Samantha ran 5 miles in 42 minutes. Meghan ran 8 miles in 68 minutes. Who has a faster speed in minutes per mile?

1 Answer
Owen Bell
Dec 29, 2015

Samantha is running at the faster speed.

Explanation:

Calculation

This is a simple case of comparison, though since:

#"speed" = "distance"/"time"#

A value for speed would have to be defined in terms of miles per minute (#"mi/min"#), rather than what has been stated in the question.

Samantha

#"speed" = 5/42#
#"speed" = 0.119"mi/min to 3 significant figures"#

Meghan

#"speed" = 8/68#
#"speed" = 0.118"mi/min to 3 significant figures"#

Comparison

From these two calculations, we can see that Samantha's speed is the greater quantity out of the two runners' speeds, since:

#0.119"mi/min" > 0.118"mi/min"#

Final Note

You could compare the two runners in terms of how long it would take them to run #1# mile, but this is not a comparison of speeds. Even so, Samantha would still be the one to cover a mile in the shortest time, which correlates to her travelling at a faster speed.

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