Answer:
At the given rate, the hot air balloon can travel 9/2 or 4.5 miles in 3/4 of an hour
Explanation:
We can solve this problem one of two ways:
- We can either make a proportion between the first distance (18 mi) and time (3 hr) and the second distance (d) and time (3/4 hr), where we'll need to solve for the second distance, or
- We can use the distance-rate-time formula to find how fast it took the hot air balloon to travel 18 miles in 3 hours. Then, we can use this rate to find the distance it can travel in 3/4 hours.
The first ways seems the most straight forward, while the second ways helps you confirm your answer, as I'll show at the end:
We can check our answer by first finding the rate at which the hot air balloon travelled 18 miles using the distance-rate-time formula, which is
d = rt, where d is the distance, r is the rate, and t is the time:
18 = 3r
6 = r
Now, we can check whether the product of the rate (6 mph) and the second time (3/4 hr) equals the second distance (9/2 mi)
9/2 = 6 * 3/4
9/2 = 9/4
9/2 = 9/2