SOLUTION: Timothy leaves home for Skedunk 400 miles away. After 2 hours, he has to reduce his speed by 20 mph due to rain. If he takes one hour for lunch and gas and reaches Skehdunk 9 hours

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Question 625699: Timothy leaves home for Skedunk 400 miles away. After 2 hours, he has to reduce his speed by 20 mph due to rain. If he takes one hour for lunch and gas and reaches Skehdunk 9 hours after he left home, what was his initial speed? write the equations then solve.
Answer by htmentor(1343) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The first part of the trip takes 2 hours. Since the total trip takes 9 hours and it takes 1 hour for gas and lunch, the last part of the trip takes 6 hours.
Let s = the initial speed
The distance covered in the 1st part of the trip = 2*s
The distance covered in the 2nd part of the trip = 6(s-20) [speed reduced by 20 mph]
Since the total distance = 400 mi, we can write
400 = 2s + 6(s-20)
Solve for s:
400 = 8s - 120
8s = 520
s = 65
So the initial speed is 65 mph