Need for Speed

The Race Track

Let's say you are a participant in your school's annual sports competition, which includes the 100-meter dash. You are a fast runner but not the fastest. You know Milkha is the fastest runner in the school and will probably finish first on the day of the race. The night before the competition you explain your predicament to your mother. She innocently asks, "But how fast is Milkha?" She hasn't seen you or Milkha run, and has no clue about your respective sprinting abilities. You reply back "Faster than me.". She quizzes back "How much faster than you?". You quip back "Faster than me, but definitely slower than Usain Bolt," someone your mother has seen run. By providing these comparisons to your mother, you are essentially setting a lower and upper bound on the running abilities of Milkha. Milkha will definitely run definitely faster than you, but will surely be slower than Usain Bolt.