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Kiran is competing in a bike race. The function rule t(s)=40/s relates the time in hours of a bike race with the average speed, s, in miles per hour. Identify the constant of proportionality and explain what it means in this situation.

User Ivan Bila
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10 votes
10 votes

Answer:

Explanation:

so, I was just commenting about word problems to another person and here is a great example of a word problem that is too complex. They are using the term "function rule" that is too broad. They have probably defined it in some text somewhere and the teacher has mentioned in super briefly, but it's what the question is all about. We need to understand what "function rule" really means. They have also used the varible "s" which is mostly reserved for Laplace / Fourier transformations. This is just a really badly written question. Don't feel bad if you don't get what it's asking. it's messy at best. t(s) is then name of our function, it's rule ( the function rule) is 40/s it's constant of proportionality is 40 , This rule would also mean that at the very very start of the race... at .001 into the race, you'll be going 40,000 MPH , which is obviously not correct. There probably needs to be some more rule descriptions saying that s is an integer, and it can't be negative. Also note that after 4 hours of racing , the speed would be 40/4 or 10 MPH, this function rule is probably not accurate after some time. the speed probably starts out fast, slows down till the close to the very end of the race... they jumps up dramatically to the finish. Watch the Tour de France writer of this question. :D The riders slow down as the race progress according to this function rule. But I don't think that's at all accurate for a real bike race. they slow down only to a point... after the start.... then hold at that speed ... till close to the end.. then speed up a lot... like 50 MPH :0

User Inv
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