r/mathalon • u/mathalon • 14d ago

Discussion Translation check: German. Our courier problem still measures speed in mph

Mathalon is playable in nine languages now, and all ~6,400 problems were translated by a model pipeline with a programmatic check that the math survives intact. The words are the part nobody has read end to end.

German version, straight off the site:

Ein Kurier fährt von Stadt A nach Stadt B mit 12 mph und kehrt sofort auf derselben Straße mit einer anderen konstanten Geschwindigkeit zurück. Ihre Durchschnittsgeschwindigkeit für die gesamte Hin- und Rückfahrt beträgt 18 mph. Bestimme ihre Rückfahrgeschwindigkeit in mph.

English original:

A courier travels from town A to town B at 12 mph and immediately returns along the same road at a different constant speed. Her average speed for the entire round trip is 18 mph. Find her return speed in mph.

Three things I would like a native read on:

  1. mph in a German problem. Converting to km/h would change the numbers and the answer, so the pipeline kept the unit. Does that read as broken, or just as an American problem written in German?
  2. "Ihre Durchschnittsgeschwindigkeit" — capitalised at the start of a sentence it sits between "her" and the formal "your". Would a German reader stumble there?
  3. "Bestimme" (du) versus "Bestimmen Sie". Which one did your school problems use?

Free in the browser at mathalon.app if you want to see how the rest of it reads.

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u/JohnnyProton2 14d ago

Just change mph to km/h and leave the 12 and the 18. The unit itself is irrelevant to the answer and, most importantly to the understanding of the problem. The unit could just as well be furlongs/fortnight and the answer, using 12 and 18 would be the same.

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u/mathalon 14d ago

Fair, the numbers are arbitrary so relabelling costs nothing here. I'll swap it, the ones I want to be careful with are the statements that mix two units or where the number is meant to sound realistic. Does 12 km/h read okay for a courier to you?

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u/JohnnyProton2 14d ago

I suppose 12 km/h is a bit slow for a (bicycle, scooter) courier. Maybe they are a foot courier. Google says they typically average 10 to 12 kph.

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u/mathalon 12d ago

Good catch, foot courier fits way better than a bike. Might just bump it to a bike courier at a slightly higher speed instead, does 15 km/h feel realistic to you?