How many shorts in a meter?

Answer 1

There are 100 centimetres or 1000 millimetres in a metre. "Shorts" are not, as far as I know, a recognized unit of measurement.

This question poped up in my son's book "EXCEL BASIC SKILLS - English and Mathematics Core Book Year 3" The answer from the answer section was 100 (so a short must be equal to a centimeter) I also have never heard of a short as a unit of measurement, I checked the Oxford English dictionary then Google, this site was the only site I found with a reference to a short as a unit of measure that could be compared to a meter. If the author of the question got the question from the same source then I suspect that this is an erroneous question. I have also emailed Pascal Press with the following:

In your book "EXCEL BASIC SKILLS - English and Mathematics Core Book Year 3" the following question appears in Unit 11 (Page 32):

How many shorts in a meter?

As I had never heard of a short being used as a unit of measure I searched for any reference to it to find out where / how it is used. I was unable to find any legitimate reference, the only online reference was someone else asking the same question:

How many shorts in a meter

Please confirm if this is an error in your book and if not please state where your reference to a short came from.

I also feel that if this is not an error then it is by far too obscure a measurement unit to be including in questions for a year 3 level, and even questionable to be including it at all in any grade level.

Please advise,

I will update this page with there answer.

It took just over 2 weeks but I did get a reply as follows (I can't see how to attach the PDF file with the explanation):

Dear David

Thank you for drawing our attention to an error in our books, Excel English and Mathematics Year 3. You are correct: the question has already been reworded in the most recent reprint to avoid reference to 'shorts'. The term itself is correct - see attached pages from Excel Mental Maths Year 3 and ExcelStart Up Maths Year 3 - the problem is that the context/explanation is missing from the book in question.

Unfortunately, even with our system of checks by editors and authors, occasional errors creep in at the production stage. There is always the chance of human error, but please be assured that we do take the matter very seriously and will amend this error as soon as the book is due for its next reprint. I know how important it is for educational books to be clear and correct so there is no confusion or misunderstanding for students.

We receive many positive comments about our Excel series, which by far outweigh any errors in them. You can be confident that our books are excellent resources for students.

Thank you, again, for taking the time to let us know about this, and please accept our apologies for the inconvenience caused. If you have any other questions, comments or concerns about any books in the Excel series, please feel free to contact me.

Kind regards

Mark Dixon

Commissioning and Project Editor

Pascal Press

PO Box 250 • Glebe • NSW 2037

Tel: (02) 8585 4039 • Fax: (02) 8585 4088

www.pascalpress.com.au

Answer 2

100

Answer 3

I don’t know