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CLOUDY Temp: 61 °F Wind: WNW at 5 mph Monday, September 29, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine Joy Magazine Tempo A & E RogueValleyAutoFinder RogueValleyHomeFinder Real Estate Showcase Wellness Connection Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Employment Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend September 3, 2003 Since you asked Asking journalists to do math? Heavy rainfall on the evening of Aug. 6 made me wonder: If 1 inch of rain falls in one day on my quarter-acre lot, and I have a single garden hose that flows at three gallons per minute, how long would my hose have to be turned on to produce the amount of water that rained on my lot? Please do the math for me. Thanks. — Dan H., Medford The "experts" at Since You Asked World Headquarters are betting that you’re a math teacher and you’re just trying to see if we’re nothing but a bunch of dunces here. When it comes to math, you’re right. That’s why we got into journalism — college advisors told us "Not much math!" Luckily, we have access to supercomputers that will crunch the numbers for us, so it should be a snap (right?). Advertisement Well, let’s have a go with it. By the way, we will be rounding numbers for the sake of clarity. The amount of water that would cover one acre (43,560 square feet) to a depth of one foot would be 325,851 gallons. For a quarter-acre, that translates to 81,463 gallons. But since you only want to calculate water volume at 1 inch deep (instead of 12), that comes out to 6,789 gallons. (Are you following this?) Now divide 6,789 by three gallons a minute, and that comes out to 2,263 minutes. In other words, you would need to run your hose for 38 hours to get the amount of rainfall that fell Aug. 6. Well, Dan, you really got us sweating today. Don’t turn your hose on too long because we really could use a nice drink of water. Send questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by e-mail to [email protected] . We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them. Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Rogue Valley Auto Finder Rogue Valley Job Finder --> Rogue Valley Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times