Question

Sam and Liam raced each other up and then down the hill. Sam's average speed up the hill was 1 mph, and his average speed down was 9 mph. Liam ran up the hill and down the hill with the same speed, 2 mph. If the path from the bottom to the top of the hill is 1 mile long, how much time did it take each of the boys to finish - and who was the winner?

Answer 1

Sam's time was 1 hour and 6.66 minutes (or 1 and 1/9 hours)

Liam's time was was 1 hour

So in conclusion, Liam was faster

Explanation:

We got Sam's time by 1/1 because Sam was walking 1 mph and the length to reach the top of the hill is 1 mile. So it would take Sam 1 hour to walk 1 mile. Walking down the hill Sam's speed was 9 mph. So the equation would be 1/9. So you would get 1/9. 1/9 of 60 is 6.66 repeating.

For Liam it is pretty simple. Since he is going up the hill at 2 mph and the length of the bottom of the hill to the top is 1 mile, it would be 30 minutes. Repeat this for the top to the bottom and in total it would be 1 hour.

Hope this helps