A car travels 40 miles in the first hour and 50 miles in the second hour. What is the car's average speed over the entire trip?

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A car travels 40 miles in the first hour and 50 miles in the second hour. What is the car's average speed over the entire trip?

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Answer 1 · 2016-01-27T15:06:27

45 miles per hour

Explanation:

Average velocity is equal to the total distance traveled divided by the time it took to travel that distance.
$v = \frac{d}{t}$ $v = d/t$

In this case we are told two distances. So the total distance traveled is:
$d = d_{1} + d_{2}$ $d = d_1 +d _2$
$d = 40 + 50 = 90 miles$ $d = 40 + 50 = 90 " miles"$

We are also told about two time intervals. Each is an hour in length.
$t = t_{1} + t_{2}$ $t = t_1 + t_2$
$t = 1 + 1 = 2 hours$ $t = 1 + 1 = 2 " hours"$

Now we can calculate the average velocity for the entire trip using the first equation.
$v = \frac{90 miles}{2 hours} = 45 \frac{miles}{hour}$ $v = (90 " miles")/(2 " hours") = 45 "miles"/"hour"$

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A car travels 40 miles in the first hour and 50 miles in the second hour. What is the car's average speed over the entire trip?

1 Answer

Explanation:

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