Sharing Teaching Ideas: If Distance = Rate × Time, Then Where Am I?

Abstract

In working with an average first-year algebra class, I noticed that the students sometimes got so wrapped up in solving for that pesky x that we often forgot the practical uses of the subject. A perfect opportunity came up as we began a section on distance problems. The standard practice is to analyze the problem by putting into a chart the information found by using the formula distance = rate × time to set up the equations.