asked 42.5k views
3 votes
A freight train completes its journey of 150 miles 1 hour earlier if it’s original speed is increased by 5 miles/hour. What is the trains original speed?

asked
User Dennso
by
8.0k points

1 Answer

6 votes
Let s represent the train's original speed.

time = distance / speed

150/s = 150/(s +5) +1 . . . . . . . the original journey took 1 hour longer than at the faster speed

Multiply by s(s+5).
150(s +5) = 150s +s(s+5)
s^2 +5s -750 = 0 . . . . . . . rearrange to standard form
(s +30)(s -25) = 0 . . . . . . . factor
Solutions to this are values of s that make the factors zero.
s = -30 or +25 . . . . . . . . . only the positive solution makes sense

The train's original speed is 25 mph.
answered
User Kburgie
by
7.9k points
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