SOLUTION: Elmo rode his bike for 12 miles and then walked for 6 miles. If the total time of his trip is 2 hours and his bike speed is 10 mph faster than his walking speed, find the speed on

Algebra.Com
Question 574623: Elmo rode his bike for 12 miles and then walked for 6 miles. If the total time of his trip is 2 hours and his bike speed is 10 mph faster than his walking speed, find the speed on his bike.
Answer by ankor@dixie-net.com(22740)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Elmo rode his bike for 12 miles and then walked for 6 miles.
If the total time of his trip is 2 hours and his bike speed is 10 mph faster than his walking speed, find the speed on his bike.
:
let b = the bike speed
then
(b-10) = the walking speed
:
Write a time equation: time = dist/speed
:
bike time + walk time = 2 hrs
+ = 2
multiply by b(b-10)
b(b-10)* + b(b-10)* = 2b(b-10)
cancel the denominators and you have:
12(b-10) + 6b = 2b^2 - 20b
12b - 120 + 6b = 2b^2 - 20b
18b - 120 = 2b^2 - 20b
Combine like terms on the right
0 = 2b^2 - 20b - 18b + 120
2b^2 - 38b + 120 = 0; a quadratic equation
simplify, divide by 2, results
b^2 - 19b + 60 = 0
This factors to
(b-4)(b-15) = 0
Two positive solutions
b = 4, not a reasonable speed
and
b = 15, more like it
:
His bike speed is 15 mph
:
Check this by finding the times (walk speed = 5 mph)
12/15 = .8 hrs
6/5 = 1.2 hrs
---------------
tot time 2 hrs

RELATED QUESTIONS

Ed rode his bike for 2 more hours than Ann rode hers. Ed traveled 24 miles and Ann... (answered by graphmatics,MathTherapy)
ed rode his bike for 2 more hours than ann rode hers. ed traveled 24 miles, and ann... (answered by ankor@dixie-net.com)
Julio rides his bike for 6 miles and gets a flat tire. He then walks with the bike for... (answered by ankor@dixie-net.com)
a man rode a bike for 12 miles and hiked 8. The total time for the trip was 5 hours. If... (answered by Paul)
A man rode a bike for 12 miles and hiked 8. Total time for the trip was 5 hours. If his... (answered by mukhopadhyay)
A man walks 6 miles then rides a bike 42 miles. His total trip took 5 hours. If he rode (answered by mananth)
Blaise rode his bike to his friend Elroy's house, which was 15 miles away. After he had... (answered by ankor@dixie-net.com)
One day Larry decided to go fishing in the back country. He rode his bike 14 miles and... (answered by solver91311)
Daniel leaves school and runs 5 miles to his friend's house where he had left his bike... (answered by richwmiller)