DISTANCE PROBLEM

Distance problems are word problem that involve the distance an object will travel at a certain
average rate of a given period of time.

Distance is how far you traveled.

Rate is how fast you traveled.

Time is how long the trip took.

Formula

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

 Examples

1.) d=?, r= 70 km/h, t= 5 hours 2.) d= 450 miles, r=90 mph, t=?
d=rt t= d/r
= (70)(5) = 450/90
= 350 miles = 5 hours

3.) d= 400 miles, r=?, t= 20 hours

r = d/t
= 400/ 20
= 20 mph
 Example 1

1.) Lea left home and drove toward the ferry d r t

office at an average speed of 22 km/h. Trevon Lea
left at the same time and drove in the Trevon
opposite direction with an average speed of
43 km/h. How long does Trevon need to drive
before they are 65 km apart?

------------ --------
 d r t
Equation:
22t + 43t = 65
Lea 22t 22 t
65t = 65
Trevon 43t 43 t 65t/65 = 65/65

65 t = 1hour
Lea and Trevon drove 1 hour.
d r t
Lea 22(1) 22 1
Trevon 43(1) 43 1
65
 Example 2
2.) An aircraft made a trip to Guam and back. The Equation:
trip there look three hours and the trip back four 3r = 24
hours. It averaged 6km/h on return trip. Find the
average speed of the trip there. 3r/3 = 24/3
r= 8 km/h
The average speed of aircraft trip to Guam
------------ and back is 8km/h.
-----------
d r t
Go 3(8) 8 3
Return 24 6 4
 Example 3

P.C.B Tallahassee
3.) Train A, traveling 70 miles per hour, leaves
Train B Train A
Tallahassee at 5:00 pm and heading toward
Panama City Beach, 260 miles away. At the 60mph 70mph

same time train B, traveling 60 miles per hour,

leaves Panama City Beach heading toward 260mph

Tallahassee. When do the two train meet?

70 + 60 = 130 mph
d=rt Another solution:
d r t
260 = (130)(t) Train A 70t 70 t

260/130 = 130t / 130 Train B 60t 60 t

260
t = 2 hours
Equation: 70t + 60t = 260

Train A and Train B will meet in the 130t = 260

middle in 2hours at 7:00 pm. 130t/130 = 260/ 130
t = 2 hours
4.) A train goes three times as fast downhill as it Equation:
can go uphill, and 2/3 as fast uphill as it can go
d = rt
on level ground. If it goes 100 miles per hour
downhill, how long will it take 60 miles on level 60 =50(t)
ground?
60/50 = 50(t)/50
Level ground: x
t = 5/6
Uphill: (2/3)x
t = 1.2 hours
Downhill: 3(2/3)x =2x
100 = 2x
x=50
5.) Kali left school traveled toward her friend’s d r t
house at an average speed 40 km/h. Matt left Kali 40t + 40 40 t+1
one hour later and traveled in the opposite Matt 50t 50 t
direction with an average speed of 50km/h. Find
the number of hours Mat needs to travel before
they are 400 km apart. 50t + 40t + 40 = 400
90t = 400 – 40
90t = 360
t= 4

t+1 = 5 Matt need 5hours to travel.

Thank you!