Question

A tortoise is walking in the desert. It walks 12.5 meters in 5 minutes. What is its speed?

Answer 1

See a solution process below for a speed in kilometers per hour:

Explanation:

First, there are 60 minutes per hour or `(60"min")/"hr"`

And, there is 1 kilometer per 1000 meters or `(1"km")/(1000"m")`

We can then find the speed of the tortoise by evaluating:

`(12.5"m")/(5"min") xx (60"min")/"hr" xx (1"km")/(1000"m") =>`

`(12.5color(red)(cancel(color(black)("m"))))/(5color(blue)(cancel(color(black)("min")))) xx (60color(blue)(cancel(color(black)("min"))))/"hr" xx (1"km")/(1000color(red)(cancel(color(black)("m")))) =>`

`(12.5 xx color(green)(60) xx 1"km")/(5 xx "hr" xx 1000) =>`

`(color(green)(750) xx 1"km")/(5"hr" xx 1000) =>`

`(color(green)(750)" km")/(5000" hr") =>`

`color(green)(0.15)" km/ hr"`

Or

`color(green)(0.15)` kilometers per hour

Answer 2

`color(purple)("Speed of Tortoise walking in the desert " s = 0.15 " Kmph"`

Explanation:

`"Distance covered " d = 12.5 " m", "Time Taken " t = 5 " min"`

`"Speed " s = d / t = 12.5 / 5 " m / min"`

`"Normally speed is defined in km / hr"`

`"From the table above, 1000 m = 1 km"`

`"Also, 60 min = 1 hour"`

`:. s = (cancel(12.5)^color(red)(2.5) * cancel(60)^ color(blue)(6)) / (cancel(5)^color(red)(1) * cancel(1000)^color(blue)(100)) = 15 / 100 = 0.15 " Kmph"`