Barbara, Mark, and Carlos participated in the third heat of "The Big Race". Barbara thought she could win with a 3 meter head start even though she only pedaled 3 meters every 2 seconds. Mark began at the starting line and finished the 20-meter race in 5 seconds. Meanwhile, Carlos rode his tricycle so that his distance (y) from the starting line in meters could be represented by the equation y = x + 1, where x represents time in seconds. Who would win in a 20 meter race?

Question

Wendy Rivers

Mathematics

10 March, 01:08

Barbara, Mark, and Carlos participated in the third heat of "The Big Race". Barbara thought she could win with a 3 meter head start even though she only pedaled 3 meters every 2 seconds. Mark began at the starting line and finished the 20-meter race in 5 seconds. Meanwhile, Carlos rode his tricycle so that his distance (y) from the starting line in meters could be represented by the equation y = x + 1, where x represents time in seconds. Who would win in a 20 meter race?

+5

Answers (1)

Know the Answer?

Hillary Pace · Answer 1

Distance to travel = 20 m.

Let us determine the time, t, that each participant took to complete 20 m.

Barbara:

Average speed = (3 m) / (2 s) = 1.5 m/s

t = 20/1.5 = 13.3 s

Mark:

t = 5 s

Carlos:

y = x + 1

where

y = 20 m

x = time, t

Therefore

t = x = y - 1 = 20 - 1 = 19 s

Summary:

Barbara: 13.3 s

Mark: 5 s

Carlos: 19 s

Answer:

The winner is Mark