CENTRE for INNOVATION in
MATHEMATICS TEACHING


Data Interpretation - Set 1

World Records for the Mile (Men)

The data required to answer these questions is to be found on the Web page at http://www.ex.ac.uk/cimt/data/worldrec/mmile
which can be found at any time by clicking on
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Then, to return from that page to this page, click on the head-key marked Back

1. Name the athlete who set the first world record.
2. How many times has a new world record for the mile been set?
3.
In what year was the mile first run in less than four minutes?
What was the name of the runner?
4. Would you agree with the statement that,
"The record is only broken in the warmer months of the year, and never in winter"?
If not, why not?
5. Are some months better for record-breaking that others?
6. What is the longest period of years for which the record has gone before being broken?
7. Which runner (or runners) has held the record the greatest number of times?
8. By how much time has the record been lowered this century?
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9. What is the greatest amount of time by which the record has been broken?
10. Make a table to show by how much the record has been lowered
in each of these periods given below -
The first and last have already been done.

From 1913 to 1923 4 seconds

1923 to 1933

1933 to 1943

1943 to 1954

1954 to 1965

1965 to 1975

1975 to 1985

1985 to 1995 1.93 seconds

11. Make a forecast of what the record might be in 2005,
and explain how you arrived at that time.
12. If John Paul Jones and Nourreddine Morceli had been running in the same race,
by what distance should one have beaten the other?
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