Question

Kyla alternates between walking and jogging on an 11-mile trail. Her walking speed is 4 mi/h, and her jogging speed is 6 mi/h. Kyla takes 2 hours to go from the beginning to the end of the trail. Write and solve an equation to find the distance Kyla walked and the distance she jogged.

Answer 1

Kyla walked 2 miles and jogged 9 miles

Explanation:

Let the distance Kyla walked be x

and the distance Kyla jogged be y

Since the trail is 11-mile long, then

x + y = 11

Now, from the question,

Her walking speed is 4 mi/h and her jogging speed is 6 mi/h

Let the time spent to walk be t₁ and the time spent to jog be t₂

From

Distance = Speed × Time

Then, the distance walked x is

x = 4 mi/h × t₁

and the distance jogged y is

y = 6 mi/h × t₂

From the question, Kyla takes 2 hours to go from the beginning to the end of the trail, that is

t₁ + t₂ = 2 hours

∴t₁ = 2 - t₂

Since

x + y = 11, then we can write that

(4 mi/h × t₁) + (6 mi/h × t₂) = 11

But t₁ = 2 - t₂

Then,

(4 mi/h × t₁) + (6 mi/h × t₂) = 11; becomes

(4 mi/h × (2 - t₂)) + (6 mi/h × t₂) = 11

8 - 4t₂ + 6t₂ = 11

2t₂ = 11 - 8

2t₂ = 3

t₂ = 3/2

t₂ = 1.5 hours

This is the time spent to jog

Then, from t₁ = 2 - t₂

t₁ = 2 - 1.5

t₁ = 0.5 hour

This is the time spent to walk

Now, For the distance Kyla walked, x

x = 4 mi/h × t₁

x = 4 mi/h × 0.5

x = 2 miles

Hence, she walked 2 miles

and for the distance Kyla jogged, y

y = 6 mi/h × t₂

y = 6 mi/h × 1.5

y = 9 miles

Hence, she jogged 9 miles