Ocean · Puzzle #7 · Tuesday, October 6

Ocean: the answers

Four questions, each with one true number. Here they are with their answers, how to reason each one out, and where the number comes from. Ocean has been retired: for more questions like these, play today's Best Guess.

1. 1. More than 85,000 people come to Maine's Yarmouth Clam Festival each July. How many Lime Rickeys (a fizzy lime soda) did festivalgoers drink there in 2022?

   The answer: 5,800. Festival cooks also cleaned, breaded and fried a record 217 gallons of clams.

   1. 85kpeople come
   2. ÷10people for every drink of this kind sold

   ≈8,500Lime Rickeys

   Source: Yarmouth Clam Festival, Food

2. 2. How many African elephants weigh as much as one of the biggest blue whales?

   

   The answer: about 30 elephants. Monterey Bay Aquarium says the biggest blue whales can reach about 108 feet and 200 tons, the largest animal on Earth.

   1. 150tons for a big blue whale
   2. ×2,000pounds in a ton
   3. ÷8,000pounds for an African elephant

   ≈37.5elephants

   Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium, Blue whale

3. 3. What is the Guinness World Record for the most surfers riding the same wave at once, each on their own board?

   

   The answer: 110 surfers. The riders shared one wave at Muizenberg Beach in Cape Town, South Africa, to raise awareness of climate change.

   1. 1,000feet of breaking wave along the beach
   2. ÷10feet of room for each surfer

   ≈100surfers

   Source: Guinness World Records, Most surfers riding the same wave simultaneously

4. 4. The Myrtle Beach area in South Carolina has about 157,000 hotel rooms, condos and rentals. How many visitors does it welcome a year?

   The answer: over 17 million. The Grand Strand has 60 miles of beach.

   1. 157krooms and rentals
   2. ×3people in each
   3. ×150nights each is booked a year
   4. ÷4nights a typical beach stay

   ≈17.7Mvisitors

   Source: Visit Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach Area Fact Sheet

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