The rider traveled half the way at a speed of 10 km / h. Then, for half of the remaining travel time
The rider traveled half the way at a speed of 10 km / h. Then, for half of the remaining travel time, he drove at a speed of 8 km / h, and then walked to the end of the journey at a speed of 4 km / h. Determine the average speed of the rider along the entire path. The answer should be 7.5 km / h.
Let’s denote the entire path that the rider traveled as S, and all the time it took him for this as T. Then the average speed is calculated by the formula:
Vav = S / T.
The condition contains three sections of the path with different data:
S = s1 + s2 + s3; and s1 = S / 2.
T = t1 + t2 + t3; and t2 = t3.
The rider traveled half the way at a speed of 10 km / h:
s1 = S / 2 = 10 * t1;
t1 = S / 20.
For half the remaining time, he drove at a speed of 8 km / h:
s2 = 8 * t2;
t2 = (T – t1) / 2;
s2 = 4 * (T – t1).
The rest of the way he walked on foot at a speed of 4 km / h:
s3 = 4 * t3;
s3 = 4 * t2;
s3 = 4 * (T – t1) / 2;
s3 = 2 * (T – t1).
All the way:
S = s1 + s2 + s3;
S = 10 * t1 + 4 (T – t1) + 2 * (T – t1);
S = 10 * t1 + 6 * (T – t1);
S = 10 * t1 + 6 * T – 6 * t1;
S = 4 * t1 + 6 * T;
S = 4 * S / 20 + 6 * T;
S = S / 5 + 6 * T;
T = (S – S / 5) / 6;
T = 2 * S / 15;
Vav = S / T;
Vav = (S * 15) / (2 * S);
Vav = 7.5 km / h
Answer: The average speed of the rider along the entire route was 7.5 km / h.