Real-Life Math
You jot down notes as the dispatcher tells you about the next 5 pickups and deliveries he wants you to make before lunchtime. You glance down at your watch. It's already 10:30 a.m.
You need to be at the last business on the list, Galley's, by noon to pick up a package. It will be close as to whether you can actually make it.
"Math isn't a really important part of the job," says Joel Metz. He is a bike courier. Couriers use math to keep track of the number of deliveries they are making, how long they take and how many more they can make in a day.
Math is also used at the end of the day when a courier adds up the number of deliveries and the money collected. "It comes in handy when you are checking your payout sheets," says Metz.
These are your estimated times for the pickups and deliveries before lunch:
- A pickup and delivery to Rochester's (10 minutes)
- A pickup at architect's office and delivery to printers (35 minutes)
- Pick up and deliver financial papers to a bank (20 minutes)
- Pick up and deliver letters to a law office (25 minutes)
- Pick up at Galley's (10 minutes)
As you ride, you experience a delay of 5 minutes at Rochester's. It also takes 15 fewer minutes to deliver the architect's package to the printers than you expected.
Are you going to be able to be at Galley's by noon to pick up the last package?