Question

Both Dale and Chan went running for an hour. Dale ran 5 miles and Chan ran 2.5 miles. How did Dale’s distance compare to Chan’s? (Use division to compare.)

Answer 1

Dale = 5 miles
Chan = 2.5 miles
 5 ÷ 2.5 = 2
Dale ran twice as fast as Chan

Answer 2

In the given hour, Dale ran 5 miles and Chan ran 2.5 miles.

Let Dale's running miles be represented by the variable D and let Chan's running miles be represented by the variable C.

In-order to compare Dale's running miles to Chan's by using division we get:

$\frac{D}{C}=\frac{5}{2.5} = \frac{2}{1}$

$D=2C$

Thus, Dale ran twice the distance Chan ran in the same amount of time of 1 hour.

Equivalently we can say that Chan ran half the distance Dale ran in the same amount of time of 1 hour.