Question

A van and a truck both drove from Town A to Town B. The distance

between Town A and Town B is 200 miles. The van left Town A 1 1/2 hours
earlier than the truck. The van reached Town B 2 1/2 hours before the truck.
The truck traveled at an average speed of 40 miles per hour. What was the
average speed of the van?

Answer 1

First we need to find out the time it took for the truck to reach town B.


`Speed= (Distance)/(Time)`


`40= (200)/(T)`

`T=5hours`

Now, because the van left 1.5 hours earlier and reached the destination 2.5 hours before, it took 1 hour less the the truck to arrive.


`5hours-1hour=4hours` which is the time it took for the van to arrive.

Now we use the speed equation again to work out speed.


`Speed= (200)/(4)`


`Speed=50mph` = speed of van

Hope this helped :)