fractions and miles

Question

if a man runs 14/15 miles in 7/60 hours what is his rate in miles per hour?

Answer 1

Hi Kya!

***Let's take an easier, yet similar example to start with:

Let's say the man runs 10 miles in 2 hours.

If we were looking for miles per hour, we would divide distance run (10 miles) divided by time spent running (2 hours)

10 miles / 2 hours = 5 miles per hour ****

Now, onto your question. We will use the same process here, even though fractions exist.

14/15 miles divided by 7/60 hours looks like this:

14 ÷ 7

15 60

Dividing fractions is the same as multiplying by the reciprocal (when we flip the numerator and denominator of the second number.

14 x 60

15 7

We cross simplify the 7 and 14, and also the 60 and 15 to get an easier version of:

2 x 4 = 8 miles per hour

1 1

Hope this helps!

Peter