Grampah can't do math in his head?!

It took a while, but I finally figured it out this morning. The woman who jogs on the indoor track runs 1.5 times faster than I walk.

First, I had to wait for a day we were both heading in the same direction. (She always jogs counterclockwise.) Then I had to notice that she kept passing me at the same point. (It was conveniently at the end of my even-numbered laps.)

I started by trying to figure out, "If I walk two laps and she doesn't pass me until the second lap, how much faster is she going?" However, my head would get all muddled until I felt like Pooh Bear.

Then I had the realization that helped. "What if I figure out how much slower I'm going?" I could make that work. I also counted how many laps she ran. (That helped a lot more.) She ran three laps for every two laps I walked. Ergo, she runs 1.5 times faster than I walk.

But, you know me. I had to keep thinking. If she had been running twice as fast as I walked, she'd be running 100% faster. But doesn't 100% mean the entire amount? She must have been running 50% faster. Doesn't 50% mean half? Yes, but that doesn't mean she was running half as fast.

If 100% means twice as fast and 50% means half as fast, then how come 75% doesn't mean just as fast? Arrgh!

Tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff...

(By the way, this post's title is a line by Frederick in Frasier.)