A motorist travels 120 miles to his destination at an average speed of 60 miles per hour and returns at an average
speed of 60 miles per hour and returns to the starting point at an average speed of 40 miles per hour. What is his average
speed for the entire trip
Well did he go 60 or 40 on the way back?
Wow so do you seriously not know what the answer is Damon? Or are you just this stupid not to answer someone's question? Seriously . . . just wondering do you not know the answer?
Anyway, find the total time for the round trip by adding the time out and the time back.
Then divide 240 miles by the time in hours
Whoa! Be careful who you call stupid, Ivan! Damon is a retired Harvard physics professor.
MIT, Ocean Engineering.
BSc in Physics but went back later for engineering doctorate and taught engineering.
Oops -- I was close -- but all wrong!
LOL - close enough, a short lunchtime walk.
Ivan is a complete boor and needs to find somewhere else to post. He clearly didn't read the original question here, not did he seem to understand Damon's question in reply.
=(
To find the average speed for the entire trip, we need to consider the total distance traveled and the total time taken.
Let's calculate the time taken for each leg of the trip first:
Time taken for the outbound trip:
Distance = 120 miles
Speed = 60 miles per hour
Time = Distance / Speed = 120 / 60 = 2 hours
Time taken for the return trip:
Distance = 120 miles
Speed = 40 miles per hour
Time = Distance / Speed = 120 / 40 = 3 hours
Now, let's calculate the total distance and time for the entire trip:
Total distance = Distance outbound trip + Distance return trip = 120 + 120 = 240 miles
Total time = Time outbound trip + Time return trip = 2 + 3 = 5 hours
Finally, we can find the average speed for the entire trip:
Average speed = Total distance / Total time = 240 / 5 = 48 miles per hour
Therefore, the motorist's average speed for the entire trip is 48 miles per hour.