THE MUSEUM STAFF (Pages 106–107)

Can you work out the heights of all the museum staff?

Stephen Cartwright = 5ft 9in

Bill Cooper = 5ft 11in

Sam Cooper = 6ft 2in

Mary Hawkins = 5ft 10in

Elizabeth Knight = 5ft 6in

Richard November = 5ft 10in

Earnest Robinson = 6ft

Harriet Wheeler = 4ft 8in

We see Earnest Robinson standing next to a 6ft stack of packing crates Earnest must be 6ft as well. We also see that Bill Cooper is shorter than that pile of packing crates and so must be shorter than 6ft. Bill Cooper also has to stoop down to get through the low doorway. The sign next to the doorway tells us it is 5ft 8in high meaning Bill must be taller than 5ft 8in but shorter than 6ft.

Harriet is sitting on a packing crate which is 1ft 2in wide. As the crate is square it must also be 1ft 2in tall and the crate measures exactly from the floor up to Harriet’s knee. We can see from the Anthropometry Diagram that the measurement from floor to knee is a quarter of someone’s full height. We can work out Harriet’s height by multiplying 1ft 2in by 4, making Harriet 4ft 8in tall.

Elizabeth is standing next to a 2ft 9in high packing crate which comes up to just below her hips. We know from the Anthropometry Diagram that the base of the hips is the midpoint of the body and so we can work out Elizabeth’s height by doubling 2ft 9in, making Elizabeth 5ft 6in tall.

Mary is standing next to a dodo which we know is 2ft 11in which also comes up to just below her hips. We can calculate her height the same way. Mary is 5ft 10in. Stephen is shorter than Mary and taller than the 5ft 6in dinosaur skeleton. Stephen must therefore be 5ft 9in.

Richard is shorter than the 4ft 9in skeleton when it’s standing on top of the 1ft 2in packing crate. This means Richard must be shorter than their total height of 5ft 11in. The only remaining height on the list shorter than that is 5ft 10in meaning Richard is 5ft 10in.

The remaining two heights on the list are 5ft 11in and 6ft 2in. We know Bill is taller than 5ft 8in but shorter than 6ft therefore he must be 5ft 11in and Sam must be 6ft 2in.