Question

Steve is planning his annual Spring Break road trip. He pulls out his map and draws out his route to visit the five locations that he has planned for this year. They go in a counterclockwise loop and he ends up at home, where he started, just in time to start classes again. Whenever he is on the road he travels a constant 60 miles/hour. When Steve adds up the total distance traveled, as measured by his odometer, and divides it by the time that his trip took, he has measured what quantity?

a. His average velocity.
b. His average speed.
c. His instantaneous velocity.
d. His instantaneous speed.

Answer 1

His average speed.

Step-by-step explanation:

Average speed = Total distance travelled / total time .

In the given case odometer measures total distance travelled . Dividing it by time will give average speed .

Average velocity can not be the answer as it is measured by dividing displacement by time . Displacement here is zero because initial and final point are same . Instantaneous velocity is given by the speedometer . It keeps on changing all the time . It is actually speed at a particular point of time . It can not be average velocity or speed .