Question

Aliza needs to run at a rate faster than 8.2 feet per second in order to exceed her fastest time in a race. After running for 15 minutes, her coach determines that she is running at an average rate of 5.8 miles per hour. He converts the average rate to feet per second as shown below:

He concludes that she is not running fast enough to exceed her fastest time.

What errors did the coach make?

Answer 1

Answer + Explanation:

The coach made a mistake in converting the average rate from miles per hour to feet per second. To convert miles per hour to feet per second, the formula is (miles per hour) x (5280 feet/mile) / (60 minutes/hour) = (feet per second).

However, the coach used a different conversion factor, which resulted in an incorrect value. This incorrect value led the coach to conclude that Aliza was not running fast enough, when in reality, the actual rate could be higher than 8.2 feet per second.

Therefore, the coach made an error in the conversion factor used and in the conclusion based on the incorrect converted value.