Skiing is a wild winter sport where you strap a long board called a ski to each foot and zoom down a big snowy hill. The longer the ski, the more snow your weight spreads out across, and the faster you go. So the longest skis in the world would give you a wild ride, right? The record-breaking skis, made in Norway in 2011, were over 1,800 feet long! But they held 170 skiers on them, so that weight slowed them down…but the team skied forward 44 feet!
Wee ones: If you strap 1 ski onto each of your feet, how many skis are you wearing?
Little kids: If you and 2 friends share a pair of skis, how many feet do you all have? Bonus: If you squeezed yourself onto a giant snowboard with the 17 people, now how many people are on the snowboard?
Big kids: If of 170 people standing on those skis, half of them stood on just 1 foot, how many feet were down on the skis? Bonus: Which is longer, the 1,800-foot skis or a 5,280-foot mile?
Answers:
Wee ones: 2 skis.
Little kids: 6 feet. Bonus: 18 people.
Big kids: 255 feet down on skis. 170 / 2 = 85, so 85 people have 2 feet down and 85 people have 1 foot down. 85 x 2 + 85 x 1 = 170 + 85 = 255. Bonus: A mile, since it’s 5,280 feet…but those skis are more than 1/4 mile!
