Police use the formula:

v=sqr rt 20L

to estimate the speed of a car, v, in miles per hour, based on the length,L, in feet, of its skid marks when suddenly braking on a dry, asphalt road. At the scene of an accident, a police officer measures a car's skid marks to be 180 feet long. Approximately how fast was the car traveling? Round your answer to the nearest tenth (one decimal place) of a unit.
The car was traveling at approximately  how many miles per hour.

The formula provided is:

\[
v = \sqrt{20L}
\]

Where:
- \(v\) is the speed in miles per hour,
- \(L\) is the length of the skid marks in feet.

Given that the length \(L\) is 180 feet, we can substitute this value into the formula:

\[
v = \sqrt{20 \times 180}
\]

Now let's calculate the result:

\[
v = \sqrt{3600} = 60 \, \text{miles per hour}
\]

So, the car was traveling at approximately **60 miles per hour**.

Would you like to go into further detail about the calculations? Here are some related questions:

1. How does the coefficient (20) in the formula relate to road and car conditions?
2. What changes if the road is wet or icy, affecting the formula?
3. How can this formula be used in accident investigations?
4. What would the speed be if the skid marks were 100 feet long?
5. Can this formula be used for all types of cars?

**Tip:** Always double-check your unit conversions when working with formulas involving speed and distance.

Police use the formula: v=sqr rt 20L to estimate the speed of a car, v, in miles per hour, based on the length, L, in feet, of its skid marks when suddenly braking on a dry, asphalt road. At the scene of an accident, a police officer measures a car's skid marks to be 180 feet long. Approximately how fast was the car traveling? Round your answer to the nearest tenth (one decimal place) of a unit. The car was traveling at approximately how many miles per hour.

Learn how to estimate the speed of a car based on the length of its skid marks using the formula v = √(20L). In this example, we calculate the speed for a car with 180 feet long skid marks, arriving at approximately 60 miles per hour. Suitable for high school students in Grades 9-12.

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