Distance, Speed & Time

Have you ever raced your best friend to grab the very last slice of pepperoni pizza? 🍕 If you both start from the same spot, the person who runs the fastest (speed) for the shortest amount of time will cover the distance first and win the pizza! Welcome to the world of Distance, Speed, and Time. This is one of the most useful math tricks you will ever learn, and the SSAT test makers absolutely love it. Why? Because we use it every single day!

Whether you are figuring out how long a boring car ride will take, or tracking how fast a cheetah can run, it all comes down to one simple idea. Distance is how far you go. Speed (or rate) is how fast you are moving. Time is how long it takes. To solve these puzzles on the SSAT, you just need to remember the magic formula: $d=r\times t$ (Distance equals Rate times Time). 🚗💨

I like to picture a giant triangle with a 'D' at the top, and 'R' and 'T' at the bottom. If you want to find Distance, you multiply Rate and Time. If you want to find Time, you divide Distance by Rate ($t=\frac{d}{r}$). And if you want to find Rate, you divide Distance by Time ($r=\frac{d}{t}$). Once you master this magic trick, you will be zooming through these SSAT math questions faster than a superhero flying to the rescue! 🦸‍♂️ Let's look at some super fun examples to get you ready.