Fair, or Not Fair, that is the Question?

Question

 The Blackman Bears are competing in a grueling 12-mile relay race. Coach Thompson met with the four-member team and gave them the following instructions: 

Martin will run 25 % of the entire distance first

Ben will run the next 1/3 of the remaining distance

Corey will cover 0.50 of the distance that is left

Jason will run the rest of the way. 

Some members of the team complained to Coach Thompson that the assignment wasn’t fair. 

Do you agree or disagree? Why? 

Answer 1

NOTE: Students need to understand how a relay race is ran.

Answer: Coach was being fair! Each student ran 3 miles out of the 12 mile relay race.

Martin ran 25% of the 12 miles (25% of 12), therefore 3 miles.

Ben ran 1/3 of the remaining distance (9 miles), so 1/3 of 9 = 3 miles, too.

Corey ran 1/2 of the total distance left ( 6 miles) which is also 3 miles

Jason ran the rest of the way, which is 3 miles!

Key thing to remember is to subtract the prior distance each runner ran along the way.