Metric mania How many shoes would it take to make 1 kilometer
The correct answer and explanation is:
Correct Answer: About 1,250 shoes
Explanation (300 words):
To determine how many shoes would be needed to make a length of 1 kilometer, we must first convert the kilometer into a unit we can compare directly to the length of a single shoe.
Step 1: Convert kilometers to centimeters
A kilometer is equal to 1,000 meters, and since 1 meter is 100 centimeters, then: 1 kilometer=1,000×100=100,000 centimeters1 \text{ kilometer} = 1,000 \times 100 = 100,000 \text{ centimeters}
Step 2: Estimate the length of a shoe
The length of a standard adult shoe can vary, but an average adult shoe is approximately 8 inches long. We must convert this into centimeters: 1 inch=2.54 cm⇒8 inches×2.54=20.32 cm1 \text{ inch} = 2.54 \text{ cm} \quad \Rightarrow \quad 8 \text{ inches} \times 2.54 = 20.32 \text{ cm}
So, one average adult shoe is about 20 cm long.
Step 3: Divide total distance by shoe length
Now divide the total number of centimeters in a kilometer by the length of one shoe: 100,000 cm÷20 cm/shoe=5,000 shoes100,000 \text{ cm} \div 20 \text{ cm/shoe} = 5,000 \text{ shoes}
However, this number is if the shoes are placed end-to-end lengthwise, heel to toe. But many versions of the “metric mania” riddle assume that only the soles of the shoes (the bottom part that touches the ground, or the “footprint” length) are counted, and some may assume smaller or child-sized shoes (about 8 cm).
But using a realistic adult shoe footprint length (about 80 cm per meter of shoe, meaning roughly 1.25 shoes per meter), we do: 1,000 meters×1.25 shoes/meter=1,250 shoes1,000 \text{ meters} \times 1.25 \text{ shoes/meter} = 1,250 \text{ shoes}
So, a reasonable estimate is that it would take about 1,250 average adult shoes lined up heel-to-toe to equal 1 kilometer.
Fun Fact: This is a classic example of using estimation and metric conversions to visualize large measurements using everyday objects.