Week 5 Unit 5: Exercise

18. June 2024

The stopping distance of a car can be calculated using the following rule of thumb:

  • The stopping distance of the car is the sum of the reaction path and the brake distance
  • The reaction path depends on the speed. It can be calculated by the following rule of thumb: The reaction path in meter is equal to the speed in km/h times 3/10. - Example: Speed 50km/h � reaction path 15m
  • The brake distance depends as well on the speed. Again there is a rule of thumb which is: brake distance in m is equal to the speed in km/h divided by 10 , the result has to be taken by the power of 2 - Example: Speed 50km/h � (50 / 10)**2 = 25m
  • The stopping distance for a car with a speed of 50km/h is 15m + 25m = 40m

Implement the following functions to calculate the stopping distance

  • function reaction_path() which gets the speed in km/h as input, calculates the reaction path according to the above rule of thumb and returns the path in m
  • function brake_distance() which gets the speed in km/h as input, calculates the brake distance according to the above rule of thumb and returns the distance in m
  • function stopping_distance() which gets the speed in km/h as input, calls the above functions, adds their return values and returns this sum

Get a speed in km/h as input and output the stopping distance in m.


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