Idaho Society of Professional Engineers
Friday Update - 04/01/05
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!
Jimmy Ross/Boise
UPCOMING EVENTS:
● April 14 - 16, 2005 -
ISPE Annual Meeting, Pocatello, Idaho
● July 7 - 9, 2005 - NSPE
2005 Annual Convention, Chicago, Illinois
Accrediting Group Seeks
Input From Practicing Engineers
The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology has started a project to
revamp its process for selecting and training program evaluators and encouraging
more participation from practicing engineers. For more information click on
http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/nspeupdt/issues/2005-03-29.html
TAKE THE JETS CHALLENGE
Can you solve this JETS challenge problem? The answer will appear in next week's
edition of the Friday Update!
The Jelly Bean Challenge
The Just Born Candy Company in Bethlehem, PA, makes 20 billion jelly beans each
year, and runs 16 hrs per day, 5 days per week year round. The typical jelly
bean is an ellipsoid that measures 15 mm by 9 mm by 9 mm. Starting on Friday,
January 2, 2004, and taking no holidays until today, March 12.
If the jelly bean production was laid end to end, how many complete circles of
the earth (which is 12,756 km in diameter) could be completed by today?
Answer to last week's MATHCOUNTS problem:
We know that it was 7000 slices per 400 loaves. If we divide both numbers by
400, we see that it was 17.5 slices per 1 loaf.
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We know that the 7000 slices covered 700 square feet of space. If we divide both
numbers by 7000, then we have that 1 slice of toast covered 0.1 square feet of
space. If we allow the side length of a piece of toast to be x, we need to solve
x2 = 0.1. Taking the square root of both sides, we see that x = 0.3162 or
–0.3162, so the toast measures 0.3162 feet on a side. The question asked for the
number of inches, so 0.3162 feet is 0.3162(12) = 3.8 inches, to the nearest
tenth.
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Since there were 7000 pieces of toast and five workers, we know that each worker
placed an average of 1400 pieces of toast. From 7:30 a.m. to 5:05 p.m. is a
9-hour-35-minute period. This is 9(60) + 35 = 540 + 35 = 575 minutes or 575(60)
= 34,500 seconds of time. If a person’s 1400 pieces of toast are placed at a
constant rate throughout the 34,500 seconds, that is 34,500 ¸ 1400 = 25 seconds
per piece of toast, to the nearest whole number.
If you want to see last week's problem again, click
http://www.mathcounts.org/webarticles/anmviewer.asp?a=632&z=104
Idaho Society of Professional Engineers
PO Box 170239
Boise, ID 83717-0239
208-426-0636
Fax: 208-426-0639
E-Mail: ispe@rmci.net
Web Site: www.Idahospe.org
Idaho
Society of Professional Engineers
