Question

The Pony Express was a mail delivery system in the Old West that used a series of men on horseback to deliver mail from St. Joseph, MO to Sacramento, CA along a trail that was 2000 miles long. True or false: If each rider traveled 100 miles, got a fresh horse every 10 miles, and maintained an average speed of 10 mi/hr, it took 150 horses for each delivery.

True
False

Answer 1

False

Step-by-step explanation:

We have a distance of 2000 miles if each rider traveled 100 miles we need:

`2000\,\,miles\,(1\,\,rider)/(100\,\,miles)=20\,rider`

Then we need 20 riders now each rider got a fresh horse every 10 miles then:

`100\,\,miles\,(1\,\,fresh\,\, horse)/(10\,\,miles)=10\,fresh\,\,horse`

Finally multiplying by the 20 riders:

`(10\,\,horses)/(1\,\,rider)20\,rider=200\,\,horses`

Then we need a total of 200 horses.