Question

Nicole left home and traveled toward the recycling plant. Two hours later Kristin left traveling at 50 km/h in an effort to catch up to Nicole. After traveling for three hours Kristin finally caught up. What was Nicole's average speed?

Answer 1

Nicole's average speed is
`30\ km/h`.

Explanation:

Given,

Speed of Kristen =
`50\ km/h`

Time taken by Kristen to cover the distance =
`3\ h`

Solution,

We can find out the distance traveled by Kristen by multiplying speed with time.

`Distance = Speed* Time`

`Distance =50\ km/h* 3\ h=150\ km`

The distance traveled by Kristen is equal to distance traveled by Nicole.

As the question said Kristen left 2 hours later and cover the distance in 3 hours.

That means Nicole take 5 hours to cover the distance.

So, For Nicole;

Distance = 150 km

Time = 5 hrs

Here we use the formula of speed.

`Speed = (Distance)/(time)`

Now substituting the values, we get;

`Speed = (150\ km)/(5\ h)=30\ km/h`

Hence Nicole's average speed is
`30\ km/h`.