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2018 AMC 10B Problem 2

Problem 2 of 25EasierAlgebra

Sam drove 9696 miles in 9090 minutes. His average speed during the first 3030 minutes was 6060 mph (miles per hour), and his average speed during the second 3030 minutes was 6565 mph. What was his average speed, in mph, during the last 3030 minutes?

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Solution

Each leg is half an hour. In the first, Sam drove 6012=3060 \cdot \tfrac12 = 30 miles; in the second, 6512=32.565 \cdot \tfrac12 = 32.5 miles. That’s 62.562.5 miles so far. That leaves 9662.5=33.596 - 62.5 = 33.5 miles for the last half hour, which is a speed of 33.512=67\frac{33.5}{\tfrac12} = 67 mph. Therefore, the answer is D.

More practice

Concepts: distance rate and time

Problem text and solution from the LIVE past-contest archive. See also the AoPS wiki page for community solutions.