I'm going to start with an example:
On her way to school, a child discovered that her loonie is missing and there is a hole in her pocket. She turned back and walked 24 m east along the sidewalk. Then, she stopped for 18 s and decided to head back to school. After walking 11 m west, she found the loonie. If the child walked at a speed of 0.25 m/s, calculate,
a) her average velocity while searching for the coin?
b) her average speed while searching for the coin?
Obviously there are two parts where the student travelled.
First part:
x1=24m
v1=0.25m/s
t1=96s (after calculation)
Second part:
x2=11m
v2=0.25m/s
t2=44s (after calculation)
If I wanted to find the average velocity then I would use my velocity formula: (avg)v = (x2 - x1) / t2 - t1
but I have to be careful because writing (avg)v = (11m - 24m) / (96s - 44s) is wrong!!!
Is this a common mistake? Should I name my variables differently?
On her way to school, a child discovered that her loonie is missing and there is a hole in her pocket. She turned back and walked 24 m east along the sidewalk. Then, she stopped for 18 s and decided to head back to school. After walking 11 m west, she found the loonie. If the child walked at a speed of 0.25 m/s, calculate,
a) her average velocity while searching for the coin?
b) her average speed while searching for the coin?
Obviously there are two parts where the student travelled.
First part:
x1=24m
v1=0.25m/s
t1=96s (after calculation)
Second part:
x2=11m
v2=0.25m/s
t2=44s (after calculation)
If I wanted to find the average velocity then I would use my velocity formula: (avg)v = (x2 - x1) / t2 - t1
but I have to be careful because writing (avg)v = (11m - 24m) / (96s - 44s) is wrong!!!
Is this a common mistake? Should I name my variables differently?