Question

A bicyclist travels 1 mile in 5 minutes. If m represents minutes, what does the expression m over 5 represent

Answer 1

The expression m over 5 would represent the number of miles the bicyclist had traveled for a time of 5 minutes. This value is  a value of speed. It is the magnitude of a velocity. It represents the total distance that is traveled for given certain period of time. It is a scalar quantity since it does not have any direction. It would have dimensions of distance per time with SI units of meter per second. Other units used are kilometer per hour and miles per hour. The vector quantity counterpart of this is called the velocity where it contains the magnitude of the speed and a direction. The direction of velocity is indicated by a positive and a negative sign.