SOLUTION: A car trip from NY to Cincinatti took 12.5 hours. The return trip by the same route took 1 h longer because the average speed was 4 mi/h less. What is the length of the route?

Question 223246: A car trip from NY to Cincinatti took 12.5 hours. The return trip by the same route took 1 h longer because the average speed was 4 mi/h less. What is the length of the route?
I tried:
rXt=d
r 12.5= r(12.5)
r-4(13.5)
I am stuck! Not sure what to do next.
Thanks!
Answer by solver91311(24713) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

You have the right idea.

so for the trip west:

and for the trip east:

Now since we can be pretty certain that neither New York or Cincinnati picked up and moved while this trip was occurring, we can say that the distance from New York to Cincinnati is the same as the distance from Cincinnati to New York. Now we can write:

Solve for

then multiply by 12.5 to get

John

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