Question

The table below shows the data for a car stopping on a wet road.

What is the approximate stopping distance for a car traveling $35$ mph?

v(mph)	distance(ft)
$15$	$17.9$
$20$	$31.8$
$50$	$198.7$

Answer 1

Calculating the stopping distance:

The car stopping distance with velocity and its respective distance is given.

Now, the car is traveling $35\text{mph}$.

$35$ lies between $20$ and $50$.

Also, $35$ is mean of $20$ and $50$.

Therefore, the corresponding distance is mean of $31.8$ and $198.7$.

$\begin{array}{rcl}\text{distance}& =& \frac{31.8+198.7}{2}\\ & =& \frac{230.5}{2}\\ & =& 115.25\end{array}$

Hence, the approximate stopping distance for a car traveling $35$ mph is $115.25ft$.