THE WISHING MACHINE

A Math Story by Mr. R

Chapter 1: A Meteor in the Classroom
It was a long time ago, when I was teaching in a school that was a
bit strange and a bit peculiar. We were just beginning our first
class when Joe screamed, “What’s that strange sound?!”
We listened carefully. “It sounds like an airplane!” yelled Jenna.
“More like a helicopter!” yelled Matthew. “More like a meteor!” yelled Jake.
Regina saw something outside that looked like a meteor too.
“Run! Get out of the room!” I yelled. But before we could
move, the meteor crashed through the window!
Thankfully, the glass melted harmlessly. It landed in the
sink with ice cubes, cooling down.
“That was close!” yelled Jake.
“Yeah, that meteor was screaming hot!” yelled Jenna.
Solve the math riddle below to find out the temperature of the meteor.
The temperature of the meteor (in degrees) was an even number.
The number rounds to 470. The three digits of the number add to 18.
What was the number? _____
Chapter 2: Something Strange on the Carpet
“Stand back,” I said, “Let’s leave and report this to Principal Grapefruit.”
Matthew ignored me and ran to the sink. "Stop, Matthew!" we yelled, but
he didn't listen.
He looked at the object and said, "You won't believe this!"
“Believe what?” asked Jake, “We know it’s a meteor.”
“It’s not,” said Matthew.
“What do you mean,” asked Jenna, “We saw it fall.”
“Trust me,” said Matthew, “Come look at it.”
I checked the sink. " It’s some sort of box that had writing
on its side," I said.
"Can we look?" they asked.
"Maybe later," I said. “After our PE class outside.”
An hour later, we returned to find something odd was on the carpet.
"What's that thing?" Matthew asked.
We saw an orange machine with a red orb.
“I don’t know,” I said.
Suddenly, the machine spoke. "If you can solve this math riddle, you'll
understand," it said. Then a math riddle popped up on the screen.
I am a 2-digit EVEN number. I am divisible by 4 and 3.
The product of my digits is 14. The difference between my digits is 5.
What number am I? _____
Chapter 3: A Wishing Machine
Zander typed the right answer, and words appeared on the machine.
“Look, it says, washing machine on it,” yelled Jackie.
“No, read carefully,” I said, “It says, wishing machine.”
“What’s that?” asked Joe.
“I wish I knew,” said Matthew. “Actually, I do. It’s from
aliens. Squeeze the red orb, solve the riddle, and your wish
will come true.”
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“How did you know?” Carlos wondered.
“I don’t know, it just popped into my head when I said I wish I knew what a
wishing machine was.”
“Cool, we have a wishing machine!” yelled Jake.
“Yeah, all we have to do is figure out some math riddles,” said Regina.
“Can we try it Mr. R.?” asked Jenna.
“I guess we can see what it does,” I said. “Who wants to try first?”
“I’ll try,” Carlos said, squeezing the orb and getting a math riddle.
If there are 6 of me, you have 4 less than 40?What number am I? ____
Chapter 4: A Broken Wishing Machine
After Carlos got the correct answer, the machine cheered with beeps.
"MAKE A WISH" appeared on the screen, and we urged Carlos to make one.
“I wish that all the chocolate in the world would fly into the recess yard!”
Purple smoke came out, and we waited. Suddenly, the lights went out.
“Hey, I can’t see anything!” yelled Joe.
“I’m scared of the dark!” yelled Jenna.
“Me too!” yelled Zander.
Then suddenly there was an explosion of light.
We looked out the window but didn't see any chocolate.
Instead, we saw three lunch boxes from students pop open,
and the chocolate bars inside flew into the sky.
"Hey, the chocolate's going away, not coming in!" yelled Carlos.
“The machine is broken!” complained Zander.
“Let’s try a different wish,” I suggested.
Jackie volunteered. She went over and squeezed the red orb. A math riddle
popped up on the screen.
I am a 2-digit number between 60 and 80.
My tens digit is 2 more than my one’s digit.
I am not 64. What Number am I? _____
Chapter 5: Recess All Day?
After Jackie typed in the correct answer, the machine beeped happily.
"MAKE A WISH" flashed on its screen. We all told Jackie to make a wish.
Jackie thought for a minute and said, “I wish it was recess all day!”
Purple smoke came out, and we waited. Suddenly, the lights went out.
Then, there was a bright flash. When we looked, the schedule said "MATH"
instead of "RECESS."
“I told you this wishing machine is broken!” yelled Matthew, “It’s more like
the anti-wishing machine. It’s doing everything backwards!
“Now we have NO recess today!” complained Jackie.
“I have an idea,” said Jake.
“What if we wish for the opposite of what we want to happen, then maybe
what we actually want to happen will happen!”
We agreed and Jake tried it. A math riddle appeared on the screen.
What number comes next in the pattern? 5, 11, 23, 47, ___
Chapter 6: Wishing in Reverse
After Jake got the answer right, the machine beeped cheerfully. "MAKE A
WISH" appeared on the screen, and we urged Jake to make a wish.
Jake had to think for a minute to make his wish in reverse.
“I wish there would be no ice cream in our classroom today,” he said, “and
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I wish we would never have recess again!”
“Hey,” said Matthew, “I love ice cream and recess.”
"He's wishing for the opposite," Regina explained.
Purple smoke came out, and we waited. Suddenly, the lights went out.
Then, there was a bright flash. When we opened our eyes, the classroom
had transformed. The walls were lined with ice cream machines, and desks
had toppings. The pencil sharpener had turned into a whipped cream
dispenser, and the staplers all squirted out hot fudge instead of staples.
“This is the greatest thing ever!” yelled Carlos.
They made ice cream cones with lots of toppings. But before they could eat,
an alarm sounded from the machine, and words appeared on the screen.
Not until you solve this math riddle can you eat ice cream!
The students tried to eat the ice cream anyway, but they couldn’t
move their hands to their mouths! Somehow the machine was
preventing them from eating.
“We have to solve that math riddle fast!” yelled Zander.
Jackie said, “I’ll do it”, and she went over to the machine to read the riddle.
I am a number that is between 1-100. I am an odd number.
If you double me, you get the same number as 3 times 38.
The digit in my ones place is 2 greater than the digits in my tens
place. What number am I? ___
Chapter 7: Matthew's Wish
After Jackie answer, the students enjoyed their ice cream. Then, Jenna
noticed something on the schedule. It had the same class all day.
“Recess all day!” yelled the students.
“NO! Not recess all day,” I yelled back.
“Aww,” Zander sighed, “You always say we must follow
the schedule!”
“Not when it’s made by some strange anti-wishing
machine from outer space! Now finish up your ice
cream so we can get to our math lesson.”
As they were finishing the ice cream, Matthew was talking to Jackie and
said, “I really wish I had a puppy like yours.”
“Why don’t you use the wishing machine,” said Jackie.
"Good idea," Matthew said, going to the machine and squeezing the red
orb. A math riddle appeared.
I am a number between 1 -100.
The digit in my ones place is 3. times the digit in my tens place.
I am an odd number. The SUM of my digits is 12.
What number am I? ___
Chapter 8: One Thousand Puppies
“I wish I didn’t have a thousand puppies,” whispered Matthew
to the wishing machine after giving the correct answer.
Purple smoke came out, and the lights went out.
Everyone panicked in the dark. Suddenly, there was a burst of
light, and the classroom was filled with puppies everywhere!
"Who wished for puppies?" I shouted over the noise. “These
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puppies can’t be in our classroom!”
“But they’re so cutesy, bootsy, capootsy, lootsie,” said Jackie, “Can’t we
keep them?”
“Yes they’re cute, but we can’t have one thousand puppies in our
classroom!” I admonished.
“Come on, Mr. R, can’t we keep them for a little while? They’re so wiggie,
piggie, ziggy, shmiggy, shmoggy,” said Jenna as seven different puppies
licked her face.
I agreed to keep a hundred for ten minutes.
Regina went to the machine to wish the number of puppies go down to a
hundred. A math riddle popped up on the screen.
I am an odd number.
If you round me to the nearest ten you get 60.
I am 3 more than 30 doubled.
What number am I? ___
Chapter 9: Be Careful What You Wish For
The Words MAKE A WISH popped up on the screen.
“I wish we didn’t have 100 puppies in the classroom,” said Regina.
Purple smoke came out, and the lights went out. Everyone panicked in the
dark. Then, there was a bright flash, and only a hundred puppies
remained.
“100 puppies is still plenty!” Carlos laughed, playing with a puppy.
"They're so cute!" Zander said, petting several puppies.
I set a timer for ten minutes.
"Can't we keep them longer?" Jake asked, snuggling with the puppies.
"No, it's ten minutes or none!" I insisted.
We enjoyed the puppies until the timer beeped. "Time's up! We have to
send them back," I announced.
The students were upset, but we made a deal. After some pleading, Zander
agreed to wish the puppies away. Everyone said goodbye to the puppies,
and Zander tried the machine. A math riddle appeared. It was hard and
Zander hadn’t been practicing his math very much.

Find the next number in this pattern: 3, 10, 31, 94, ___

Zander put in his answer, but it was the wrong answer!

The machine did not make the cheering sound, it sounded
more like a booing sound.
Then a message popped up on the screen.
Your wishing machine account has been suspended.
As we read the message, the machine made another noise. We saw some
engines deploy underneath it, and it shot out the window like a rocket.
We were left sitting there in the classroom surrounded by 100 puppies.
“What are we gonna’ do now?” asked Jackie, “We have 100 puppies and no
more wishing machine.”
“I guess we have a lot of dogs to walk,” I said.
“That’s for sure,” said Joe.
“It just goes to show, you have to be careful what you wish for,” I said as a
four or five puppies licked my face.
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