Example 2
- Author:
- Walch Education
- Topic:
- Equations
Chloe is driving back home from college for summer vacation. She fuels up her gas tank and then drives for a certain amount of time before passing a roadside attraction. She drives on without stopping, and 3 hours after leaving her college, she has driven 120 miles past the attraction. Seven hours after leaving her college, she has driven 400 miles past the attraction. Write a linear equation in one variable for the distance Chloe covers in hours, and describe the domain of the linear equation. Assuming that Chloe travels at a constant speed without stopping, use the equation to determine her speed. Then, determine how far she had traveled before she passed the roadside attraction.
- Name a dependent variable and an independent variable based on the given data.
- Write ordered pairs for the data in the problem based on the identified variables.
- Write an equation for the speed in terms of the distance and time.
- Use the two ordered pairs from step 2 and the formula for the slope of a one-variable equation, , to find the rate.
- Use the point-slope formula, , to write the linear equation in one variable.
- Find the value of when .
- Interpret the results based on the information given in the problem to determine how far Chloe drove before passing the roadside attraction.