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🧩 6th grade math · Patterns & Algebra

Best buy and speed

Speed is a unit rate: distance for 1 unit of time. Distance = speed × time. 55 miles per hour for 3 hours is 55 × 3 = 165 miles. For speed, divide: 165 ÷ 3 = 55.

Worked example

A car goes at a steady 30 miles per hour for 2 hours. How far does it go?
Answer: 60 miles
Distance = speed × time: 30 × 2 = 60 miles.

For grown-ups: Unit price, constant speed. Below: three problems to try with the worked answers, and a free printable sheet. Children can practise the same skill as a game, with no sign-up and no ads.

  • CCSS 6.RP.A.3b
What this practises, for teachers

Practices unit price, constant speed (6.RP.A.3b). A printable sheet with its answer key, worked answers on the page, no accounts.

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For your class

🖨️ Printable sheet and key

Try three

  1. A cyclist goes at a steady 11 miles per hour for 4 hours. How far does it go?
    Show the answer and how
    Answer: 44 miles
    Distance = speed × time: 11 × 4 = 44 miles.
  2. A runner goes 6 meters per second for 19 seconds, then 5 meters per second for 14 seconds. How far does it go in all?
    Show the answer and how
    Answer: 184 meters
    Find each part. 6 × 19 = 114, and 5 × 14 = 70. Add them: 184 meters.
  3. A cyclist goes at a steady 13 miles per hour for 4.5 hours. How far does it go?
    Show the answer and how
    Answer: 58.5 miles
    Distance = speed × time: 13 × 4.5 = 58.5 miles.

Before and after

Learn first: Ratio tables and tapes (6th)

Comes next: Proportional or not? (7th)

Name: ____________________Date: ____________Score: ____ / 12

Best buy and speed (6th grade)

  1. A bus goes 80 miles in 2 hours at a steady speed. What is the speed in miles per hour?
  2. An airplane goes at a steady 300 miles per hour for 5 hours. How far does it go?
  3. A car goes 360 miles in 6 hours at a steady speed. What is the speed in miles per hour?
  4. An airplane goes 2100 miles in 6 hours at a steady speed. What is the speed in miles per hour?
  5. A car goes 90 miles at a steady 30 miles per hour. How many hours does that take?
  6. A cyclist goes at a steady 16 miles per hour for 3 hours. How far does it go?
  7. A hiker goes 17.5 kilometers at a steady 5 kilometers per hour. How many hours does that take?
  8. A hiker goes at a steady 3 kilometers per hour for 3.5 hours. How far does it go?
  9. A cyclist goes 16 miles per hour for 5 hours, then 13 miles per hour for 3 hours. How far does it go in all?
  10. A car goes at a steady 30 miles per hour for 3.5 hours. How far does it go?
  11. A runner goes 30 meters at a steady 4 meters per second. How many seconds does that take?
  12. A car goes at a steady 55 miles per hour for 6.5 hours. How far does it go?

Answer key

  1. 40 miles per hour
  2. 1500 miles
  3. 60 miles per hour
  4. 350 miles per hour
  5. 3 hours
  6. 48 miles
  7. 3.5 hours
  8. 10.5 kilometers
  9. 119 miles
  10. 105 miles
  11. 7.5 seconds
  12. 357.5 miles

More 6th grade skills: all 6th grade math skills, or every grade at math skills.