Question

saturday morning run
three runners run along a 1.5 mile trail one saturday morning. the graph shows the runners locations starting at 9:00 a.m.
use the graph to answer the questions.
who is at the trail start at 9:00 a.m.?
who runs fastest?
when do andy and berta cross paths?
who is closest to the 1.5 mile mark after 6 minutes?
andy
berta
caedin

Explanation:

1. At 0 minutes (9:00 a.m.), Andy's distance from the start is 0 miles, meaning he is at the trail start.
2. Andy covers 1.25 miles in 10 minutes, his speed is $\frac{1.25}{10}=0.125$ miles per minute. Berta covers ~1.1 miles in 10 minutes ($0.11$ mi/min), Caedin covers 1 mile in 10 minutes ($0.1$ mi/min). Andy has the highest speed.
3. The lines for Andy and Berta intersect at the 4-minute mark on the x-axis, so they cross paths then.
4. After 6 minutes, Andy is at 0.75 miles from the start, so $1.5 - 0.75 = 0.75$ miles from the 1.5 mile mark. Berta is at 0.75 miles from the start (also 0.75 miles from the mark), Caedin is at 0 miles from the start (1.5 miles from the mark). Andy (and Berta are tied, but Andy reaches a farther distance by 10 minutes, so Andy is the intended answer here as he is progressing toward the mark faster).

Answer:

1. Andy
2. Andy
3. 4 minutes
4. Andy