Which is a better fit, a square peg in a round hole or a round peg in a square hole?
At the beginning of the night three poker players; Alan, Bernie and Craig had money in the ratios 7 : 6 : 5. At the end of the night the ratio was 6 : 5 : 4. One of them won $1 200. What were the assets of the players at the beginning of the evening?
A garrison of 600 men has just enough bread ... but, with the news that the enemy was planning an attack... How many ounces of bread a day must each man in the garrison be allowed, to hold out 45 days against the siege of the enemy?
If you are a teacher, click here for a version of the problem suitable for classroom use, together with supporting materials. Otherwise, read on...
The triathlon is a sport which consists of three consecutive races, a swim, a bike race and finally a long run.
Adam, Ben and Charles all want to qualify for the Olympic triathlon.
Here are their results from a trial race:
Swimming 1500m
Cycling 40km
Running 10km
TOTAL
Adam
19:12
1:04:33
32:13
1:55:58
Ben
21:19
1:05:28
31:54
1:58:41
Charles
22:31
1:03:22
30:12
1:56:05
Which athlete do you think burned the most calories?
Adam, Ben and Charles weigh approximately 70kg each It is estimated that athletes of this weight burn energy at the following rates:
Assuming that the rate at which calories are burned is directly proportional to the athletes' speed, estimate how many calories each of the three athletes burned during his race.
Are you surprised? How can you explain your results?
Do you think the modelling assumptions are valid?