First we have to calculate the speed or velocity of an athlete.
Event distances are recorded in m (The Olympic Games uses the Metric system) and time in minutes, seconds and 1/100ths of a second except cycling where 1/1000ths of a second are recorded.
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Here is Usain Bolt creating a New World Record for 100m in Berlin 2009. You may as well watch. It will take less than 10 secs.
We are going to use current Olympic Records to calculate the average speed of Usain Bolt, the fastest man on earth:
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But we are more familiar with km per hr (kph) so we will convert from m/sec to kph:
Some in the world use mile per hr (mph) so one more conversion:
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Maths Exercise:
Here are some current Olympic Records, which students can use to calculate average speeds in m/sec then convert these speeds to kph (See chart in the following post for answers);
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1. 100m M Sprint 9.69 sec Usain Bolt Jamaica
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2. 100m W Sprint 10.62 sec Florence Giffith-Joyner USA
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3. 100m M Freestyle 47.05 sec Eamon Sullivan Australia
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4. 100m W Freestyle 53.12 sec Britta Steffen Germany
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5. 1500m M Freestyle 14.38.92 mins Grant Hackett Australia
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6. 200m M Butterfly 1.52.03 mins Michael Phelps USA
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7. 200m W Butterfly 2.04.18 mins Lui Zige China
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8. 1,500m M Track 3.32.07 mins Noah Ngeny Kenya
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9. 1,500m W Track 3.53.96 mins Paula Ivan Romania
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10. Marathon 42.195 km M 2.06.32 hrs Samuel Wanjiru Kenya
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11. Marathon 42.195 km W 2.23.14 hrs Naoko Takahashi Japan
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12. Cycling M 200m Sprint 9.815 secs Chris Hoy UK
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13. Cycling W 200m Sprint 10.963 secs Victoria Pendleton UK
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14. Rowing M 8+ 2000m 5.19.85 mins USA
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15. Rowing W 8+ 2000m 5.55.50 mins USA
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16. Cycling M 1km Time Trial 1.00.711 mins Chris Hoy UK
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17. Cycling W 500m Time Trail 33.952 secs Anna Meares Australia
How fast are Olymic athletes compared with animals?
The top speed of humans was clocked at 43.56 km/h (27.1 mph) by Olympic sprinters Michael Johnson and Donovan Bailey during their Olympic competitions. This top speed only lasts for very short bursts. More info at this link.
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I’m sure Usain Bolt would achieve an even higher burst of speed if being chased by a cheetah. And, of course, cyclists can go much, much faster down hill.
So lets see how our 15 athletes above would rank on the animal speed chart. Go to the next post. Woo HOo! It’s the Zebra Olympics.
The following table logs the fastest times recorded for various animals.
It’s like The Guinness Book of Records for Rats and other critters. Falcons do not fly at 350km/h at all times terrifying tourists. Nor does Usain Bolt race down the 3rd aisle at the supermarket in a few seconds.
This table compares the average speed of humans with the top speeds of animals. More info @ mistupid.
13. Cycling W 200m Sprint V. Pendleton UK 65.67 km/h
Hyena
40
64.38
Zebra
40
64.38
Mongolian wild ass
40
64.38
Greyhound
39.35
63.33
16. Cycling M 1km Chris Hoy UK 59.30km/h
Whippet
35.5
57.13
Rabbit (domestic)
35
56.33
Mule deer
35
56.33
Jackal
35
56.33
17. Cycling W 500m Anna Meares Aust 53.02 km/h
Reindeer
32
51.5
Giraffe
32
51.5
White-tailed deer
30
48.28
Wart hog
30
48.2
Grizzly bear
30
48.28
Cat (domestic)
30
48.28
Elephant
25
40.24
1. 100m M Sprint Usain Bolt Jamaica 37.15 km/h
2. 100m W Sprint F. Giffith-Joyner USA 33.91 km/h
Black mamba snake
20
32.19
Race runner (lizard)
18
28.97
8. 1,500m M Track Noah Ngeny Kenya 25.45 km/h
Wild turkey
15
24.14
14. Rowing M 8+ 2000m USA 22.50 km/h
9. 1,500m W Track Paula Ivan Romania 22.21 km/h
15. Rowing W 8+ 2000m USA 20.27 km/h
10. Marathon M Samuel Wanjiru Kenya 20.02 km/h
Squirrel
12
19.31
Pig (domestic)
11
17.7
11. Marathon W Naoko Takahashi Japan 17.68 km/h
Chicken
9
14.48
3. 100m M Freestyle Eamon Sullivan Australia 7.67 km/h
4. 100m W Freestyle Britta Steffen Germany 6.77 km/h
6. 200m M Butterfly Michael Phelps USA 6.44 km/h
5. 1500m M Freestyle Grant Hackett Aust 6.16 km/h
7. 200m W Butterfly Lui Zige China 5.80 km/h
Spider (Tegenaria atrica)
1.17
1.88
Giant tortoise
0.17
0.27
Three-toed sloth
0.15
0.24
Garden snail
0.03
0.05
Now Mathpigs,
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even though a chicken can move faster than, say, Grant Hackett swimming, it must be said that a chicken could not keep up that speed for 1500m!!! …………………
….. And, even though a squirrel can run faster than Naoko Takahashi, I don’t think it could keep running for 42plus km!!
Ellie Kuprik, in The Huffington Post, reported on 31 Aug 2011 that JCPenney, a mid-range clothes store with over 1,100 shops in malls across America, was stocking the following t-shirt for girls aged 7 – 16 years.
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Having fun with the ‘Yeah! Girls are Dumb’ theme, the Huffington Post suggested other possible t-shirts to be stocked by JCPenney.
Such pressure works. According to Huffington Post article the t-shirt has been pulled.
But where are the positive T-shirts about maths for girls. Here are a few, which are both playful and mathsy:
Vi Hart ( pic below) calls herself a mathemusician. She graduated with a degree in music from Stony Brook University, NY, two year ago, but has always maintained an interest in maths. Last November she posted Doodling in Maths Class on You Tube, which as the New York Times explained ‘ married a distaste for the way math is taught in school with an exuberant exploration of math as art’. It went viral. Her youtube videos have collected over 1 million hits already.
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The question for maths teachers is this:
Why didn’t Vi study MATHS at uni when she:
* is smart
* loves maths
* is mathematically creative
Was she booooooooored by high school maths?
Vi’s videos should be a must see for all maths teachers. They are fun and they encourage girls to take on the maths challenge.
First we have to calculate the speed or velocity of an athlete. 
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