Ben participated in a race. During the first half of the race, he walked 3 miles and ran at a rate of 5
miles per hour for x hours. During the second
half of the race, he walked for 2 miles and ran at
a rate of 5.5 miles per hour for x hours. What
equation could you write to solve for the number
of hours Ben ran during each half of the race?
Let y represent the number of miles in half the
race. Write two equations, one for the first half of
the race and one for the second half. How could
you transform these two equations to be the
same as the original equation you wrote to solve
for x? What do you think this means about
solving for the variables in a situation
represented by two equations?