Five Rings: The Olympics Begin - The Solutions

 

September 18, 2000


Of those at the opening ceremony, 11,000 were athletes, and there were 11,000 + 1000 + 110,000 = 122,000 people total. Hence, 11 / 122 = 0.09, or 9%, of those there were athletes.

 

She runs 400 m in 48.63 s, so her speed is 8.22 m/s. There are 60 x 60 = 3600 seconds in an hour, so she runs 8.22 x 3600 = 29,592 meters per hour. Further, there are 5280 x 12 = 63360 inches in a mile, and there are 39.37 inches in a meter, so there are 5280 / 39.37 = 1609 meters per mile. Hence, she runs 29,952 / 1609 = 18.39 miles per hour. This can all be thought of nicely as follows: Start with 400 m / 48.63 s. Then, continually multiply by unit fractions (that is, fractions equal to 1) until the proper units are determined:

  400 m  |  39.37 in  |  1 foot  |  1 mile  |  3600 s
-------- | ---------- | -------- | -------- | --------  = 18.39 mph
 48.63 s |  1  meter  |   12 in  |  5280 ft |  1 hour

 

Suleymanoglu lifted 683.25 / 137 = 4.99 times his own bodyweight. Mutlu lifted 666.75 / 123 = 5.42 times his own bodyweight. Hence, Mutlu made accomplished a "more impressive" feat.

Note that an answer could have also been attained with estimation. It could have been estimated that Mutlu lifted roughly 600 / 120 = 5 times as much; but this estimate would be slightly low, since the estimate for his bodyweight and the amount he lifted were both less than the actual numbers. Similarly, it could be estimated that Suleymanoglu lifted roughly 700 / 140 = 5 times, but this estimate would be slightly high since both his bodyweight and the amount he lifted were lower than the estimates we used.

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December  25, 2000
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