document.write( "Question 1095657: Jose can drive his car 50 mph and cover a certain distance in 20 minutes less than when he drives at 45 mph. Find that distance. \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #710185 by greenestamps(13200) $\"\"$ $\"About$

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There are always many different ways of solving a problem. You have received two responses showing perfectly good solutions to your problem. Look how much different the two methods are; and compare the level of effort required in each one.

\n" ); document.write( "And now look at another solution, found be starting with a different interpretation of the given information.

\n" ); document.write( "\"Jose can drive his car 50 mph and cover a certain distance in 20 minutes less than when he drives at 45 mph. Find that distance.\"

\n" ); document.write( "Of course you need to change the 20 minutes to 1/3 hour, since the speeds are in miles per hour.

\n" ); document.write( "Then re-phrase the given information like this:
\n" ); document.write( "\"50 mph for some number of hours t is equal to 45 mph for (t+1/3) hours\"
\n" ); document.write( " $\"50t+=+45%28t%2B1%2F3%29\"$
\n" ); document.write( " $\"50t+=+45t%2B15\"$
\n" ); document.write( " $\"5t+=+15\"$
\n" ); document.write( " $\"t+=+3\"$

\n" ); document.write( "50 mph for 3 hours makes 150 miles.

\n" ); document.write( "This solution is, of course, very nearly the same as given in the first response you got to your question. Unfortunately, his choice of a variable led to an equation involving fractions, which resulted in more work to reach the answer.

\n" ); document.write( "The lesson to learn from this is that you should always be open to trying different methods for solving any particular type of problem. You might find that one of the methods just \"works\" for you better than any others.... \n" ); document.write( "

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