Question 1 of 5
A delivery company tracks the distances and driving times of three vans on the same day, as shown in the table.
Because of traffic conditions, the company models each van's average speed as being equal to a common base speed plus a van-specific increase or decrease. Specifically, the average speed of van is miles per hour, the average speed of van is , and the average speed of van is miles per hour, where is a constant. Based on the data, what is the value of ?
Explanation
First find each van's average speed from the table using .
For van :
So van traveled at mph.
For van :
So van traveled at mph.
For van :
So van traveled at mph.
Now match these to the model:
- van :
- van :
- van :
Each equation gives the same value:
So the correct answer is .
Concept summary
Use a rate table to compute actual unit rates first, then connect those rates to a proportional or algebraic model to find the unknown constant.