Time for MATH MINUTE! (provide your favorite theme music
here).
Get
out your paper & pencil because I have a new puzzle for you!!
PUZZLE #17 Around & around Feb. 5
-Feb. 9
Sometimes
you can figure out the answer to a puzzle without knowing all of the details.
Here
is a classic example.
Suppose
you need to run a communication cable around the Earth at essentially ground
level. This would take a lot of cable!
Then
suppose you find that instead of ground level you need to run the cable at a
height of 2 feet above the ground all the way around the Earth.
Will
you need a lot more cable or not?
(For
simplicity, assume that the Earth is flat where you will be going).
How
much more cable will you need for this job??
Recall
the circumference of a circle is d(pi), where d is the diameter of the circle
and pi is pi. So a circle with radius 1 foot will have a circumference of 2pi.
You
could go lookup the diameter of the Earth, but it is not necessary here (why
not?).
Send your comments, ideas and solutions before Monday
to this
email address, and be sure to put: * MM * in the subject line:
Visit us here online at
http://www2.potsdam.edu/parksjm/MM.htm
to see the results every Monday.
See you next
time on MATH MINUTE! (theme music fades out here).