A Radio Station's Signal Has A Radius Of 100 Miles. If You Drive At A Constant Speed Of 40 Miles An Hour, Nonstop, Directly Across The Diameter Of The Signal, How Long Can You Listen To The Station Before The Signal Fades?

• How long could I drive before losing the radio signal?

You would be able to drive for 5 hours before you lost the radio signal.

• How would I work this out?

To work out this equation you need to break it down into smaller, more manageable sections that are easy to deal with and less intimidating. It may help you if you draw a diagram too to make it easier to understand. Imagine that the radio station is in the centre and there is a circle around the radio station. This circle is the area where the radio station can be heard. The radius of the circle is 100 miles all the way around.

First of all you need to work out the diameter of the circle. You do this by using the radius. If the radius is 100 miles all the way around then the diameter would be 200 miles because the radius is half of the diameter. It is possible that you could drive the entire 200 miles and hear the radio station all the way.

Now you need to establish how long it would take to drive 200 miles at 40 miles per hour. To do this you need to divide 200 by 40 and the answer is 5. This means the answer is 5 hours.

• Using maths in everyday life

It is common for questions such as these to come up in maths tests and many students feel that it is unimportant and tedious but realistically you may need to know how to solve a problem such as this at some point of your life. You may use maths more in your life than you thought you would while at school so it is important to learn it while you have the teachers who can teach you to do it properly.

If the radius equals 100 miles than the diameter 200 miles. If we divide the diameter, which is our distance, by the speed, it will give us the total amount of time. So: 200/40 = 5. So our answer is 5 hours.