Netherlands Math Test

This post is for my Opa because this is the type of joke I can hear him telling me on a Sunday afternoon at the dinner table :)

Netherlands Math Test

A Dutch fella wants a job, but the foreman won't hire him until he passes a little math test. Here is your first question, the foreman said. 'Without using numbers, represent the number 9.' 'Without numbers?' The Dutchman says, 'Dat's easy.' and proceeds to draw three trees.

'What's this?' the boss asks.

'Vot! you got no brain? Tree and tree and tree make nine ,' says the Dutchman.

'Fair enough,' says the boss. 'Here's your second question. Use the same rules, but this time the number is 99.'

The Dutchman stares into space for a while, then picks up the picture that he has just drawn and makes a smudge on each tree. 'Dar ya go.'

The boss scratches his head and says, 'How on earth do you get that to represent 99?'

'Each of da trees is dirty now. So, it's dirty tree, and dirty tree, and dirty tree. Dat is 99.'

The boss is getting worried that he's going to actually have to hire this Dutchman, so he says, 'All right, last question.

Same rules again, but represent the number 100.'

The Dutch fella stares into space some more, then he picks up the picture again and makes a little mark at the base of each tree and says, 'Dar ya go. Von hundred.'

The boss looks at the attempt. 'You must be nuts if you think that represents a hundred!'

The Dutchman leans forward and points to the marks at the base of each tree and says, 'A little dog come along and pooped by each tree. So now you got dirty tree and a turd, dirty tree and a turd, and dirty tree and a turd, vich makes von hundred.'

'So, ven do I start?