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Work out the speed in miles per hour at which colin drives home

Work out the speed in miles per hour at which colin drives home-example-1
User Manuel Leduc
by
2.7k points

1 Answer

11 votes
11 votes

Answer:

20 miles per hour

Explanation:

The graph shows it takes Colin 45 minutes (3/4 hour) to drive home. For a given distance (the distance from home to market), the speed is inversely proportional to the time.

The time driving home is (3/4 hour)/(2/4 hour) = 3/2 times the time driving to the market. The inverse of this is 2/3, so Colin's speed driving home is ...

(2/3)(30 mph) = 20 mph

The speed at which Colin drives home is 20 miles per hour.

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Alternate solution

The distance to the market is ...

distance = speed × time

distance = (30 mi/h)(1/2 h) = 15 mi

The speed going home is ...

speed = distance/time

speed = (15 mi)/(3/4 h) = (15)(4/3) mi/h = 20 mi/h

User Raphie
by
2.6k points
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