How long is Matts commute?

Question

Matt walks 0.75 miles from his house to the bus stop and rides the bus 3.8 miles to his office. If he walks 3.6 mph and the bus drives an average speed of 15 mph, how long is his commute?

Answer 1

For this problem, use the equation:

 

r x t = d, where r is the rate or speed of travel, t is the time, and d is the distance traveled.

 

Since the problem asks for the total time of Matt's commute, simply divide the distance traveled for each part of the problem by the speed he is traveling to get the length of time for that part of his commute.  

 

0.75/3.6 = 0.2083 hours, or 12.5 minutes

 

3.8/15 =  0.2533 hours, or 15.2 minutes

 

Together, these values make Matt's total commute of 4.55 miles 27.7 minutes long.