Estimating Car Speed from Skid Marks

The video tutorial explains how police use a formula to estimate the speed of a car based on the length of its skid marks. At an accident scene, a police officer measures skid marks to be 124 feet long. The tutorial demonstrates substituting this value into the formula to calculate the car's speed, which is approximately 49.8 miles per hour. The process involves using a calculator to find a decimal approximation of the square root of the product of 20 and the skid mark length.

What is the formula used by police to estimate the speed of a car based on skid marks?

• V equals 20 times L

• V equals 20L squared

• V equals L divided by 20

• V equals the square root of 20L

In the formula V equals the square root of 20L, what does L represent?

• The length of the skid marks

• The weight of the car

• The time taken to stop

• The speed of the car

How long were the skid marks measured by the police officer at the accident scene?

• 150 feet

• 124 feet

• 200 feet

• 100 feet

What is the first step in calculating the car's speed using the given formula?

• Add 20 to the length of the skid marks

• Divide the length of the skid marks by 20

• Subtract 20 from the length of the skid marks

• Multiply 20 by the length of the skid marks

After calculating the square root of 2480, what is the approximate speed of the car?

• 52.3 miles per hour

• 55.0 miles per hour

• 45.6 miles per hour

• 49.8 miles per hour

To what decimal place should the final speed of the car be rounded?

• Nearest whole number

• Nearest tenth

• Nearest hundredth

• Nearest thousandth