Today from Bedtime Math: No Horsing Around on the Stairs!

Try this fun math challenge with your kids!

Do you know why firefighters have to slide down a pole in the firehouse? It's not just because it's fast, or because it makes the firehouse more fun like a playground. The real answer is that horses made them do it. Back before we had cars and trucks powered by motors, fire trucks were pulled by horses, who lived in the firehouse, too. The only problem was that the horses would get lonely in the middle of the night and walk up the stairs to where the firefighters slept. So instead of straight staircases, firefighters started building spiral ones, which the horses couldn't climb. It took people too long to run down those stairs, though, so someone came up with the idea of a pole that they could shoot down. And maybe the horses were waiting right there at the bottom of the pole!

Now here's today's math ~

Wee ones: If it takes 2 seconds to slide down a pole and 10 seconds to run down the stairs, which one takes less time?

Little kids: If it takes 2 seconds for a fireman to slide down the pole, 2 seconds to grab his hat and another 5 seconds to run to the truck, how fast does the fireman reach the truck?  Bonus: If his buddy does it 2 seconds faster, how fast does his buddy reach the truck?

Big kids: If a horse takes 2 seconds to climb each step, how long does it take a horse to climb a 13-step staircase?  Bonus: If a 13-step spiral staircase takes the horse twice as long, how fast does the horse climb that one?

Answers:

Wee ones: Sliding down the pole - and it's more fun, too. 

Little kids: 9 seconds.  Bonus: 7 seconds.

Big kids: 26 seconds.  Bonus: 52 seconds.