The tortoise and the hare are having a race. In this tale, the tortoise moves at 50 feet per hour while the hare moves at 250 feet per hour. The tortoise takes 8 hours longer than the hare to finish. What was the distance of the race?

Question

a. Let (t) represent the unknown time in hours that it took the hare to complete the race. Write an expression (not an equation!) representing the time it took the tortoise to finish the race.

b. Write two equations that represent the race, one for the hare and one for the tortoise.

c. What is the distance of the race?

Answer 1

hare is 5 times faster, so the tortoise takes 5 times as long: 5t
since time = distance/speed,
1/5t = 1/t + 8
find t, and then the distance is t*250