Question

A sea lion swims 23 miles in ; hour. Part A. What is the unit rate of the swimming speed of the sea lion? Part B. At this rate, how long will it take the sea lion to swim 75 miles? Enter the correct answers in the boxes. A. miles per hour B. hour(s)

Answer 1

A sea lion swims 23 miles in 1/5 hours.

We can calculate the unit rate of the swimming speed dividing the number of miles he swims in a certain period of time, by the hours of this period of time.

We can calculate this as:

`v=\frac{23\text{ miles}}{(1)/(5)\text{hours}}=23\cdot(5)/(1)=115\text{ miles per hour}`

We could have also calculated that if, in 1/5 of an hour, he travels 23 miles, in one hour (equal to 5/5) he would swim 23*5=115 miles.

At this rate it will take him 15/23 hours (approximately 0.65 hours) to swim 75 miles:

`t=(x)/(v)=\frac{75\text{ miles}}{115\text{ miles/hour}}=(15)/(23)\text{hours}`