Question

A bike tire has a diameter of about 26 inches. You ride a straight distance of about 75 feet. About how many revolutions does the tire make along this distance?

Answer 1

To get the amount of revolutions made, we are trying to compare the tyre circumference with the road distance, lets see how this works

The circumference of the circle is

$\pi D=\pi\times26=81.68\text{ inches}$

The distance ridden is

$75\text{ f}eet=75\times12=900\text{ inches}$

Whenever the car covers 81.68 inches, it does one revolution.

So if it takes 900 inches, it does

$\frac{900}{81.86}=11.018\approx11\text{ revolutions}$

Thus the tyre makes 11 revolutions while along this distance