Question

Amelia is traveling from Los Angeles, California, to Mesa, Arizona. The total distance she will drive is 388 miles. Amelia would like to get to Mesa in approximately 7 hours. She is wondering at what speed she will have to travel in order to make that happen. Using the formula d=vt , rearrange the formula to highlight the quantity of interest

Answer 1

To find the speed at which Amelia needs to travel in order to reach her destination in the desired time, we can start with the formula for distance:

\[ d = vt \]

Where:

• \( d \) is the distance (388 miles),
• \( v \) is the speed (which we want to find),
• \( t \) is the time (7 hours).

To isolate \( v \), we can rearrange the formula:

1. Divide both sides by \( t \):

\[ v = \frac{d}{t} \]

Now we have the formula that highlights the quantity of interest (speed):

\[ v = \frac{d}{t} \]

Substituting in the values for \( d \) and \( t \):

\[ v = \frac{388 \text{ miles}}{7 \text{ hours}} \]

Now, let's calculate that:

\[ v \approx 55.43 \text{ miles per hour} \]

Thus, Amelia would need to travel at approximately 55.43 miles per hour to reach Mesa in about 7 hours.