find how long Matt walked

Question

To get to work, Matt walks 0.75 miles from his house to the bus stop and rides the bus 3.8 miles to his work. If he walks at a pace of 3.6 miles an hour and the bus driver drives an average speed of 15 miles per hour, how long is his commute

Answer 1

Distance =   Rate x  Time  -->   Time =  Distance/Rate where time is in hours

 

 Home to bus top:      .75/3.6 = 75/360  <-- multiplies top and bottom by 100 to clear the decimals.

                                              =  5/24     <--- reduces by 15

 

     ( or 12 minutes and 30 seconds)

 

 bus to work:   3.8/15 = 38/150 = 19/75  ( or 15 minutes and 12 seconds)

 

         5/24 + 19/75   <--- common denominator of 600

 

          125/600 +    152/600 =

 

         277/600 = .461666666.... = 27 minutes and 42 seconds

 

 Notice that this agrees with the total of the times highlighted in bold.