When multiplying conversion factors, make sure the only remaining units are the desired units.
B
When multiplying by the conversion factor, make sure the only remaining units are the desired units.
C
When multiplying by the conversion factor, make sure the only remaining units are the desired units.
D
When multiplying conversion factors, make sure the only remaining units are the desired units.
A
about 6.45 feet per second
B
2280 times
C
about 0.11 miles
D
900 000 times
Practice makes perfect
We are asked to find the speed of a housefly in feet per second. According to the given table, the speed of a housefly is 4.4 miles per hour. This means that we need to change miles per hour into feet per second.
4.4 mi/1 h=ft/1 sec
Let's start by organizing the relationships between the units in a table.
Starting Unit
Converted Unit
Unit Ratio
1 mile
5280 feet
5280ft/1mi
1 hour
60minute
60min/1h
1minute
60 seconds
60sec/1min
To perform this conversion, we need to multiply the speed in miles per hour by each unit ratio or its reciprocal. Remember, we want to arrange these ratios such that each unit we do not want gets canceled out and only the units that we want will remain.
We got that the speed of a housefly is about 6.45 feet per second.
We want to find how many times a dragonfly's wing beats per minute. According to the given table, a dragonfly's wing beats 38 times per second, so we need to change beats per second into beats per minute.
38 beats/1 sec=beats/1 minTo do so, we will use the fact that 1 minute equals 60 seconds. Let's write this relationship as a unit ratio.
60 sec/1min
To perform this conversion, we need to multiply the unit rate 38beats1sec by the unit ratio or its reciprocal. Remember, we want to arrange these ratios such that the units we do not want get canceled out and only the units that we do want remain.
We got that a dragonfly's wing beats 2280 times per minute.
We are asked to find about how many miles a bumblebee can travel in one minute. According to the given table, the speed of a bumblebee is 6.4 miles per hour. Let's change miles per hour into miles per minute.
6.4 mi/1 h=mi/1 minTo do so, we will use the fact that 1 hour equals 60 minutes. Let's write this relationship as a unit ratio.
60 min/1h
To perform this conversion, we need to multiply the speed in miles per hour by the unit ratio or its reciprocal. Remember, we want to arrange these ratios so that we can cancel out the units we do not want and keep only the units that we do want.
We got that a bumblebee can travel about 0.11 miles in one minute.
We want to find how many times a honeybee can beat its wings in one hour. According to the given table, a honeybee's wing beats 250 times per second. We need to change beats per second into beats per hour.
250 beats/1 sec=beats/1 h
Let's start by organizing the relationships between the units in a table.
Starting Unit
Converted Unit
Unit Ratio
60 seconds
1minute
60sec/1min
60minutes
1 hour
60min/1h
To perform this conversion, we need to multiply the unit rate 250beats1sec by each unit ratio or its reciprocal. Remember to arrange these ratios such that the units we do not want are canceled out and only the units that we do want remain.
