Helga has a Remington model 870 pump-action shotgun with a five-round magazine, fully loaded. She expends two rounds defending herself from an aggressive polar bear she encountered on her way home from school. How many more rounds can she fire before she must reload?

This word problem is not one likely to be encountered by American schoolchildren. (For that matter, American schoolchildren may never see a word problem in what passes for curriculum these days... but that is another subject.) But it would be second nature for the students described in this article. For those living in Svalbard, an encounter with a polar bear is an ever-present risk. Hence, the school lends weapons and ammunition to students who need them. Obviously, these silly Norwegians don't understand that guns are the problem, not the solution.