A snail is climbing up a tree trunk. For every 5 cm that it climbs, it slips down 1.5 cm. It takes 3 seconds to climb 1 cm and 2 seconds to slip 1 cm. What is the distance it can climb in 6 minutes?
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This week we would like to share an interesting question with everyone! Once in a while we try to share questions with some elements of fun to liven up classes.
Many of our P5 students had quite a lot of fun working on this question, with the “fun” aspect being embedded in the concept of grouping. To solve this question, one would need to be able to identify what constitutes a group.
See below for the full solution!
5 cm climb → 5 x 3 sec = 15 sec1.5 cm slip → 1.5 x 2 sec = 3 secEach group of time → 15 sec + 3 sec = 18 secEach group of distance → 5 cm – 1.5 cm = 3.5 cm3.5 cm → 18 sec (1 group)6 mins = 360 sec 360 sec ÷ 18 sec = 20 groups20 x 3.5 cm = 70 cm