N.Y. Times: ‘The Interview’ Brings in $15 Million on Web

The following excerpt elicited a sharp “sigh” and a “c’mon man” from yours truly:

Sony did not say how much of that total represented $6 digital rentals versus $15 sales. The studio said there were about two million transactions over all.

As a former Algebra II teacher1 I couldn’t help but groan.

But it’s not because I think that we’re getting stupider and stupider.2

It’s because the type of stuff — such as this, be it on rare occasion3 — that might actually be useful in real life is the type of stuff that we don’t bother teaching enough of in the classroom. 4

In any case:
Let “x” represent number of online rentals, and “y” represent number of online sales.

x + y = 2 million
6x + 15y = 15 million

(I know a handful of Algebra teachers that’ll be available for before or after-school tutorials next week if you need help finishing the rest…)

1. I have fond memories of teaching Algebra II. [↩]
2. Which is not to say that I don’t, but that’s another story for another day… [↩]
3. A “hacking” incident which “forces” Sony to test the waters of releasing a major motion picture online is rare by my book. [↩]
4. I know exactly in which unit we would teach how to set up this very type of word problem in Pre-AP Algebra II. I also know that we never taught it in on-level Algebra II, which is what I consider the real ill omen. There’s so much I could go on about the “standards” and about how educational “experts” are convinced that constantly redefining said “standards” is some magical shortcut to improving results — here’s a hint: there are no shortcuts — are moving us in all of the wrong directions… but… that’s another story for another day. [↩]