16. Harriet took 48 minutes to ride her bike the distance from her house to the town library. If she rode at a constant rate, what fraction of the total distance did she ride in the first 12 minutes?
Answer: A
Harriet rode 1/4 of the total distance in the first 12 minutes.
Harriet took 48 minutes to ride the total distance to the library. In the first 12 minutes, she rode a quarter of the total distance.
A) 1/4
This option is correct because if Harriet took 48 minutes to complete the entire distance, then in 12 minutes, which is one-fourth of 48, she would cover one-fourth of the total distance.
B) 1/3
This option is incorrect. If Harriet had ridden one-third of the total distance in 12 minutes, that would imply she would take 36 minutes to complete the entire distance, which is not the case as she actually took 48 minutes.
C) 1/2
This option is also incorrect. Riding half of the total distance would mean she would have completed it in 24 minutes, which contradicts the fact that it took her 48 minutes to ride the full distance.
D) 3/4
This option is incorrect as well. If Harriet had ridden three-quarters of the distance in 12 minutes, that would suggest she would cover the entire distance in 16 minutes, which is much shorter than the 48 minutes she actually took.
Conclusion
The correct answer is 1/4, as Harriet rode this fraction of the total distance in the first 12 minutes, which corresponds to the time taken relative to the total duration. All other options fail because they suggest incorrect proportions of the distance based on the total time of 48 minutes.