The Total Time Spent on the Trip is 9 hours.

[wowdusk]

Homework Statement

A man walks for 4 hours at the rate of x miles per hour. He stops an hour for lunch and then returns on a bus to his starting point. However, the bus travels at a speed 6 times that of his walking rate and follows a route that is twice as long. "What is the total number of hours spent on the entire trip?

Homework Equations

D=rt

The Attempt at a Solution

I know the man spent 4 hours on the first leg and had an hour lunch, so the total time is more than 5 hours. i was trying to manipulate the D=rt formula to fir this problem, but it wasn't coming out right. I would do 2(4x)/6x, for his time on the bus because it was twice the distance he walked (2(4x)) and moving at six times his speed (6x).

 

[symbolipoint]

You are almost there with the answer. You key missing piece is how much time was spent on the bus trip home,...

You know 'going', 4 hours.
You know 'lunch', 1 hour.
You find an expression for TIME of bus trip home,
$$\[<br /> time = \frac{{distance}}{{rate}}\quad = \;\;\frac{{2 \cdot 4 \cdot x}}{{6x}} = \frac{4}{3}\quad hours<br /> \]$$

Finish the solution yourself now? Sum of three values.