Our sages teach in the Talmud that 30 days before Pesach we must start reviewing the halachot of Pesach. In other words, the halachot of Pesach are very complex. We need to review them to observe Pesach properly.

However, there is something very simple about Pesach that we cannot spend any extra time on. That is the process of making matzah. Each matzah must be kneaded and baked in 18 minutes or less.

What would happen if we compared these two time periods? That is, imagine making just one matzah after another nonstop for 30 days straight. This cannot actually take place for multiple reasons. It would mean you could not take any breaks to eat or sleep. Also, it would be impossible since you would be making matzahs over Shabbat. We cannot cook or bake anything over Shabbat. So it’s just a fun situation to imagine.

Here is the question:

How many matzahs would you make in 30 days if you made one after another without taking any breaks?

Solution: We can do this problem using some mental math tricks. The entire calculation including units is: 30 days x 24 hours/day x 60 minutes/hour /18 minutes/matzah. We could multiply the first three numbers, get a big number and then divide by 18. However, we can make the multiplication less difficult. First break up 18 into 3 x 6. Then divide 30 by 3 and 60 by 6. That gives 10 and 10. This makes things a lot easier because the problem is now 10 x 24 x 10.

This is just 24 with two more zeros; that is 2,400.

This means that if you made just one matzah after another nonstop for 30 days, you would make 2,400 matzahs. Shabbat Shalom!

Ari Blinder is a math educator living in Highland Park. He is the owner of Math for the Masses, an innovative tutoring and consulting company. Please visit www.math4masses.com for fun activities and helpful worksheets. Ari can be reached at [email protected]. Never think you are “not a math person.” You are very much one already, but no one has shown you how.