A tourist being chased by an angry bear is running in a straight line toward his car at a speed of 3.30 m/s. The car is a distance d away. The bear is 32.9 m behind the tourist and running at 4.92 m/s. The tourist reaches the car safely. What is the maximum possible value for d?
To find the maximum possible value for distance d, we need to consider the time it takes for the bear to reach the car.
The time it takes for the bear to catch up to the tourist can be calculated using the equation:
time = distance / speed.
The bear is initially 32.9 m behind the tourist, and it runs at a speed of 4.92 m/s. So, the time it takes for the bear to catch up to the tourist is:
time = 32.9 m / 4.92 m/s = 6.686 seconds (rounded to three decimal places).
In that time, the tourist would have been running towards the car at a speed of 3.30 m/s. Therefore, the distance the tourist would have covered is:
distance = speed × time = 3.30 m/s × 6.686 s = 22.036 meters (rounded to three decimal places).
So, the maximum possible value for distance d is equal to the distance the tourist covered while the bear was catching up, which is approximately 22.036 meters.