Question

In a swim race with a total distance of 27.5 miles, race officials intend to place buoys every 1100 yards along the course, including one at the finish line. (Note that the starting line does not require a buoy.) How many buoys, in total, are needed for this race?

Answer 1

After converting the total race distance to yards (27.5 miles = 48,400 yards) and dividing by the distance between buoys (1100 yards), we find that we need 45 buoys for the race.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find out how many buoys are needed for a swim race with a total distance of 27.5 miles, we need to convert the race distance to the same unit as the distance between buoys, which is yards. Given that 1 mile equals 1760 yards, we first multiply the total race distance in miles by the number of yards per mile.

27.5 miles × 1760 yards/mile = 48,400 yards

Next, we divide the total race course in yards by the distance between buoys to determine how many buoys will be needed:

48,400 yards / 1100 yards = 44

Since the result is not an integer, it means that the last buoy will be positioned at the finish line and it will not be exactly 1100 yards from the previous one. Therefore, we need a total of 44 + 1 = 45 buoys for the race.