The winner of the men's 1500-meter speed skating event at a recent Winter Olympics had a time of 1:45.57.Assuming that the distance was measured accurately to five significant figures,what was the skater's average speed in miles per hour?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The skater's average speed can be calculated using the formula:Average speed = Distance / TimeWe are given that the distance was measured accurately to five significant figures, which means that the distance is known to be 1500 meters to within 0.005 meters. Therefore, the distance can be written as:Distance = 1500.000 ± 0.005 metersWe are also given that the skater's time was 1:45.57. This can be converted to seconds as follows:Time = 1 minute 45.57 seconds = 105.57 secondsNow we can calculate the skater's average speed:Average speed = (1500.000 ± 0.005 meters) / (105.57 ± 0.01 seconds)= 14.212 ± 0.005 meters per second= (14.212 ± 0.005 meters per second) * (3600 seconds per hour) * (0.621371 miles per kilometer)= 31.785 ± 0.018 miles per hourTherefore, the skater's average speed was 31.785 ± 0.018 miles per hour. The correct answer is A.

The Winner of the Men's 1500-Meter Speed Skating Event at a Recent