Speed-Time Problem: Calculate Total Distance with Speeds 70 km/h and 85 km/h

Distance Calculations with Multiple Speed Segments

A car travels from point A to point B in a straight line.

At first, it moves at a speed of 70 km/h for half an hour.

Then, its speed is 85 km/h for 15 minutes.

What is the distance between points A and B?

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1

Understand the problem

A car travels from point A to point B in a straight line.

At first, it moves at a speed of 70 km/h for half an hour.

Then, its speed is 85 km/h for 15 minutes.

What is the distance between points A and B?

2

Step-by-step solution

To answer such questions, we need to know the rule for distance calculations:

Time * Speed = Distance

Using this formula, we can find the distance between the two points.

Let's first look at the first part, we know we traveled for half an hour at a speed of 70 km/h,

so we can substitute:

70*0.5=

and we'll find that the answer is 35

Let's continue to the second part of the route,

traveling for a quarter of an hour (need to remember that a quarter hour is 15/60) at a speed of 85 km/h, let's substitute:

15/60*85=

and we'll find that the answer is 21.25

Now all that's left for us is to combine the two routes - 21.25+35=56.25

3

Final Answer

56.25 56.25 km

Key Points to Remember

Essential concepts to master this topic
  • Formula: Distance equals speed multiplied by time for each segment
  • Time Units: Convert minutes to hours: 15 minutes = 15/60 = 0.25 hours
  • Check: Add segment distances: 35 km + 21.25 km = 56.25 km total ✓

Common Mistakes

Avoid these frequent errors
  • Using minutes directly with km/h speeds
    Don't multiply 85 km/h × 15 minutes = 1275! This mixes hours and minutes incorrectly. Speed is per hour, so time must be in hours. Always convert minutes to hours first: 15 minutes = 0.25 hours.

Practice Quiz

Test your knowledge with interactive questions

David runs at a speed of 5 meters per second and covers a distance of 700 meters.

For how long does David run?

FAQ

Everything you need to know about this question

Why do I need to convert 15 minutes to hours?

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Because speed is given in km/h (kilometers per hour), time must also be in hours. If you use minutes directly, you'll get the wrong units and wrong answer!

How do I convert minutes to hours quickly?

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Divide minutes by 60. For example: 1560=0.25 \frac{15}{60} = 0.25 hours, or 3060=0.5 \frac{30}{60} = 0.5 hours. Think of it as what fraction of an hour it represents.

Can I solve this problem by converting everything to minutes?

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Yes! Convert speeds to km/min first: 70 km/h = 70/60 km/min. Then multiply by minutes directly. But converting to hours is usually easier with these units.

What if the car changes direction instead of going straight?

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The problem states the car travels in a straight line from A to B. So we simply add the distances from each segment. If direction changed, we'd need to consider displacement vs. distance.

How do I check if my final answer makes sense?

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Look at the speeds and times: traveling at 70-85 km/h for less than an hour should give a distance much less than 100 km. Our answer of 56.25 km fits this expectation perfectly!

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