A tourist being chased by an angry bear is running in a straight line toward his car at a speed of 6.04 m/s. The car is a distance d away. The bear is 28.8 m behind the tourist and running at 7.26 m/s. The tourist reaches the car safely. What is the maximum possible value for d?
Chris, James, Courtney -- please use the same name for your posts.
old bear solution
http://www.jiskha.com/display.cgi?id=1229011401
To find the maximum possible value for d, we need to determine the time it takes for the bear to reach the tourist, assuming the tourist reaches the car safely.
Let's start by finding the time it takes for the bear to catch up to the tourist. The relative speed between the bear and the tourist is the difference in their speeds:
Relative speed = Bear's speed - Tourist's speed
= 7.26 m/s - 6.04 m/s
= 1.22 m/s
Now, let's calculate the time it takes for the bear to catch up to the tourist by using the formula:
Time = Distance / Speed
We'll use the distance between the bear and the tourist as the distance:
Time = 28.8 m / 1.22 m/s
≈ 23.6066 seconds
Since the tourist reaches the car safely before the bear catches up, the time it takes for the tourist to reach the car is less than 23.6066 seconds.
Now, let's find the maximum possible value for d by using the formula:
Distance = Speed × Time
The speed of the tourist is given as 6.04 m/s, and the time is less than 23.6066 seconds (let's use 23.5 seconds to be conservative):
Distance = 6.04 m/s × 23.5 s
≈ 142.04 meters
Therefore, the maximum possible value for d is approximately 142.04 meters.