Question

Math

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The cat's average speed is 13 ft/s
The mouse's average speed is 6 ft/s
The mouse's head start is 10 feet
The cat does not have a head start

Answer 1

Please be sure you include all of the instructions that came with any problem you post, and also share your thoughts and questions, before asking for help. You'll usually get better help that way, and faster help.

Answer 2

I did. I listed the things I need to figure out along with the data used to do it.

Answer 3

@mathmale

Answer 4

It still sounds as though there were more to the question. Reading between the lines, I imagine that you have a cat-and-mouse situation where the cat, as always, goes after the mouse, and the mouse loses the war when the cat catches and eats it.

You are given a model equation: That for the position of the mouse. You'll need to write a similar equation for the position of the cat as a function of time, t.

Answer 5

Once you have these two linear equations, we'll solve them simutaneously to determine where the mouse gets caught and eaten.

Answer 6

Do you mean like

6t+10=13t+0

Answer 7

@mathmale

Answer 8

Yes, the format of your equation is OK. I'm not stating that the equation itself is "right."

Answer 9

Oh okay. So how would I got about solving for t if I have all the appropriate data?

Answer 10

Note that no numbers are given in this problem. That means, everything you write has to be symbolic, not numerical.

Answer 11

suppose you were given y=ax+b and y=cx + d. How would you solve for x, when no numbers are given?

Answer 12

Okay. This is also the entire problem.

Answer 13

Well you would have to get the x alone correct?

Answer 14

Yes. What methods do you know for accomplishing that? You apply the exact same methods to the formulas for the cat's and the mouse's positions.