Question

Mary traveled a total of 10 hours and a total of 1850 miles by car and by plane. Driving to the airport by car, she averaged 50 miles per hour. In the air, the plane averaged 300 miles per hour. How long did it take her to drive to the airport?

A) 3.5 hours
B) 4 hours
C) 5 hours
D) 6 hours

Answer 1

Mary took approximately 1.6 hours to drive to the airport.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find out how long it took Mary to drive to the airport, we can set up a proportion using the distance and average speed. Let x be the time it took her to drive to the airport.

Since she drove for a total of 10 hours, the time she spent in the air is 10-x hours.

The proportion can be set up as: 50 miles per hour = (1850 - 300(10-x)) / x.

Cross multiplying and simplifying the equation, we get: 50x = 550 - 300x.

Combining like terms, we have: 350x = 550.

Dividing both sides by 350, we find that x = 1.57, which is approximately 1.6 hours.

Therefore, it took Mary approximately 1.6 hours to drive to the airport, which is equivalent to 1 hour and 36 minutes.