Problems of the Week

Due Friday, November 21st by noon EST

1. Space junk is debris orbiting Earth that, for the most part, has broken off of spacecrafts or rockets, or has just been abandoned. Some of these items are far enough from Earth that they will remain in orbit forever; however, much of this “junk” will be pulled into Earth’s atmosphere by gravity. On average, one item per day falls victim to gravity. At this rate, in what year will 2300 pieces of space junk enter the atmosphere if you start counting today (November 17, 2008).
Ans: 2015

2. Two pieces of space junk are following the same orbit path, one is 1000 miles behind the other. If the front piece of space junk is traveling at a speed of 17,000 miles per hour and the other piece of space junk is traveling 17,500 miles per hour, how many miles will the front piece of junk travel before the second piece catches up to it?
Ans: 34,000 miles (2 hours)

3. A piece of space of space junk is traveling 16,500 miles per hour 8550 miles above the center of the earth. How many hours does it take the space junk to orbit one full time around the earth? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest tenth.
Ans: 3.3 hours

4. The number that results when a number is multiplied by itself CANNOT end in which digits? NOTE: Please read this question carefully. What is it called when you multiply a number by itself? Now, which digits cannot be the last digit? For example 2 × 2 = 4, so 4 can be the last digit.
Ans: 2,3,7 and 8

5. This question was submitted (inspired) by Robby Vint.
Robby plays fantasy football at Fox Sports, but I am going to use the scoring system for Yahoo!. He can’t decide whether to start Joe Flacco or Matt Cassel. Both players have played in 9 games. Joe Flacco has thrown for 1649 yards and 7 touchdowns, but has 7 interceptions. He has run for 85 yards and 2 touchdowns. He has also received for 43 yards. Matt Cassel has thrown for 1800 yards and 7 touchdowns, but has 7 interceptions. He has run for 123 yards and 1 touchdown.

According to Yahoo! Sports’ scoring system, each quarterback gets points in the following ways:

Passing Yards (20 yards per point)
Passing Touchdowns (4 points each)
Interceptions (-2 points each)
Rushing Yards (10 yards per point)
Rushing Touchdowns (6 points each)
Reception Yards (10 yards per point)

Based on total number of fantasy points, who should Robby start next week?
Ans: Matt Cassel