Question

A man jogs at a speed of 1.1 m/s. his dog waits 1.6 s and then takes off running at a speed of 2.4 m/s to catch the man. how far will they have each traveled when the dog catches up with the man?

Answer 1

To solve this problem, let us first assign variables.

Let us say that,

A = man

B = dog

And the distance travelled by man and dog must be equal, therefore:

dA = dB

From the linear equations, we know that the formula for distance d is:

d = v t

where v is velocity and t is time, therefore:

vA tA = vB tB

We are given tA = tB + 1.6 s, therefore:

vA (tB + 1.6) = vB tB

1.1 (tB + 1.6) = 2.4 tB

1.1 tB + 1.76 = 2.4 tB

1.3 tB = 1.76

tB = 1.354 s

Therefore they both travelled a distance of:

dA = dB = 1.354 s * 2.4 m/s = d

d = 3.25 m