Question

John went on a bike ride to the store 4 miles away. If it took John 3 1/0 of an hour to get there and 12 of an hour to get back, what was his average rate of speed (miles per hour) for the entire trip?

Answer 1

His average rate of speed for the entire trip is 10 miles/hour.

Explanation:

We are given that John went on a bike ride to the store 4 miles away. If it took John 3/10 of an hour to get there and 1/2 of an hour to get back.

And we have to find his average rate of speed (miles per hour) for the entire trip.

As we know that the Distance-Speed-Time formula is given by;

`\text{Speed}=\frac{\text{Distance}}{\text{Time}}`

Here, the distance for the entire trip = 8 miles (4 miles for reaching store and 4 miles for returning back)

The time taken for the entire trip =
`((3)/(10) )` of an hour to reach the store and
`((1)/(2))` an hour to get back.

So, the average rate of speed for the entire trip =
`\frac{\text{Total Distance}}{\text{Total Time}}`

=
`(8)/((3)/(10)+(1)/(2) )`

=
`(8)/((8)/(10) )` = 10 miles per hour

Hence, his average rate of speed for the entire trip is 10 miles/hour.