The problem involves a car traveling up a hill at 31 km/h and down a hill at 59 km/h, with the goal of finding the average speed for the round trip. The discussion centers around the concept of average speed and the necessary assumptions regarding distance.
Participants have provided guidance on how to approach the problem by suggesting to define the distance as a variable and calculate total time based on that. There is ongoing exploration of calculations and the implications of assumptions made about distance.
Some participants note that without assuming equal distances for the uphill and downhill segments, there would be insufficient information to solve the problem. There are also discussions about the validity of calculated values based on the chosen distance.
Defennder said:?? That's all you're given? I thought average speed was total dist/total time.
I presume that the distance up the hill equals the distance down the hill. (Without some such assumption, there would be insufficient information.)mossfan563 said:Homework Statement
A car travels up a hill at 31 km/h and then down a hill at 59 km/h.
Find the avg speed.
Ok I get a really small number. Is that legit?Ygggdrasil said:Assume the car travels x miles uphill and x miles downhill. Find the total time and divide 2x by the total time.
Doc Al said:I presume that the distance up the hill equals the distance down the hill. (Without some such assumption, there would be insufficient information.)
What's the most basic definition of average speed? Use it.
Good.mossfan563 said:The basic definition is total distance/total time.
Use Ygggdrasil's hint: Call the distance x (or D, if you like). In terms of the distance, find the time for going up and the time for going down.I have no instance of time and no distance either.
mossfan563 said:Ok I get a really small number. Is that legit?
I assumed the car traveled 10 km up and down and i divided by 20 (2x).
I got .024603...
Is that correct? Or am I doing something wrong?