 12 = J, 23 = U, 3 = A, and 16 = N, can you figure out the pattern, crack the code, and help rescue Juan before it's too late?

death by: demolition

survival strategies: patterns

challenge 10: Quick Change on the Train

How long will the train be in the tunnel? Is there enough time to change into the chief's outfit while the train is in the tunnel?

death by: rival spy

survival strategies: ratios and proportions, variables

challenge 11: Buying a Pyramid

If you participate in Layer 5 of this scheme, and you can only recruit people from your town, are there enough people in your 9,000 person town for you to make $900?

death by: disappointment

survial strategies: expressions and equations, tree diagram

challenge 12: Buried Alive?

Your only hope is that riddle on the tomb wall. Use the pattern to decipher the riddle and figure out how many feet you are from the hidden exit door. Solve it and escape a deadly fate.

death by: suffocation

survival strategies: patterns

challenge 13: The Rope Bridge

Can you determine how to get all 4 of you across the bridge, 2 at a time, in time for the 6 p.m. pikcup, making sure that each person crossing can use the flashlight?

death by: zombies

survival strategies: analytical thinking

challenge 14: The Punk Prank Payback

Will you be able to give the sales associate at the store exact measurements for each room with the information you have? If so, how much flooring will you need to buy for each room?

death by: irate uncle

survival strategies: geometry, area of a rectangle

challenge 15: Tornado on Your Tail!

How much longer do you have to find shelter from the tornado before everything gets swept away -- including you and Will?

death by: Mother Nature

survival strategies: ratios and proportions

challenge 16: The Long Way Around

How long do you need to make the patch in feet, if you round to the nearest hundredth place? Is there a way to figure it out with a linear equation so you can avoid doing math with many digits?

death by: asteroid

survival strategies: geometry, pi, algebraic linear equation

challenge 17: The Sands of Time

How can you use the hourglass in a series of steps to help you measure 30 minutes and time your escape?

death by: crazy neighbor

survival strategies: analytical thinking

challenge 18: The Final Countdown

Using the information you have, how can you count 35 seconds exactly?

death by: spacecraft

survival strategies: ratios and proportions

challenge 19: Defeat the Vampires

If the vampires feed only on people in your town, approximately how many months will it take for your 500,000-person town to become populated entirely by vampires?

death by: blood loss

survival strategies: expressions and equations

NOTE: This problem is available as a free sample of the book (PDF).

challenge 20: Lost at Sea

At least how many "knots" must the ship's speed be to get you to Cuba in 7 days? Round your answer to the nearest whole number.

death by: mutiny

survival strategies: expresions and equations, unit rate

challenge 21: Beat the Bends

Assuming you can swim toward the surface at the rate of 10 feet per minute, how much time can you spend looking through the ship's wreckage before you have to start heading up?

death by: scuba malfunction

survival strategies: expressions and equations

challenge 22: Escape Blast!

What fraction of 67 cm is 50 1/4 cm? Can you figure out a way to use the safety belt, through a series of folds, that will allow you to find exactly 50 1/4 cm?

death by: enemy spies

survival strategies: ratios and proportions

challenge 23: Deadly Treasure

Can you figure out the exact weight of each chest?

death by: executioner

survival strategies: expressions and equations

challenge 24: Which Door to Choose?

The decision is yours. If you switch doors, what are the odds you'll choose the door to freedom?

death by: beheading

survival strategies: probability

NOTE: If having students work in pairs, it is nice to give them really really big paper that they can both easily see and write on while working their way through the problem. Here we've started using 18 x 24 inch newsprint.

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