Question

Joe is trying to soup up his dragster. He knows that the time needed for the car to go from 0 to 100 miles per hour varies inversely with the car's horsepower. At 200 horsepower, the car can go from 0 to 100 mph in 12 seconds. How long should the car take if he can increase the horsepower to 240 hp?.

Answer 1

Translating the first sentence into equation we get, t = k(1/h) where t is time in seconds, k is the constant and h is the horsepower. Substituting the values in the equation we have, 12s = k(1/200) we have a k = 2400 seconds – hp. To get the time at 240 hp we use the equation above and the constant, we get, t = (2400 seconds-hp)(1/240hp) t = 10seconds.