Question

Giovanni and Jean started a 120-mile bicycle race at the same time. Giovanni cycled at 23.9 miles per hour while Jean cycled at 24 miles per hour. When Jean crossed the finish line, how many miles was Giovanni from the finish line? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

Giovanni was 0.5 miles from the finish line

Explanation:

This is a problem of movement with constant velocity.

For this kind of problems, generally it is enough to remember the definition of average velocity v:

`v=(x)/(t)`

Where x is the change in position that took place in an interval t.

First, find the time that Jean, who cycled at 24 miles per hour, spent on the race:

Isolating t from the last equation,

`t=(x)/(v)`, and replacing the data for Jean movement:

`t=(120)/(24)=5h`

Second, find what was the distance that Giovanni had cycled when Jean crossed the line:

`x=v*t\\ x=23.9*5=119.5`

When Jean crossed the line he had cycled 120 miles, and Giovanni 119.5; so Giovanni was 0.5 miles from the finish line.