document.write( "Question 1183834: Hi
\n" ); document.write( "Sally walked halfway to school at 5km per hour. She then ran the rest of the way at 8km per hour. If she rode home at a speed of 40km per hour,what was her average speed to and from school.
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Algebra.Com's Answer #814303 by greenestamps(13200)\"\" \"About 
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\n" ); document.write( "This kind of problem is probably easiest to solve if we choose a \"nice\" number for the distance to the school. Since the given speeds are 5, 8, and 40km/h, we can choose 40km for the distance to the school. Note that choice is not reasonable in the real situation -- but it makes solving the problem easy.

\n" ); document.write( "She walks half of the 40km at 5km/h, taking 20/5 = 4 hours.
\n" ); document.write( "She walks half of the 40km at 8km/h, taking 20/8 = 2.5 hours.
\n" ); document.write( "She rides back the whole 40km at 40km/h, taking 40/40 = 1 hour.

\n" ); document.write( "In all, she traveled 80km in 4+2.5+1 = 7.5 hours; her average speed was 80/7.5 = 160/15 = 32/3km/hr or 10 2/3 km/h.

\n" ); document.write( "ANSWER: 10 2/3 km/hr

\n" ); document.write( "If you need to solve the problem using formal algebra, simply use d for the distance instead of choosing a specific number. Then the total time for the trip is

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\n" ); document.write( "and her average speed was the total distance divided by the total time:

\n" ); document.write( "\"2d%2F%283d%2F16%29+=+2d%2816%2F3d%29+=+32%2F3\"

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