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Jack biked to his friend house at a speed of 10 mph. When he was returning home it was raining. So he biked much slower - at 6 mph. What was Jack's average speed on the way there and back?

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1 vote

Answer:

7.5

Explanation:

The relation between time, speed, and distance is ...

time = distance/speed

If distance is "1 round trip", then the time going is ...

going = 0.5/(10 mi/h) . . . . for 1/2 round trip

and the time coming is ...

coming = 0.5/(6 mi/h)

Then the average speed for the full round trip is ...

speed = distance/time

average speed = 1/(going + coming) = 1/(0.5/10 +0.5/6) mi/h

= 1/((3+5)/60) mi/h

= 60/8 mi/h = 7.5 mi/h

Jack's average speed for the round trip was 7.5 mph.

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