Mathematical Musings
(Answer one at a time. Answer as many times as you like.)

 On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me ….
Twelve drummers drumming,
(What kind of drum? How big is it? What is the area of the top? What is the circumference? How many cubic inches of air are inside the drum?)
 Eleven pipers piping,
 (Bag pipes I presume? How much air from your lungs is needed to get sound out of the bag pipes?)
 Ten lords a-leaping,
(How high are they leaping? How many times do they leap? Will you measure that by the minute?
Do they leap all day? Do they sleep? Eat? Take a break?
What is the combined leap of the ten lords during the twelve days of Christmas?)
Nine ladies dancing,
(What kind of dancers? How long do they dance?
How many combined hours during the twelve days do they dance?)
Eight maids a-milking,
(Let’s assume each maid has her own cow to milk. How long per day can the average cow be milked?
How much milk does the average cow produce in one day?
What would it cost to buy the milk from the eight cows during the twelve days of Christmas?)
Seven swans a-swimming,
(So if they swim in a rectangular pool that is 40 ft long by 20 feet wide, with a shallow end 3 feet deep that is 15 ft long and a deep end 9 ft deep that is 15 ft long – the remaining 10 ft is a slope – what is the volume of the pool?
Hint: There are about 7.48 cubic ft in a gallon!)
Six geese a-laying,
(How many eggs do geese lay? Do they lay eggs every day?
Assuming these are all adult geese,
how many eggs would you expect these six geese to lay during the twelve days of Christmas?)
Five golden rings,
(How do you measure gold rings? [karats?] What does gold cost these days?
It can change daily. What might it cost to buy these five golden rings?)
Four calling birds,
(Sound is measured in decibels. How loud do you suppose four birds calling are?)
Three French hens,
(Make up your own for this one and post back to the blog for others to solve.)

Two turtle doves,
(Where are you going over the break? [city, town, state?]
How many combined miles would it be for these two turtle doves to fly round trip with you?)
And a partridge in a pear tree!
(The ratio of partridges here to pear trees is 1 to 1 [one partridge – one pear tree]. But what do you suppose the ratio is of partridges to pears? How many pears does an average pear tree have at any given time?)