Noah and Emma, track stars with superb hearing, ran as fast as they could to catch up to the ice cream truck in the next town over. They averaged 6 miles per hour, then rested to enjoy their ice cream. They averaged 4 miles per hour over the same distance on the way back. Not counting the time they rested, what was their average speed?
4.8 miles per hour. 5 mph is tempting, but incorrect. Pick any distance, say 12 miles there and 12 miles back. They take two hours to cover the first 12 miles and three hours to cover the return trip. In 5 hours they covered 24 miles which is an overall average of 4.8 miles per hour.
There are many English words that you can add an “s” to make it plural. But far fewer words become singular when you add an “s”. What are two examples of these much rarer words?
1020. There are 6 men with 2 legs each, for a total of 12 legs. There are 36 cats with 4 legs each for a total of 144 legs. There are 216 kittens with 4 legs each for a total of 864 legs 12 + 144 + 864 = 1020.