Question

The distance you travel while hiking is a function of how fast you hike and how long you hike at this rate. You usually maintain a speed of three miles per hour while hiking. Write a statement that describes how the distance that you travel is determined. Then identify the independent and dependent variables of this function.

a. The distance traveled is three times the number of hours I have hiked. The independent variable is hours. The dependent variable is distance.
b. The distance traveled is three times the number of hours I have hiked. The independent variable is distance. The dependent variable is hours..
c. The hours I have hiked is three times the distance. The independent variable is distance. The dependent variable is hours.
d. The hours I have hiked is three times the distance. The independent variable is hours. The dependent variable is distance.

Please select the best answer from the choices provided.​

Answer 1

If hours is represented as h, your distance is therefore 3*h (due to that for every hour, you walk 3 miles. For example, in one hour you'd walk 3 miles, in 2 hours you'd walk 3+3=3*2=6 miles,etc.). If distance is represented by d, we get 3*h=d. Since you have to figure out the distance from the equation (that's the purpose of it!), the distance is the dependent variable. In addition, since you can't have 2 separate variables in one equation, h is the independent variable due to that you have to put a number for h in to figure out the distance

So basically the answer is A.