Owen lives 145.25 kilometers from Houston, Texas. Sharon lives 209.5 kilometers from Houston. How much farther does Sharon live from Houston than Owen?
The correct answer and explanation is:
To find how much farther Sharon lives from Houston than Owen, subtract Owen’s distance from Sharon’s distance.
Given:
- Sharon’s distance from Houston = 209.5 kilometers
- Owen’s distance from Houston = 145.25 kilometers
The subtraction is:
209.5 km – 145.25 km = 64.25 kilometers
So, Sharon lives 64.25 kilometers farther from Houston than Owen.
Explanation:
In problems like this, you are simply asked to find the difference between two distances. The key is to recognize that subtraction is the operation needed to compare how much farther one person lives from a reference point (Houston, in this case) than another.
Start with the distances for both Sharon and Owen. You first write down the distances: 209.5 km for Sharon and 145.25 km for Owen. The next step is to subtract the smaller distance (Owen’s) from the larger one (Sharon’s). This subtraction gives you the difference between the two distances, which tells you how much farther Sharon lives from Houston than Owen does.
This process is common when comparing measurements or quantities. You might encounter this type of question in many different contexts, like determining how much longer a route is, or how much more of a resource is needed. It helps to always ensure that the numbers are in the same units (here, both are in kilometers) before performing the subtraction to avoid any conversion errors.