Hi All,
This question requires a certain degree of note-taking and organization. Once you've got everything on the pad, you can then approach the math in a couple of ways:
Since we're dealing with distance, rate and time, I'm going to make two equations based on the two days of travel:
Day 1: Distance = (R mph)(T hours)
Day 2: Distance#2 = (R+1 mph)(T+2 hours)
Since the TOTAL TIME for both days was 18 hours, we can solve for T...
T + (T+2) = 18
2T = 16
T = 8
Since the TOTAL DISTANCE for both days was 64 miles, we can now set up 1 gigantic equation....
64 miles = (R)(8) + (R+1)(10)
At this point, we have 1 variable and 1 equation, so we can solve for R....
64 = 8R + 10R + 10
54 = 18R
3 = R
The prompt asks for the speed on DAY 1; since the hiker traveled R mph on Day 1, the answer is 3...
Final Answer:
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
_________________