An Ant Crawls 540 Cm In 3 Minutes

Question

Simplify It Problem. Use Fractions To Express This Rate In Centimeters Per Second.

Answer 1

This is a simple unit conversion problem.

Creating a fraction out of the information given gives you 540cm/3min => 180cm/min

The final goal is to get to cm/sec, however.

So we introduce a conversion factor:

(180cm/min) * (1min/60sec) = (180cm*min)/(min*60sec)

Since you have minute units in both the numerator and denominator, they cancel out, leaving you with:

180cm/60sec => simplifies to => 3cm/sec

Conceptually, it also makes sense that this number is smaller than your cm/min number; the time period has been shortened from minutes to seconds, so you cover less distance in the time.

Hope this helps!