{"id":219054,"date":"2025-05-25T14:19:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T14:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=219054"},"modified":"2025-05-25T14:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T14:19:11","slug":"you-take-a-trip-which-entails-traveling-900-miles-by-train-at-an-average-speed-of-60-mph-300-miles-by-boat-at-an-average-speed-of-25-mph-400-miles-by-plane-at-350-mph-and-finally-by-taxi-at-25-mph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/25\/you-take-a-trip-which-entails-traveling-900-miles-by-train-at-an-average-speed-of-60-mph-300-miles-by-boat-at-an-average-speed-of-25-mph-400-miles-by-plane-at-350-mph-and-finally-by-taxi-at-25-mph\/","title":{"rendered":"You take a trip which entails traveling 900 miles by train at an average speed of 60 mph, 300 miles by boat at an average speed of 25 mph, 400 miles by plane at 350 mph and finally by taxi at 25 mph. What is your average speed for the entire distance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>You take a trip which entails traveling 900 miles by train at an average speed of 60 mph, 300 miles by boat at an average speed of 25 mph, 400 miles by plane at 350 mph and finally by taxi at 25 mph. What is your average speed for the entire distance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-0-color\">The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To find the <strong>average speed<\/strong> for the entire trip, we must use the formula: Average&nbsp;Speed=Total&nbsp;DistanceTotal&nbsp;Time\\text{Average Speed} = \\frac{\\text{Total Distance}}{\\text{Total Time}}<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 1: Calculate total distance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Train: 900 miles<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Boat: 300 miles<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Plane: 400 miles<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Taxi: Let\u2019s say the distance by taxi is <strong>xx<\/strong> miles (not specified in the question, but it&#8217;s implied the total ends with a taxi ride).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>However, upon careful reading: <strong>&#8220;finally by taxi at 25 mph&#8221;<\/strong> \u2014 implies the trip ends with the taxi, <strong>but the distance is missing<\/strong>. Assuming this is a typo or omission, we must <strong>assume the distance for the taxi<\/strong>. Let&#8217;s assume the taxi distance is <strong>100 miles<\/strong>, which is a common way such questions are posed in tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Taxi: 100 miles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Total Distance<\/strong> = 900 + 300 + 400 + 100 = <strong>1700 miles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 2: Calculate time for each leg of the trip<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Train: 90060=15\u00a0hours\\frac{900}{60} = 15 \\text{ hours}<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Boat: 30025=12\u00a0hours\\frac{300}{25} = 12 \\text{ hours}<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Plane: 400350\u22481.14\u00a0hours\\frac{400}{350} \\approx 1.14 \\text{ hours}<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Taxi: 10025=4\u00a0hours\\frac{100}{25} = 4 \\text{ hours}<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Total Time<\/strong> = 15 + 12 + 1.14 + 4 = <strong>32.14 hours<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 3: Calculate average speed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Average&nbsp;Speed=170032.14\u224852.89&nbsp;mph\\text{Average Speed} = \\frac{1700}{32.14} \\approx \\boxed{52.89 \\text{ mph}}<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Explanation <\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To determine average speed over a multi-part journey, you must not simply average the speeds of each segment. That method leads to an incorrect result because it ignores the differing time durations at each speed. Instead, the proper approach is to divide the <strong>total distance<\/strong> by the <strong>total time<\/strong> taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this problem, the journey includes four parts: train, boat, plane, and taxi. First, calculate the <strong>total distance<\/strong>, which is the sum of all segments: 900 miles by train, 300 miles by boat, 400 miles by plane, and (we assume) 100 miles by taxi, totaling <strong>1700 miles<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, calculate how long each leg takes by dividing distance by speed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Train: 900 \u00f7 60 = 15 hours<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Boat: 300 \u00f7 25 = 12 hours<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Plane: 400 \u00f7 350 \u2248 1.14 hours<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Taxi: 100 \u00f7 25 = 4 hours<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Total time = 15 + 12 + 1.14 + 4 = <strong>32.14 hours<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, plug the total distance and time into the average speed formula: Average&nbsp;Speed=170032.14\u224852.89&nbsp;mph\\text{Average Speed} = \\frac{1700}{32.14} \\approx 52.89 \\text{ mph}<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This result shows the <strong>true weighted average<\/strong> based on time, not a simple mean. Slower segments (like boat or taxi) consume more time and thus have a larger impact on the overall average speed. This method gives a realistic average for the entire trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/learnexams-banner8.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-219055\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You take a trip which entails traveling 900 miles by train at an average speed of 60 mph, 300 miles by boat at an average speed of 25 mph, 400 miles by plane at 350 mph and finally by taxi at 25 mph. What is your average speed for the entire distance? The Correct Answer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219054\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}