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SEPTEMBER 27, 2010 13

we’ve covered all the biggest stars of the past three decades—and

we’ve created a few stars too! Learn some fun facts about our fictional friends by using powers of 10. (Or you can cheat by reading every MATH issue we’ve printed in the past 30 years!)

wHat to Do: solve each power-of-10 multiplication problem. Fill in the circle next to the correct product. the phrase next to that

answer completes the trivia fact about the MATH fictional character.

Powers of 10: Powers at 30!Meet sam Powers and MATH’s favorite

fictional characters by using powers of 10!

OnE Way TO DO ITto Multiply by a Power of 10:

count the number of zeros in the power.

Move the decimal point that number of places to the right. add zeros if you have to.

example: 65.8 ✕ 1,000there are 3 zeros in 1,000.

= 65.800 = 65,800

.327 ✕ 10 sam Powers, Math Detective (appeared 1980–89, 1993–94)

Sam appeared in our very first official issue. But there was actually an earlier Math Detective in our two preview issues, in 1979 and 1980. Her name was…A .0327 Jane Bond. B 3.27 Betty Brown.

181 ✕ 100 Brenda and eddie (1984–88) When we met Brenda and

car-crazy Eddie, they had just graduated high school, and were working at Richardson’s department store. Brenda and Eddie got their names from…A 8,100 a 1977 song by rocker

Billy Joel.B 810 MATH’s editor and

designer in 1984.

2

5.9 ✕ 10 the Mission s•P•a•C•e team (1989–90) It

was the year 2550 when Captain Star Quotient and the crew of the Starship Infinity blasted off on their first journey. “S•P•A•C•E” stood for…A 59 Solve Problems And Conquer Evil.B 590 Star Pioneers Always Calculate

Equations!

3

22.33 ✕ 10,000 Lisa and frank (1997–98) They went out.

They broke up. They stayed in touch by e-mail and tried to be “friends.” But they always ended up fighting! Lisa and Frank started e-mailing because…A 22,330 Lisa couldn’t

stand to look Frank in the face anymore.

B 223,300 Frank’s family moved from Washington, D.C., to Colorado.

6

.0101 ✕ 1,000 steve and Nicole (1992–95) We followed the “He Said, She Said” adventures of Steve and Nicole in their diary entries.

They lived near Parkerhurst, Indiana, which was coincidentally the…A 101 last name of the model who posed as Steve.B 10.1 home of the fictional “Personal Math” kids

(1988–92).

4

100 ✕ 100 Pepper and friends (1995–96) Remember Pepper and her zany friends Lazlo and Squig? Neither

do we! Not all our fictional characters go on to fame and fortune. Pepper only made it through four comic strips. But the all-time record for fewest appearances by a MATH fictional creation is two issues, held by…A 10,000 Dr. Hugh Betcha (1980).B 1,000 the CyberMath kids (1995).

5

0.7 Zero Clue (1996–2008) Zero was

the superhero star of Math Mystery Comix. But he was almost always helped out of jams by his partner…A 0.007 ✕ 1,000

Lois Termz.B 0.0007 ✕ 1,000

Dee Nominator.

7

12­ SCHOLaSTIC MaTH

Math:

aND CouNtiNg!