Hi, there-- The Problem: The distance between new York and Boston is 340 miles. if it takes Mary 5 hours and 45 minutes to travel from NY to Boston, what was her average speed? A Solution: It takes Mary 5 hours and 45 minutes to go the entire distance. First, translate 5 hours and 45 minutes to hours. Since 45 minutes is 3/4 of an hour, we can say this is 0.75 hours. Add this to the five whole hours, and we have Mary traveling 340 miles in 5.75 hours. Mary's average speed is how many miles she can travel (on average) in each hour. So we divide 340 into one-hour chunks, or approximately 340 ÷ 5.75 = 59.13 miles for each hour. Mary's average speed is about 59.13 miles per hour. If this is unclear, or you still have questions, feel free to email me. Mrs.Figgy math.in.the.vortex@gmail.com