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A VW Bug is driving north on a straight two-lane road at a constant 38 mph and a Chevy Impala is driving south at 29 mph on the same road heading toward the VW Bug (but in a different lane). What is the velocity of the VW Bug relative to the Chevy Impala?

A VW Bug is driving north on a straight two-lane road at a constant 38 mph and a Chevy-example-1

1 Answer

4 votes

Those two vehicles are chewing up a lot of ground. Do you drive? I know it's a stupid question. Every American drives, but I have to check. When you see a car coming towards you, does it look like it's going extremely slow, so that 9 could be the answer? Or does it look extremely fast so that 67 could be the answer? I think you should be looking at fast. I live in the country so when something comes towards me I take note of it. So you should be thinking the Impala sees the bug as going north and very fast..

B

Note. The 9 would come up when someone was passing you and they were going 9 mph faster than you were going. If you were going 50 mph and someone passed you at 59 mph. it would appear to you that they were only going 9 mph. Next time you encounter this on the road, see if you agree that that is the way it works.

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