Race time
Frank and Gabriel competed in a 200m race. Interpret the different units used for their times to work out who won.
Age
11 to 14
Challenge level
Problem
Frank and Gabriel competed in a 200m race. Gabriel finished in half a minute and Frank finished in one hundredth of an hour.
Who won the race, and by how many seconds?
If you liked this problem, here is an NRICH task which challenges you to use similar mathematical ideas.
Student Solutions
Answer: Gabriel, by 6 seconds
Gabriel: Half a minute = 30 seconds.
Frank: 60 $\times$ 60 = 3600 seconds in 1 hour, so $\frac1{100}$ of an hour = 36 seconds.
Gabriel was 6 seconds faster.