Measuring: Measuring Instruments
A Dallas-type plot pits big-business baron Roy Singleton with a young farm family, the Nobles. For quite a while, Singleton has tried to take their property, and now he seems to have found the answer. The old deed set the property line ""five chains from the northernmost granite rock."" Singleton and his surveyors have measured, and decided that the property line should be 100 meters south. Were this to be true, the Noble family would lose their only access road. In confidence, Mr. Noble decides that, if the property line is where Singleton insists, maybe the solution would be to build another access road. Paul and Leona, the youngest of the Nobles, get a trundle wheel to accurately measure how long that road would be. But all along, Singleton is watching them–and plotting. (Concludes in next episode.)
Measuring: Formulas
The proposed road for the Noble family is too expensive to build. When Leona argues that the high price doesn't make sense, she is told that a road has three dimensions. It would take 23 dump trucks to cart off the dirt before any gravel could be laid down. None of that would prevent Roy Singleton from taking over the farm property that he thinks is his. Still, Mr. and Mrs. Noble want to see the original deed. They telephone Leona with what appears to be bad news: It's true that the boundary line was five chains south of ""the northernmost granite rock."" Given that information, Leona sets out to calculate the area of the farm. But there's something that doesn't add up–unless Roy Singleton measured from the wrong rock. Sure enough, Leona and her brother Paul scout around and, in the presence of Roy Singleton, find the northernmost granite rock.
Comparing: Numerical Comparisons
Armondo, a high-school-aged garage mechanic has just received a $1,000 check for a job on which he had spent long hours. His girlfriend wonders what such back-breaking effort is worth.
Comparing: Percent
Leona wants to spend a large chunk of money on a knockout dress for the upcoming prom. The others in her family insist that she think of a simpler solution, one that will fit her yearly budget. This leads to an obvious question: what kind of dress can Leona afford to buy? Maybe Leona's brother can muster an alternative.
Comparing: Finding a Common Unit
At a new location, a marina, Cynthia is running a successful business as a sailing instructor. But the business threatens to stop dead when a new student, Myrna Mitchell, damages the hull of Cynthia's sailboat. Can she afford a new hull? Can she afford to have someone look at it after a three-week layover? Or may another sloution pop up from somewhere else?
Comparing: Ratios
Micki Tenini, the sister of an up-and-coming record producer, is joining a band called the Marveltones. She clashes slightly with the bandleader, Henry (Apollo) Jackson, who reminds her the proportion of fast songs to slow songs. In time, Micki agrees to stay with that ratio, and she is delighted to hear her brother is opening a recording studio.
Locating & Interpreting: Organizing Information
After a real-life scene in which health detectives break down the cause of diseases, the story of a band and a recording studio picks up from the previous episode. The new secretary can't keep track of things on her cluttered desk; the band is frequently chased out of the studio because someone else has booked it. But when the government calls for an examination of the band's expenditures, not all the receipts are in the same place. Following a search, the bandleader and lead singer arrange all the receipts by categories and type it up for their meeting with the auditor. In the end, the band doesn't owe any moey. What they're left with are some organizing lessons.
Locating & Interpreting: Graphs
A car accident has prompted the driver, Blanca Ortiz, to take action. She is deeply upset for the boy who had to cross the busy street to reach a playground. It was nobody's fault that the accident occurred–or was it? Upon doing research, the driver draws up the graph to show the increase in traffic on that street. She also learns that the local government turned down earlier proposals to put a stoplight at the playground. It's just about all the evidence she needs to make her case clear to the city council.
Locating & Interpreting: Maps, Charts and Tables
Cynthia accepts a sailing challenge from her old nemesis. At the insistence of a sea captain, Cynthia charts out the proposed race route and the tide tables. Thus she plots a few sailing smarts to win the race.
Predicting: Probability
Micki and the Marveltones put a lot of money and effort into recording a single, hoping that a radio station will play it. But the record gets lost in a slew of submissions from local bands (this is Los Angeles, after all). After an exhaustive study, the Marveltones' only clue turns out to be the biggest arrow of all. It would be easier to get on radio if they record a slow song, because it had a greater chance of being played.
Predicting: Choosing a Sample
The city council wants to pass a bill that would prohibit commercial use of the marina. That would sacrifice Cynthia's sailing instructions. But just who is in favor of restricting use of the marina, and why? It takes a while for Cynthia and her friends to determine who to ask. As a result of that sample, Cynthia and her friends discover that the real impetus for the bill was that marina members were sick of an old sea dog's clunky boat. But he wants to show a council member that his boat is getting cleaned up.
Predicting: Averages
Tony has bought a car from a local dealer. Thinking he has got a bargain based on the average gas mileage on this model, Tony finds himself at the gasoline pumps more often than he would like. At about the same time, his daughter Blanca realizes that her boyfriend is still breaking his back fixing cars. Both there are different kinds of averages.
