Final answer:
The average speed of the wheelchair division record winner in the Boston Marathon, with a record time of 1 hour, 18 minutes, and 27 seconds over a distance of 26.2 miles, is approximately 20.037 mph. None of the given options perfectly match this value, but the closest offered answer is 20.8 mph.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate the average speed of the wheelchair division record winner in the Boston Marathon, we first need to convert the record time into hours. The record time is 1 hour, 18 minutes, and 27 seconds. To convert this to hours, we perform the following calculations:
- 1 hour is already in hours.
- 18 minutes is 18/60 = 0.3 hours.
- 27 seconds is 27/3600 = 0.0075 hours.
Adding these together gives us a total time in hours: 1 + 0.3 + 0.0075 = 1.3075 hours.
Now, we can calculate the average speed using the formula:
Average Speed = Total Distance / Total Time
Given that the marathon distance is 26.2 miles, we have:
Average Speed = 26.2 miles / 1.3075 hours ≈ 20.037 mph
Out of the given options, none match the calculated speed. Therefore, an error may have occurred or the given options might not be accurate. However, if we need to select the closest approximate speed from the given options, we would choose option (a) 20.8 mph, as that is the nearest to our calculated speed of approximately 20.037 mph.