IMC 2004 Q8
8. In March 2003 Welshman Tony Evans dropped a ball from an aircraft a mile above the Mojave desert to see if it would bounce. The ball was made from 6 million rubber bands, had a circumference of 14 ft 8 in, weighed 2600 pounds and took Mr Evans five years to build. On average, roughly how many rubber bands did he add each day whilst building the ball?
- A 3
- B 33
- C 330
- D 3300
- E 33 000
Intermediate Mathematical Challenge 2004, Question 8. © UK Mathematics Trust. Original paper on ukmt.org.uk
Answer: D 3300
The average number of rubber bands added each day was approximately \(\dfrac{6\,000\,000}{5 \times 365} \approx \dfrac{6\,000\,000}{1800} \approx 3300\).
Solution © UK Mathematics Trust, from the IMC 2004 solutions.