Try this fun math challenge with your kids!
On a hot day, a fast way to cool off is to slide on a water slide. And that's an easy thing to make: put a slippery sheet on a slope, point a running hose at it, and fling yourself onto it to zoom down the hill. Of course, as with everything, even the slip 'n slide is part of a world record. A few days ago students in Mahwah, NJ broke the world record for the biggest total distance traveled on a slip 'n slide. They built a slide nearly 75 feet long, then 250 kids slid down the hill over and over, until their sliding added up to more than 20 miles. It took about 1,400 total trips to get there! The kids worked as a team as part of town police department's Leadership Academy. They may have been tired and worn out by the end, and maybe even a little bumped and bruised, but we know for sure that they definitely weren't hot.
Now here's some slip 'n' slide math~
On a hot day, a fast way to cool off is to slide on a water slide. And that's an easy thing to make: put a slippery sheet on a slope, point a running hose at it, and fling yourself onto it to zoom down the hill. Of course, as with everything, even the slip 'n slide is part of a world record. A few days ago students in Mahwah, NJ broke the world record for the biggest total distance traveled on a slip 'n slide. They built a slide nearly 75 feet long, then 250 kids slid down the hill over and over, until their sliding added up to more than 20 miles. It took about 1,400 total trips to get there! The kids worked as a team as part of town police department's Leadership Academy. They may have been tired and worn out by the end, and maybe even a little bumped and bruised, but we know for sure that they definitely weren't hot.
Now here's some slip 'n' slide math~
Wee ones: If you build 2 slip 'n slides on your lawn, one 5 feet long and one 7 feet long, which one is longer?
Little kids: If it took your friend 13 seconds to slide down the slide and you then did it 1 second faster, how fast did you slide down? Bonus: If 250 people were already sliding down the slide and you joined them, now how many people are in the group?
Big kids: If the hose had to gush 2 gallons of water for every trip, how many gallons of water were sprayed during the 1,400 trips? Megabonus: If you want to do at least 1 mile of sliding yourself, how many trips do you need to take on the 75-foot slide? (Reminder: A mile has 5,280 feet.)
Find out what's happening in Summitfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Find out what's happening in Summitfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Answers:
Wee ones: The 7-foot slide.
Little kids: 12 seconds. Bonus: 251 people.Big kids: 2,800 gallons. Megabonus: 71 trips. One way to solve this is by figuring out the distance for 10 trips - 750 feet - and using that to add up bigger chunks: 1,500 is 20 trips, 3,000 feet takes 40 trips. So 4,500 feet takes 60 trips. From there you can add another 10 trips (750) to get 5,250 feet in 70 trips, but you're still short 30 feet, so add 1 more trip for 71.
