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Anika went to the internet cafe traveling 12 mph and returned

home traveling 15 mph. If the total trip took 9 hours, how long did
Anika travel at each speed?

1 Answer

2 votes

Answer:

  • 5 hours at 12 mph
  • 4 hours at 15 mph

Explanation:

You want to know the travel times at 12 mph (going) and 15 mph (returning) for a round trip that took 9 hours.

Time and Speed

Over the same distance, the travel time is inversely proportional to the speed. This means ...

(time going)/(time returning) = 15/12 = 5/4 . . . . . . inverse of speed ratio

Then the fraction of total time spent on the trip to the cafe is ...

fraction of total spent "going" = 5/(5+4) = 5/9

And the time spent "going" is ...

(5/9)·(9 hours) = 5 hours

Anika traveled 5 hours at 12 mph, and 4 hours at 15 mph.

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Additional comment

The distance is the product of time and speed, so we see the distance in each direction is ...

(5 h)(12 mi/h) = 60 mi = (4 h)(15 mi/h)

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answered
User Yibin Lin
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