Math Standards

The first sample problem cited in “Goals for High School Graduation Spelled Out” (Nov. 13), how many dollar bills placed end to end would it take to reach the moon, with a 6” bill, the distance being 238,700 miles at 5,280 feet per mile, is a perfect example of why we Americans should wake up and go metric!

The time saved per pupil, per year teaching our outdated measuring system would more than make up for the cost of conversion.

PATRICK D. CONROY

San Marino High School

* Apropos the graduating standards suggested for high school math: How about applying them, as represented by the sample questions, to middle schools or even grade schools instead?

My wife and I grew up in India, and if memory serves, the sample questions are of the level we faced by the age of 12. While we may have been above-average students, we were not astoundingly so! We need to get serious in California if we want to achieve world standards for more than an elite few.

DILIP ADARKAR

Manhattan Beach