Can You Answer These Elementary School Questions Without Consulting a Child?

Disturbingly, a number of Americans don't realize that New Mexico is a state just east of Arizona. Walter Lopez, the editor of New Mexico Magazine, collects stories from New Mexicans about the times they had to explain to someone from one of the other 49 states that, really, they weren't from a foreign country.

If 3/4 was written as .75, it'd be a decimal. This can also be written as "75 percent." The other two choices, odd number and rational number, don't really apply here.

You've probably heard the expression "the lowest common denominator." That means that the denominator is as small a number as it can be while still being a whole number. Since the numerator is reduced in proportion to the denominator, reducing to the lowest common denominator is a way of making a fraction small and easy to deal with.

Mercury is a small planet, and the one closest to our star. This planet was named for the god Mercury, (Hermes in Greek mythology), the messenger of the Olympians.

The Pacific Ocean is the champ in terms of size. Following it, in order, are the Atlantic, the Indian, the Southern and the Arctic Oceans.

Young deer are called fawns. This name has lent itself to a color--a pale brown--and is also sometimes used as a female name.

Most of the world's continents are a land mass all on their own--both of the Americas, for example. Europe is the exception; there is little in the way of a natural division from Asia. However, the Greeks considered Europe its own continent, so the designation stuck.

The Grand Canyon is an eternally popular tourist destination in the desert state of Arizona. It was carved by the great Colorado River.

The word part "port" often refers to motion or travel. Consider also the words "transport" and "transportation," as well as "porter"--someone who carried luggage at railway stations or hotels of old.

Congress, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, is America's legislative body. In many other countries, this body is called a Parliament.

This is a basic question from geology--the three parts of the earth's composition. The core is the innermost part, and is molten and very hot.

"Establish" means "to set up, to found." It's also used in argumentation--if you've introduced and properly supported an idea, you've established it.

Kids learn in health class that bone marrow has several functions. It has a role in immune function, and also produces new blood cells--in humans, about 500 billion a day! That's employee-of-the-month stuff right there!

"Amuse" and "entertain" are close in meaning. "Entertain" is usually the more active verb, suggesting real effort made by actors, comedians, et cetera. "Amusement" can be more low-key; a simple anecdote can be amusing.

Here's how it works: 4/5 is also 8/10. Or 80/100. That simple ratio equates to 80 percent, because "per cent" means that 100 is the denominator if the percent is written as a fraction.

Plants use sunlight to create sugars which they store and use as fuel. The word is a combination of two Greek words, "photo" for "light" and "synthesis" for "making."

"Portion" is a slightly fancier word for "part." There's really no need to use "portion," we think--unless you're designing a spelling bee for grammar schoolers.

"Quiver" means "to shake," as does the rhyming word "shiver." Fun fact: As a noun, a "quiver" is a wearable container that holds arrows. (We suspect "Game of Thrones" fans already knew that.)

The main gods numbered twelve, from mighty Zeus to the virgin goddess Hestia. Not included in this number are the many demi-gods of Greek mythology, like the Three Fates or the Titans, who were forerunners to the Olympian gods.

Comets are icy astronomical bodies that orbit the sun in wide, elliptical paths. When they pass the earth, they make for once-in-a-lifetime viewing. The two named above are among the most famous.

Conjunctions are linking words, but in linking phrases or clauses, they sometimes change the direction of the sentence. "But" works this way: "I wanted a job, but not to work 60 hours a week."

Pronouns are shortened and broadly-applicable nouns; they take the place of either common or proper nouns. In other words, either "the woman" or "Isabel" could be replaced with "she."

An adverb is a part of speech that modifies (describes, adapts or changes) a verb. Or, other times, an adjective or another adverb. They're known for ending in "-ly" (e.g., "angrily"), but watch out: A good deal of adverbs do not actually have this suffix.

"Cosines" is a term from mathematics (and a bit beyond elementary school math). The other three are parts of speech, of which there are commonly accepted to be eight: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, articles, prepositions and conjunctions.

A word that gets someone's attention, or expresses sudden attention or emotion, is an interjection. They're not always one word, as in, "My God!"

"Angelic" is the correct spelling. If you struggled with spelling in school, or do even to this day, don't be too hard on yourself. Spelling is actually a very poor indicator of intelligence.

We could have said "plant reproductive system" as well, because that is fundamentally what a flower is. The stamen produces pollen, the fertilizing agent, and the pistil receives it.

"Excess" is a word that refers to "overage," or unnecessary, extra things. Or behavior, for that matter. A common usage is "drinking to excess."

Newton was a polymath with a number of mathematical and scientific interests. His researches included math, gravity (and physics overall), astronomy, optics and the nature of light ... Really, this just scratches the surface. He wasn't a medical expert, though.

The human heart has two atria and two ventricles, separated by valves. This is something students learn in health class in about second or third grade.

Sedimentary rocks are formed from compressed layers of sediment over a long period of time. Igneous rocks are made from cooled magma, while metamorphic rocks change composition as the result of heat and pressure--the name "metamorphic" suggests this very change.

Okay, we're getting toward the upper end of elementary-school knowledge here. But sixth-graders do study the reproductive system as part of health science, and they learn about the egg and sperm coming together to create a zygote, which then becomes an embryo.

The Nile is the world's longest river, flowing from Ethiopia, Rwanda and Burundi (it has several points of origin) to Egypt, where it empties into the Mediterranean. If you said the Nile is fictional ... Stay in school, sweetie!

Pluto is considered a "dwarf" planet. Discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh, it was considered the ninth planet until the late 1990s. The attempt to downgrade it sparked a lot of debate and a "Save Pluto!" drive, and to this day, if you poll 100 people, you'll probably get about a 50-50 on whether Pluto has planet status or not.