In September 2020, Harry Smith of ABC News remarked about how in the U.S. we read the names aloud of the fallen from 9-11. He said that if we were to read aloud the names of the
200,000 who had died from COVID-19, taking 3 seconds per name, 20 names per minute, 1,200 names per hour, it would take a week to read all the names.
As of March 28, 2021, the United States surpassed 562,150 deaths from the coronavirus. How long would it take to read all those names, using three seconds per name?
Give your answer in terms of weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds.
Click here for latest statistics
Solution to the Problem:
The answer is 2 weeks, 5 days, 12 hours, 27 minutes, 30 seconds.Multiply 562,150 by 3 seconds to get 1,686,450 seconds.
Divide by 60 to get 28,107 minutes with 30 seconds left over.
Divide by 60 to get 468 hours with 27 minutes and 30 seconds left over.
Divide by 24 to get 19 days with 12 hours, 27 minutes, 30 seconds left over.
Divide by 7 to get 2 weeks with 5 days, 12 hours, 27 minutes, 30 seconds left over.
Correctly solved by:
| 1. Veena Mg | Bangalore, Karnataka, India |
| 2. Colin (Yowie) Bowey | Beechworth, Victoria, Australia |
| 3. Ivy Joseph | Pune, Maharashtra, India |
| 4. Kassadee Lym |
Mountain View High School, Mountain View, Wyoming |