IXL | Calculate speed: word problems

Josie is flying a new drone she received as a gift. The drone flies 165 feet in 5 seconds. At what speed is the drone traveling?

Write your answer as a whole number or decimal.

feet per second

ref_doc_title.

Learn with an example

question

A passenger plane took 4 hours to fly a distance of 880 miles. What was its speed?

Write your answer as a whole number or decimal.

miles per hour

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 plane's speed. Read the problem to find the distance it traveled and the time it took.

A passenger plane took 4 hours to fly a distance of 880

miles.

Find the ratio of the distance to the time.

speed

distance

time

Substitute

880 miles

4 hours

Substitute

Simplify

220 miles

1 hour

Simplify

So, the plane's speed was 220 miles per

hour.

Looking for more? Try these:

Lesson: Unit rates

Lesson: Ratios

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Questions
answeredQuestions

Time
elapsedTime

hr	min	sec
00	00	04

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Teacher tools

Work it out

Not feeling ready yet? These can help:

S.11Unit rates

Lesson: Unit rates

Lesson: Ratios

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