Question

The doctor traveled to an African prairie to observe how fast a cheetah runs. He noticed that every 10 seconds, the cheetah slowed down miles per hour. The cheetah had to slow down a total of 15 times before it ran out of energy and had a speed of 0 mph.

What was the cheetah's top speed, in decimal form?

Answer 1

The problem statement is missing the numerical amount the cheetah slows down each 10 seconds. With that value (call it s, in mph), the cheetah’s top speed is simply 15·s mph (because it slows down 15 times to reach 0).

If you give the slowdown value, I’ll compute the decimal answer. For example:
- If it slowed 6 mph each time, top speed = 15·6 = 90.0 mph.
- If it slowed 2.5 mph each time, top speed = 15·2.5 = 37.5 mph.