It’s turkey time here in the U.S. — the weekend we celebrate family, friends and all of the blessings in our lives. And since I’m certainly thankful for math (seriously!), I thought we should take a look at some interesting Thanksgiving numbers.
391: The number of years since the first Thanksgiving
90: The estimated number of Wampanoag tribe members who attended the first Thanksgiving
1789: The year of the first “national day of Thanksgiving”
40: The number of years that Sarah Josepha Hale advocated for an annual, national Thanksgiving holiday
254 million: The number of turkeys expected to be raised in the U.S. in 2012
6: The number of “home economists” who were hired to answer 11,000 phone calls for the Butterball Turkey Hotline‘s inaugural year in 1981
50: The number hired to answer more than 100,000 calls last year.
165: The number of degrees of a safely cooked turkey, according to the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
768 million: Projected number of pounds of cranberries expected to be produced in the U.S. in 2012
50: Percent increase in plumber calls and visits on the day after Thanksgiving, over any other Friday of the year
43.6 million: Number of Americans expected to travel more than 50 miles during the 2012 Thanksgiving holiday
90: Percent expected to travel by car
25: Number of balloon floats in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
How are you spending your Thanksgiving holiday? What math is involved? Share your responses in the comments section.