A caterpillar climbs up a one-meter wall. For every 2 cm it climbs up, it slides down 1 cm. It takes 10 minutes for the caterpillar to climb to the top. Calculate the speed at which the caterpillar travels.

in cm/s what would it be? please help

Question

A caterpillar climbs up a one-meter wall. For every 2 cm it climbs up, it slides down 1 cm. It takes 10 minutes for the caterpillar to climb to the top. Calculate the speed at which the caterpillar travels.

in cm/s what would it be? please help

anonymous · Answer

Ask yourself the following question;

When the caterpillar has climbed 2cm and slipped back 1cm, how much progress has it made up the wall, and how much total distance has it covered ?

anonymous · Answer

3?

anonymous · Answer

3 is the progress or 3 is the total distance covered ?

anonymous · Answer

3 is the progress

anonymous · Answer

: ( if the caterpillar goes up 2cm then slips down 1cm, how far up has it got ?

anonymous · Answer

only 1 cm

anonymous · Answer

right
and so it has travelled for 3cm to gain 1cm in height, you see ?

anonymous · Answer

ohhh yes i do!

anonymous · Answer

ok : )
and you know that average speed = distance travelled/ time taken

anonymous · Answer

so do you think you can figure the rest out yourself now ?

anonymous · Answer

so it would be 3m divided by 10? correct?

anonymous · Answer

sorry haha

anonymous · Answer

yes that's right, the poor caterpillar had to crawl 3m to get up 1m : )

anonymous · Answer

you just need to take care to get the units right

anonymous · Answer

well you see the multiple choice answers that they give me do not match what im getting on my calculator

anonymous · Answer

that might be an error with the units
you need to express the distance in cm and the time in seconds

anonymous · Answer

oh boy haha i can try

anonymous · Answer

well, 3 meters would be how many cm ?

anonymous · Answer

its 2! becuase you take 60 times 10 and you get 600. then you divide that by 300 (thats how many m are in a cm) and i got 2

anonymous · Answer

hmmm, 600 seconds, yes, that's right
300 cm, yes, also right
but how is average speed defined again ?

anonymous · Answer

speed = distance traveled divided by time taken?

anonymous · Answer

yes, i believe that is correct . . . .

anonymous · Answer

so with the numbers that you have, which is supposed to be divided by what ?

anonymous · Answer

3m=300m divided my 600 seconds?

anonymous · Answer

yes, i think so, so what does that give you ?

anonymous · Answer

.5 :D

anonymous · Answer

: )

anonymous · Answer

thank you so much haha you helped me like what an actual teacher in a class room would do haha

anonymous · Answer

you're welcome

anonymous · Answer

i gave you a medal btw :)