Question

On a school baseball diamond the distance from the pitcher mound to home plate is about 15 m data for the pitching speed of two pitchers was collected by finding the number of seconds it took for four pitched balls to go from the mound to home plate Lou’s times were 1.2s 2.0s 3.1s 2.5 s Jamie’s times were 1.7s 2.3s 3.0s 2.2s who was the better pitcher and what was their average speed

Answer 1

To determine which pitcher is better and calculate their average speeds, we first need to find the average time for each pitcher and then use that to calculate their average speeds.

### Step 1: Calculate the Average Time for Each Pitcher

**Lou's Times:**
1.2 s, 2.0 s, 3.1 s, 2.5 s

\[
\text{Average time for Lou} = \frac{1.2 + 2.0 + 3.1 + 2.5}{4} = \frac{8.8}{4} = 2.2 \text{ s}
\]

**Jamie’s Times:**
1.7 s, 2.3 s, 3.0 s, 2.2 s

\[
\text{Average time for Jamie} = \frac{1.7 + 2.3 + 3.0 + 2.2}{4} = \frac{9.2}{4} = 2.3 \text{ s}
\]

### Step 2: Calculate Average Speed for Each Pitcher

The average speed can be calculated using the formula:

\[
\text{Speed} = \frac{\text{Distance}}{\text{Time}}
\]

The distance from the pitcher's mound to home plate is approximately 15 m.

**Lou's Average Speed:**

\[
\text{Speed of Lou} = \frac{15 \text{ m}}{2.2 \text{ s}} \approx 6.82 \text{ m/s}
\]

**Jamie’s Average Speed:**

\[
\text{Speed of Jamie} = \frac{15 \text{ m}}{2.3 \text{ s}} \approx 6.52 \text{ m/s}
\]

### Conclusion

- **Better Pitcher:** Lou is the better pitcher since he has a faster average speed.
- **Average Speeds:**
- Lou: ≈ 6.82 m/s
- Jamie: ≈ 6.52 m/s