9/9/2014 Solve Distance, Speed and Time Problems.

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About.com About Education Mathematics . . . Algebra 1 Help and Tutorials

By Deb Russell
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Train Travel
When you are solving
problems for distance,
speed and time, you will
find it helpful to use
diagrams and/or charts
to organize the information and help you solve the problem. You will also apply
the formula that solves distance, speed/rate and time which is distance =
speed/rate times time. OR
d = rt
Let's begin with an example:
A train leaves Deb's house and travels at 50 miles per hour. Two hours later,
another train leaves from Deb's house on the track beside or parallel to the first
train but it travels at 100 miles per hour. How far away from Deb's house will the
faster train pass the other train?
Remember, d will represent the distance
in miles from Deb's house and t will
represent the time that the slower train
has been travelling.
It is helpful to draw a diagram to show
what is happening, see the Train
Diagram image.
Organize the information you have in a
chart if you haven't solved these types of
problems before. Organize your chart by
giving the equation information and the
formula:
distance= speed x time
.See the image.
Now you can solve the system of
equations:
50t = 100 (t - 2)
50t = 100t - 200
200 = 50t
&nbsp &nbsp t = 4
5
4
3
2
1
D. Russell
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Now substitute t = 4 into train 1
d =50t
&nbsp &nbsp=50(4)
&nbsp &nbsp=200
Now you can write your statement. "The faster train will pass the slower train 200
miles from Deb's house.
Now try solving similar problems:
Question 1:
A train left Chicago and traveled towards Dallas. Five hours later another train left
for Dallas traveling at 40 miles per hour with a goal or catching up with the first
train bound for Dallas. The second traing finally caught up with the first train after
traveling for three hours. How fast was the train that left first going?
Remember to use a diagram to arrange
your information. Then write the 2
equations to solve your problem.
Question 2:
One train left the station and traveled
toward its destination at a speed of 65
miles per hour. Later, another train left
the station traveling in the opposite
direction of the first train, it was going at
a speed of 75 miles per hour. After the
first train had traveled for 14 hours it
was 1960 miles apart from the second train. How long did the second train travel?
Answers here.
Remember to use the formula that supports what you're looking for - distance?
speed/rate? time?
d = rt (Multiply)
r = d/t (Divide)
t = d/r (Divide)
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