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Cruz is training to compete in a triathlon. He left his house at 6:00 and ran until 7:30. Then he rode his bike until 9:45. He covered a total distance of 51 miles. His speed when biking was 1.6 times his speed when running. Find Cruz’s biking and running speeds.

biking 16 mph, running 10 mph

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Phuong left home on his bicycle at 10:00. He rode on the flat street until 11:15, then rode uphill until 11:45. He rode a total of 31 miles. His speed riding uphill was 0.6 times his speed on the flat street. Find his speed biking uphill and on the flat street.

uphill 12 mph, flat street 20 mph

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Key concepts

  • Distance, Rate, and Time
    • D = rt where D = distance, r = rate, t = time
  • Problem-Solving Strategy—Distance, Rate, and Time Applications
    1. Read the problem. Make sure all the words and ideas are understood.
      Draw a diagram to illustrate what it happening.
      Create a table to organize the information: Label the columns rate, time, distance. List the two scenarios. Write in the information you know.
    2. Identify what we are looking for.
    3. Name what we are looking for. Choose a variable to represent that quantity.
      Complete the chart.
      Use variable expressions to represent that quantity in each row.
      Multiply the rate times the time to get the distance.
    4. Translate into an equation.
      Restate the problem in one sentence with all the important information.
      Then, translate the sentence into an equation.
    5. Solve the equation using good algebra techniques.
    6. Check the answer in the problem and make sure it makes sense.
    7. Answer the question with a complete sentence.

Practice makes perfect

Solve Uniform Motion Applications

In the following exercises, solve.

Lilah is moving from Portland to Seattle. It takes her three hours to go by train. Mason leaves the train station in Portland and drives to the train station in Seattle with all Lilah’s boxes in his car. It takes him 2.4 hours to get to Seattle, driving at 15 miles per hour faster than the speed of the train. Find Mason’s speed and the speed of the train.

Mason 75 mph, train 60 mph

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Kathy and Cheryl are walking in a fundraiser. Kathy completes the course in 4.8 hours and Cheryl completes the course in 8 hours. Kathy walks two miles per hour faster than Cheryl. Find Kathy’s speed and Cheryl’s speed.

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Two busses go from Sacramento for San Diego. The express bus makes the trip in 6.8 hours and the local bus takes 10.2 hours for the trip. The speed of the express bus is 25 mph faster than the speed of the local bus. Find the speed of both busses.

express bus 75mph, local 50 mph

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A commercial jet and a private airplane fly from Denver to Phoenix. It takes the commercial jet 1.1 hours for the flight, and it takes the private airplane 1.8 hours. The speed of the commercial jet is 210 miles per hour faster than the speed of the private airplane. Find the speed of both airplanes.

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Saul drove his truck 3 hours from Dallas towards Kansas City and stopped at a truck stop to get dinner. At the truck stop he met Erwin, who had driven 4 hours from Kansas City towards Dallas. The distance between Dallas and Kansas City is 542 miles, and Erwin’s speed was eight miles per hour slower than Saul’s speed. Find the speed of the two truckers.

Saul 82 mph, Erwin 74 mph

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Source:  OpenStax, Elementary algebra. OpenStax CNX. Jan 18, 2017 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col12116/1.2
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