To determine how far the caterpillar can crawl in 1 minute, we first need to find its speed based on the information given: it crawls \( \frac{1}{2} \) of an inch in \( \frac{1}{4} \) of a minute.
First, let's calculate the speed in inches per minute:
- The caterpillar crawls \( \frac{1}{2} \) inch in \( \frac{1}{4} \) minute.
- To find out how far it crawls in 1 minute, we can set up a proportion. Since it crawls \( \frac{1}{2} \) inch in \( \frac{1}{4} \) minute, we can scale this up to 1 minute:
\[ \text{Distance in 1 minute} = \left(\frac{1}{2} \text{ inch}\right) \div \left(\frac{1}{4} \text{ minute}\right) \times 1 \text{ minute} \]
- Dividing \( \frac{1}{2} \) by \( \frac{1}{4} \) is the same as multiplying \( \frac{1}{2} \) by the reciprocal of \( \frac{1}{4} \):
\[ \frac{1}{2} \div \frac{1}{4} = \frac{1}{2} \times 4 = 2 \text{ inches} \]
Thus, in 1 minute, the caterpillar can crawl 2 inches.
1 answer