The reading on a car’s speedometer has a maximum error of 4%. The speed limit on a road is listed at 65 miles per hour. The car’s speedometer reads 63 miles per hour. Is it possible that this car is going over the speed limit? Explain your reasoning.
To determine if the car is going over the speed limit, we need to consider the maximum error specified for the speedometer.
The speedometer has a maximum error of 4%. This means that the reading on the speedometer can vary by up to 4% from the actual speed of the car.
Let's calculate the maximum possible error of the speedometer reading.
4% of 63 mph = 4/100 * 63 = 2.52 mph
Since the speedometer reading can have a maximum error of 2.52 mph, the actual speed of the car could be either 63 mph + 2.52 mph = 65.52 mph or 63 mph - 2.52 mph = 60.48 mph.
Since the speedometer reading of 63 mph falls within the range of possible speeds (60.48 mph to 65.52 mph), it is indeed possible that the car is going over the speed limit of 65 mph.