GMATPrepNow wrote:
Bill travels from point A to point B at a constant speed of 120 kilometers per hour. Upon reaching point B, he immediately heads back to point A. On his return trip to point A, Bill spends half the time traveling 20 kilometers per hour, and half the time traveling 60 kilometers per hour. What is Bill’s average speed, in kilometers per hour, for the entire roundtrip?
A) 48
B) 60
C) 66 2/3
D) 72
E) 80
Let's assign a nice value to the distance between point A and point B.
Given the 3 speeds (120 kmh, 20 kmh and 60 kmh), it seems that a distance of
120 kilometers will work nicely.
Bill travels from point A to point B at a constant speed of 120 kilometers per hour.Time = distance/rate
=
120/
120 =
1 hour
On his return trip to point A, Bill spends half the time traveling 20 kilometers per hour, and half the time traveling 60 kilometers per hour.Let x = the distance traveled at 20 kilometers per hour
So,
120 - x = the distance traveled at 60 kilometers per hour
Word equation: TIME traveled at 20 kmh = TIME traveled at 60 kmh
Time = distance/rate
So, we get: x/20 = (120-x)/60
Cross multiply: 60x = 20(120-x)
Expand: 60x = 2400 - 20x
Solve: x = 30
So, Bill drove 30 kilometers at 20 kilometers per hour, which means he drove the other 90 kilometers at 60 kilometers per hour.
TIME traveled at 20 kmh = 30/20 =
1.5 hours
Since the two travel times are EQUAL, we also know that Bill drove
1.5 hours at 60 kilometers per hour
So, the TOTAL DISTANCE =
120 +
120 =
240 kilometers
So, the TOTAL TRAVEL TIME =
1 +
1.5 +
1.5 =
4 hours
Average speed = (TOTAL DISTANCE)/(TOTAL TRAVEL TIME) =
240/
4 = 60 kilometers per hour
Answer:
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