A traveler travels on a highway 80 miles at 55 miles per hour, he then travels back on the same highway at 45 miles per hour. What was his average rate of speed. (Hint: it's not 50 miles per hour)
If it's not 50, i'm so confused!!! Please help!!! (and please show me how you did it!)
I'm confused too. Without any additional data, I would say 50 mph. Sorry.
46.5 miles
To find the traveler's average speed, we need to calculate the total distance traveled divided by the total time taken.
Let's break down the problem step by step and calculate the time taken for each leg of the trip:
1. First leg of the trip: The traveler traveled 80 miles at 55 miles per hour. We can use the formula time = distance / speed to find the time taken.
So, time taken = 80 miles / 55 miles per hour = 1.4545 hours (approximately)
2. Second leg of the trip: The traveler traveled 80 miles again, but at a speed of 45 miles per hour.
So, time taken = 80 miles / 45 miles per hour = 1.7778 hours (approximately)
Now, let's calculate the total distance and total time for the entire trip:
Total distance = 80 miles + 80 miles = 160 miles
Total time = 1.4545 hours + 1.7778 hours = 3.2323 hours (approximately)
Finally, we can calculate the average speed by dividing the total distance by the total time:
Average speed = Total distance / Total time = 160 miles / 3.2323 hours = 49.4773 miles per hour (approximately)
Therefore, the traveler's average speed, rounded to two decimal places, is approximately 49.48 miles per hour.