The London Eye
The 80 spokes of The London Eye are made from 4 miles of cable. What is the approximate circumference of the wheel?
Age
14 to 16
Challenge level
The 80 spokes of The London Eye (a giant wheel) are made from 4 miles of cable.
Roughly what is the circumference of the wheel in metres?
1 mile is approximately 1600 metres
If you liked this problem, here is an NRICH task that challenges you to use similar mathematical ideas.
Answer: 500 metres
80 spokes = 4 miles
80 $\times$ radius = 4 miles
20 $\times$ radius = 1 mile
20 $\times$ radius $\approx$ 1600 metres
radius $\approx$ 80 metres
circumference $\approx$ 160$\pi$ metres
$\approx$ 500 metres