For the Maths nerds.

**SA1988** · 05-30-2012 05:21 AM

I won't bother to explain the context, but today my boss said the following:

"We're 93 million miles from the sun. There are 365 days in a year. Speed equals distance over time. From that you can figure out how fast we're going!"

All I'll say is, my answer was a pretty close effort, considering I did it in my head, including the conversion from miles/hour to metres/second! INTPride.

I figured, since we're all intelli-boasting INTPs here, it would be fun to see what answers any of you fellow Maths nerds can come up with. Mine was close but I lost a zero somewhere along the way, so in a sense I had the right number but it was missing '0' on the end.

NO CHEATING! ALL IN YOUR HEAD! ANSWERS IN m/s!
If someone instantly spoils this I'll... well I'll do nothing

**SA1988** · 05-30-2012 05:23 AM

And also.. not smart-arse comments about how, if we want to find out the speed of a fixed point on earth, you need to also consider the earth's spin, and where on its surface you are. That's just OTT and lame.

93 million miles from the sun. 365 days in a year. How fast is Earth going?

Answers in metres/second.

**Jennywocky** · 05-30-2012 05:24 AM

You mean only how fast we're going around the sun?

Because the universe is also expanding more and more rapidly, so we're actually going much faster, in multiple directions at once.

Speed can only be determined relative to something else.

EDIT: Of course I wrote this before I saw your last post, although that doesn't answer my question. Just clarifying what you want...

**SA1988** · 05-30-2012 05:38 AM

Ok...

A ball, in zero gravity, is attached to a stick by a totally inelastic cord, 93'000'000 miles in length.

The ball is then spun around the stick, with the cord extended to fell length, at a rate of 365 days per revolution.

Acceleration and deceleration is instant. No other forces acted on the ball.

How fast, in metres/second, did the ball travel?

Haha

**Erudis** · 05-30-2012 05:54 AM

You have the radius of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. With that you can find the circumference of the orbit (circumference = diameter.π). With the circumference (the distance) and the time (365 days) you can find the speed (speed = distance/time). The rest is just basic conversion of the units. I don't see what's so difficult about it.

**SA1988** · 05-30-2012 06:01 AM

Nothing specially difficult but I was proud of doing it all in my head and getting reasonably close, that's all! It was just a bit of fun!

The challenge was to figure out the actual answer in your head.

**MoltenHorse** · 05-30-2012 06:04 AM

Earths orbit is elliptical not circular.
147,098,074km the closest and 152,097,701km the furthest if someone wants to up the ante on the math problem.
edit: and a complete orbit takes 365.256363 days.