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Starting at home, Luis traveled uphill to the gift store for 50 minutes at just 6 mph. He then traveled back home along the same path downhill at a speed of 12 mph.

What is his average speed for the entire trip from home to the gift store and back?

User Pitseeker
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1 Answer

1 vote

Average speed for the entire trip, both ways, is

(Total distance) divided by (total time) .

We don't know the distance from his house to the gift store,
and we don't know how long it took him to get back.
We'll need to calculate these.

-- On the trip TO the store, it took him 50 minutes, at 6 mph.
-- 50 minutes is 5/6 of an hour.
-- Traveling at 6 mph for 5/6 of an hour, he covered 5 miles.
-- The gift store is 5 miles from his house.
-- The total trip both ways was 10 miles.

-- On the way BACK home from the store, he moved at 12 mph.
-- Going 5 miles at 12 mph, it takes (5/12 hour) = 25 minutes.

Now we have everything we need.

Distance:
Going: 5 miles
Returning: 5 miles
Total 10 miles

Time:
Going: 50 minutes
Returning: 25 minutes
Total: 75 minutes = 1.25 hours

Average speed for the whole trip =

(total distance) / (total time)

= (10 miles) / (1.25 hours)

= (10 / 1.25) miles/hours

= 8 miles per hour
User Usumoio
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7.3k points