Four athletes from the Republic of Korea competed in a team wheelchair race at
the Paralympic Games. The team finished the race in a total of 190.729 seconds.
First team member: 46.685 seconds
Second team member: 48.869 seconds
Third team member: 49.33 seconds
How it many seconds did it take the fourth team member to complete his part of
the race?
The Correct Answer and Explanation is :
To find the time it took the fourth team member to complete his part of the race, we need to subtract the sum of the times for the first three team members from the total race time.
Here’s how we calculate it:
- Total time of the race = 190.729 seconds
- Time for the first team member = 46.685 seconds
- Time for the second team member = 48.869 seconds
- Time for the third team member = 49.33 seconds
Step 1: Add the times of the first three team members
46.685 + 48.869 + 49.33 = 144.884 seconds
Step 2: Subtract this sum from the total race time
190.729 – 144.884 = 45.845 seconds
Thus, it took the fourth team member 45.845 seconds to complete their part of the race.
Explanation:
The problem involves finding the missing portion of a total by subtracting known parts from it. This is a common approach in many math and real-world problems, where we need to find an unknown value from a set of values whose total is known.
In this case, the total race time was 190.729 seconds, and the times for the first three athletes were given. By adding up the times for the first three athletes, we could determine how much time they took collectively. Subtracting that collective time from the total race time tells us how long the fourth athlete took.
This method relies on basic arithmetic, specifically addition and subtraction. It’s helpful in many scenarios, such as budgeting, scheduling, or, as seen here, in athletic timing. Keeping track of parts and wholes helps in breaking down tasks into manageable steps for easier problem-solving.