Ventura California Youth Authority

   Problem by Virginia Ruiz - Mr. Sweeney's 3rd period:

M     This problem is for baseball lovers.  The bases for baseball are 90 feet apart and the pitchers mound is 45 feet from home plate.  A runner can run 90 feet in 4 seconds, a pitcher can pitch a ball at 100 miles an hour and a catcher can throw the ball to second base at 8o miles an hour.  As the pitch leaves the pitchers hand the runner takes off for second will the runner be safe or will the runner be out? By how much time will the runner be safe or out?  (For the catcher to get the ball out of the glove and start his throw to second base and for the second baseman to catch the ball and tag the runner takes 630 millisecond.)

M     In the problem above how much lead does the runner need to take to avoid being thrown out at second base?

Problem by Jessica Hill - Mr. Sweeney's 2nd period:

M      I am in Mr. Sweeney’s 2^nd period math class.  Mr. Sweeney shows a movie to only one class every Friday.  The class with the most points at the end of the week gets to watch the movie while the rest of the classes catch up and try for the movie next week.  Are class is smart and very competitive, so I have come up with a word problem for you.  When period two wins 60% of the time, how many times will period two watch a movie in a year?  If period one can win 29% of the time, how many times will period one watch a movie in a year?   Period three will win only 10% of the time and period four will win only 11% of the time, how many times will period three and period four watch a movie?  (We go to school 52 weeks a year.)

M      Period two has won 9 times in four months can I still brag that we are the best class and that we will win 60% of the time?  Explain your answer in paragraph form.