Question

Mrs. Padré drives 2 hours at an average speed of 35 miles per hour. Then she drives 3 hours at a speed of 48 miles per hour. What is her average speed for the whole trip?

Answer 1

Her average speed for the whole trip is of 42.8 miles per hour.

Explanation:

We use the following relation to solve this question:

Speed is distance divided by time.

In this question:

Mrs. Padré drives 2 hours at an average speed of 35 miles per hour, which means that during these first two hours, she drove 2*35 = 70 miles.

Then she drives 3 hours at a speed of 48 miles per hour, which means that during these next three hours, she drove 3*48 = 144 miles.

In total, she drove 144 + 70 = 214 miles in 5 hours.

So her average speed for the whole trip is of 214/5 = 42.8 miles per hour.