Name: Legaspi, Melmar RB V.
Course: BSMT ll – DELTA
Part lll : The basics of distance problems
Distance, rate, and time are the three fundamental components of movement and travel. Consider your
most recent driving experience to get a sense of how these differ from one another.
DISTANCE RATE TIME
The distance is how far you traveled, and there are three fundamental components to it. The rate is the
speed at which you moved. The duration of the journey is the time.
This formula can be used to describe how these objects relate to one another:
Rate x time = distance
d = rt
Stated differently, the distance traveled is equal to the rate of travel times the duration of the trip.
Consider the following scenario from your most recent vacation to get a sense of how this would operate
in real life:
The distance was 25 miles, which you drove.
The rate is the average speed at which you drove.
It took you half an hour, or thirty minutes, to make the drive.
The formula states that if we multiply the rate by the time, the
25 = 50 . 0.05
Distance Rate Time
And it is! We drove 50 mph for 0.5 hours—and 50 ⋅ 0.5 equals 25, which is our distance.
What if we drove 60 mph instead of 50? How far could we drive in 30 minutes? We could use the same
formula to figure this out.
60 ⋅ 0.5 is 30, so our distance would be 30 miles.
Solving distance problems
When you solve any distance problem, you'll have to do what we just did—use the formula to find
distance, rate, or time. Let's try another simple problem.
On his day off, Lee took a trip to the zoo. He drove an average speed of 65 mph, and it took him two-and-
a-half hours to get from his house to the zoo. How far is the zoo from his house?
First, we should identify the information we know. Remember, we're looking for any information about
distance, rate, or time. According to the problem:
The rate is 65 mph.
The time is two-and-a-half hours, or 2.5 hours.
The distance is unknown—it's what we're trying to find.
You could picture Lee's trip with a diagram like this:
60 ⋅ 0.5 is 30, so our distance would be 30 miles.
Solving distance problems
When you solve any distance problem, you'll have to do what we just did—use the formula to find
distance, rate, or time. Let's try another simple problem.
Lee’s House ------------------- d = ? ------------------ Zoo
r = 65 mph
t = 2.5 hours
This diagram is a start to understanding this problem, but we still have to figure out what to do with the
numbers for distance, rate, and time. To keep track of the information in the problem, we'll set up a
table. (This might seem excessive now, but it's a good habit for even simple problems and can make
solving complicated problems much easier.) Here's what our table looks like:
distance rate time
d 65 2.5
We can put this information into our formula: distance = rate ⋅ time.
We can use the distance = rate ⋅ time formula to find the distance Lee traveled.
d = rt
The formula d = rt looks like this when we plug in the numbers from the problem.
The unknown distance is represented with the variable d.
d = 65 ⋅ 2.5
To find d, all we have to do is multiply 65 and 2.5. 65 ⋅ 2.5 equals 162.5.
d = 162.5
We have an answer to our problem: d = 162.5. In other words, the distance Lee drove
from his house to the zoo is 162.5 miles.