Question 183645
If you look at this equation as a graph where the y coordinate represents the number of meters travelled at the x number of seconds, it is easier to see the relationship. For instance, at the beginning of the race when x=0 (it hasn't started) the racer would be at 40 meters. If the racer is at 40 meters at the start, that would be the headstart. The 2x means for every second (x increases by 1) the racer moves 2 meters (y increases by 2). So if you know how many seconds the race has been going, you can calculate where the racer is (i.e. if they are 35 seconds into the race, our racer would be {{{y=40+2*35=110 meters}}}).