Question

The standard Olympic marathon distance is 26 miles 385 yards. What is this distance in kilometres to 3 decimal places? (1 yard ? 0.9144 metre, 1 mile = 1760 yards)

Answer 1

50.465 km

Explanation:

In order to find the distance in kilometers, you need to first convert the marathon distance into yards. Since the conversion measurement of 1 mile = 1760 yards is given, you can use this to find the total yards in 26 miles:

`(1760yards)/(1mile) =(x)/(26miles)` or x = 45,760 yards

Adding this amount to the additional 385 in the marathon distance:

45760 + 385 = 46,145 yards

Since 1 yard = 0.9144 meters, we can find the number of meters the same way we found yards:

`(1 yard)/(0.9144 meters) =(46145)/(m)` or m=50,465 meters

Since the question is asking for kilometers, we can need to divide the number of meters by 1000, or move the decimal point three places to the left:

50,465 ÷ 1000 = 50.465 km