IXL | Calculate speed, distance, or time: word problems

A herd of elephants took 4 hours to reach a watering hole. If the elephants walked at a constant speed of 3 miles per hour, how far did they travel?

Write your answer as a whole number or decimal.

miles

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Learn with an example

question

A freight train traveled at 27 miles per hour and took 12 hours to reach its destination. What distance did it travel?

Write your answer as a whole number or decimal.

miles

key idea

Speed measures how quickly a person or object is traveling. When the speed is constant, it is equal to the ratio of the distance traveled to the time spent traveling.

speed

distance

time

solution

You were asked to calculate the distance the freight train traveled. Read the problem to find the train's speed and the time it spent traveling.

A freight train traveled at 27 miles per hour and took 12 hours to reach its destination.

You want to know how many miles the train traveled in 12 hours. The train could travel 27 miles in 1 hour. Find an equivalent rate with a denominator of 12 hours.

27 miles

1 hour

? miles

12 hours

Multiply both the numerator and the denominator of the first fraction by

12.

(

27 miles

)

(

1 hour

)

324 miles

12 hours

This tells you the train traveled 324 miles in 12 hours.

You can also find the distance by multiplying the speed by the time.

distance

speed

time

(

27 miles per hour

)

(

12 hours

)

324 miles

Looking for more? Try these:

Lesson: Unit rates

Lesson: Ratios

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S.11Unit rates

S.12Rates: word problems

Lesson: Unit rates

Lesson: Ratios

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