SOLUTION: A man travels a distance at a speed of 12 km/h and returns at 9 km/h. If the total time taken by him is 3 h 30 min, find the distance he traveled one way.

Question 1101434: A man travels a distance at a speed of 12 km/h and returns at 9 km/h. If the total time taken by him is 3 h 30 min, find the distance he traveled one way.
Found 2 solutions by ikleyn, greenestamps:
Answer by ikleyn(52781) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
.

Let D be the unknown distance under the question, in kilometers. Then the time spent traveling at the speed 12 km/h is hours. The time spent traveling at the speed 9 km/h is hours. The total time equation is + = hours, or + = . Multiply by 36 both sides. You will get 3D + 4D = 7*18, or 7D = 7*18 ====> D = 18 kilometers. Answer. The one way distance is 18 km.

Answer by greenestamps(13200) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

The other tutor gave a solution by what is probably the most common method for solving this kind of problem.

Here is a solution using a different method. Try it and see if it "works" for you....

The distances in the two directions are of course the same.

The ratio of the speeds is 4:3; since the distances are the same, the ratio of times at the two speeds is 3:4.

Dividing 3 hours 30 minutes in the ratio 3:4 means 1 hour 30 minutes at 12 km/h and 2 hours at 9 km/h.

Either of those gives 18km as the distance: 1.5*12 = 18; 2*9 = 18.
RELATED QUESTIONS
john drove part of a 260 km trip at 80 km/h and the rest at 100 km/h. find the distance... (answered by checkley71)
John drove part of a 260 km trip at 80 km/h and the rest at 100 km/h. Find the distance... (answered by ankor@dixie-net.com)
a man cycles for sometime at 16 km/h and returns at 15 km/h. the total time taken is 31/4 (answered by Alan3354)
A cyclist travels from A to B, a distance of 8km, at x km/h. He travels from B to A the... (answered by ankor@dixie-net.com)
: a car travels at a speed of 30 km/h for 30 minutes and then at a speed of 45 km/h .... (answered by josmiceli)
To travel from Singapore to Malacca, a distance of 280 km, a motorist finds that if he... (answered by josgarithmetic,lwsshak3)
A car travels 600 km at an average speed of x km/h. If the car travels at a speed of... (answered by josgarithmetic)
a girl travels at 12 km/h and the distance is 9 km, what is the... (answered by harpazo)
a man cycled for some time at 16 km/h and returned at 15 km/h . the total time taken was... (answered by ankor@dixie-net.com)