Question

You are writing a book about a 3,030-mile bike race across the United States. You wonder about a title, and how many pedal strokes it takes to finish the race. Assuming a pedal stroke is about 16 feet on average, which of the following would be the best book title?

Answer 1

One mile is equal to 5,280 feet. Since one pedal stroke is approximately 16 feet we divide 5280/16 to get 330. That is, there are approximately 330 pedal stroked per mile. Since the ride is 3,030 miles you multiply 330 x 3030 to get 999,990 pedal strokes. Therefore the ride will take approximately 999,990 pedal strokes. This is extremely close to 1,000,000. That is, one million. One million pedal strokes certainly sounds more exciting than 999,990 so my guess is that the answer to the question includes some reference to one million.

Answer 2

We have that a mile is equal to 5280 feet. Hence the whole distance is 15.998.400 feet in distance. Since every 16 feet we have one stroke, we have to divide the distance by 16 to get the number of strokes. The result is 999.900 strokes. Hence, if one wants to be accurate, the correct title is "999.900 pedal strokes". For poeticness though, maybe the best title is "1 million pedal strokes".