Question

We are flying at 30 000 feet.

Our speed is 500 miles per hour.
Our total flight time will be 10 hours and 20 minutes.
Mark knows the distance from London to Cancun is 4944 miles. He asks his daughter to check the information given by the pilot. She knows this formula for speed.
s = dt
s = speed (miles per hour) d = distance (miles)
t = time (hours)

Evaluate the information given by the pilot.
Show calculations to support your answer.

Answer 1

Explanation:

500 mph with a flight time of 10 hours and 20 minutes [(20 min)*(1 h/60 min) = 0.333 hr]

Distance = Speed * Time

Time = 10.333 hours

Distance = (500 miles/hr)*(10.333 hrs) = 5166.5 miles

The pilot's numbers indicate a distance of 5167 miles, compared to Mark's number of 4944 miles. That is a 4.3% reduction from the pilot's numbers. Not too bad, so we might question 1) Mark's knowledge, or 2) the impact that the approach and landing speeds have of the total miles flow.

My preference would be to trust the pilot's data. I don't know where Mark got his math education.