Road Under Construction

Date: 9/8/96 at 23:13:54
From: Anonymous
Subject: How Much Road Was Under Construction?

Adam made a trip to see his college friend. The college is 295 miles 
from Adam's house. He averaged 50 miles per hour (mph)) for most of 
the trip but only 40 mph for the part where the road was under 
construction. If the trip took 6 hours, how many miles of the road 
were under construction? 

Date: 9/9/96 at 22:59:19
From: Doctor Jerry
Subject: Re: How Much Road Was Under Construction?

Here's a suggestion for getting started on this problem. Concentrate 
first on the times needed for the two parts of the trip.  Once you 
have the times, then you can figure out the two distances.  

If T1 and T2 are the times (in hours) for the good road and bad road 
parts of the trip, then T1 + T2 = 6.  The distances travelled during 
the two parts of the trip would be 50*T1 and 40*T2.  You can form 
these two into an equation and then solve the two equations in two 
unknowns.  Okay?

-Doctor Jerry,  The Math Forum
 Check out our web site!  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/