Question

The minimum sustained wind speed of a category 1 hurricane is 74 miles per hour. The maximum sustained wind speed is 95 miles per hour. Write an absolute value equation that represents the minimum and maximum speeds. Let V represent the wind speed.

Answer 1

The minimum and maximum values are the extreme ends of the spectrum of range for wind speed. The base wind speed must be somewhere between the 2 values. It is called the mean.

Mean = (74 + 95)/2 = 84.5

Then, you find the difference of the values to the mean:
84.5 - 74 = 10.5
95 - 84.5 = 10.5

Thus, the absolute value equation for V will be:

V = |84.5 +/- 10.5|