Question

A human chain is formed by 60 people standing with their arms outstretched, each holding the hand of the person on either side. The first 30 people in the chain have arm spans of 6 feet. The next 30 people have arm spans of 5.5 feet. At the word "go!" the first person squeezes the hand of the second person. Then the second person squeezes the hand of the third, and so on. Assume that each person takes 1/3 second to pass along the signal. Which piecewise function correctly models the distance that the signal travels in t seconds?

Answer 1

since we have a group of 30 people with arm spans of 6 feet and another group of 30 people with an arm span of 5.5 feet, we will have two functions in our piecewise function.

can you make one of the two functions from this information for me, 30 people with arm spans of 6 feet and each person takes 1/3 second to pass along the signal, what is the equation for distance traveled using t seconds?

Answer 2

i'll get you started:
distance = ?

Answer 3

Okay hang on, Im trying to figure it out...

Answer 4

Ugh I'm confused. Sorry.

Answer 5

have you learned about ratios at all?

Answer 6

Kind of... I'm not sure.

Answer 7

thats ok ^_^
i'll help you-
i'll do the first ratio: what is the ratio for time to people
1 person: 1/3 seconds.

you try this one: what is the ratio for people to arm span

Answer 8

30:6 ??

Answer 9

close
1 person: 6 feet

Answer 10

Ohh okay I see that.

Answer 11

good ^_^

here is a tricky part, "Which piecewise function correctly models the distance that the signal travels in t seconds?"
so that means we need to make a function that we input seconds into and it gives distance