How would you calculate this?

Fairly straightforward tbf:

50*3 + 60*2 = distance in miles
5 = time in hours
270/5 = 54mph
Convert mph to m/s and you're done
 
Devrij said:
Fairly straightforward tbf:

50*3 + 60*2 = distance in miles
5 = time in hours
270/5 = 54mph
Convert mph to m/s and you're done
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For you, yes. For a school dropout who's skated by for most of his life (and forgotten most of what he's learned due to living in Amsterdam for 8 years and enjoying the local produce rather extensively) not so much.

Still, I must admit that I'm thoroughly enjoying this, it's still pretty straightforward stuff but I do get caught out by the odd question, such as this one.

You wouldn't think I'm a head engineer for a team of 6 guys in a maintenance company, would you? :D
 
Yeah as you've done it. I worked out the first part (barely read the q) and didn't see the SI units...

Guess I'll have to hand back my masters in engineering.. :o (i blame getting up at 4am)

Even for 1st year that seems pretty easy, particularly if coursework rather than exam. Just tells you to always check the question twice (and work out why it's worth X amount of marks)
 
Diddums said:
That's exactly how I worked it out too. Thing is, there's this line at the end of the question:

"Answer the question, giving your answer to a suitable number of significant figures and explaining your choice of significant figures."

Wut? :confused:
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At GCSE Maths level, giving your answer to a 'suitable degree of accuracy' and then explaining your answer is normally required on a bounds question where there is an upper and a lower bound.

So for example if you finished the question with an 'upper bound' speed of 35.149 mph and a 'lower bound' speed of 35.072 mph, your final answer to a suitable degree of accuracy would be 35.1 mph as all answers match this to 3 s.f. Not sure how bounds ties in to the above que though as it is quite specific in the speed and the time taken, they aren't rounded figures.

Oh and in answer to the question I got exactly 24 m/s using the fact that again at GCSE level (you did say it was a GCSE que) students are expected to use 1 mile = 1.6 km or 5 miles = 8 km, so 432,000/18,000 = 24 m/s
 
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Diddums said:
For you, yes. For a school dropout who's skated by for most of his life (and forgotten most of what he's learned due to living in Amsterdam for 8 years and enjoying the local produce rather extensively) not so much.

Still, I must admit that I'm thoroughly enjoying this, it's still pretty straightforward stuff but I do get caught out by the odd question, such as this one.

You wouldn't think I'm a head engineer for a team of 6 guys in a maintenance company, would you? :D
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certainly not :(:(
 
Thanks guys, all feedback or comments are appreciated, even the slightly patronising ones :D

I've double checked the course material and there's norhing in it about SI units so far so this is either a test of my existing knowledge or to see if I'm cheating. Either way it doesn't really matter.

Really interesting though, some of the later content looks ridiculous but I'm sure I'll get my head around it all in due course (I should bloody hope so, this is costing me a fortune).
 
Diddums said:
Thanks guys, all feedback or comments are appreciated, even the slightly patronising ones :D

I've double checked the course material and there's norhing in it about SI units so far so this is either a test of my existing knowledge or to see if I'm cheating. Either way it doesn't really matter.

Really interesting though, some of the later content looks ridiculous but I'm sure I'll get my head around it all in due course (I should bloody hope so, this is costing me a fortune).
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If you get your head down and do the work it wont be so bad, i do occasionally get that feeling when walking out of a lecture looking at the scrawl of symbols on the board and thinking how the hell did i understand all that :D
 
I have no doubt it'll serve its purpose and from a quick look around it's actually pretty damn simple.

A quote from a previous tutor:

"For **** sakes Dave, why are you always overthinking everything and questioning everything when the solution is so bloody simple?"

This has been echoed many times during my existence, which has resulted in many face palm moments when the penny drops.
 
Well, they call those guys that plug in Ethernet and coaxial cables 'engineers' these days, so i guess this thread shouldn't horrify me as much as it does.
 
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