Quizzes & Puzzles1 min ago
Increasing Speed
9 Answers
My maths is appalling, so can someone help me out with this?
I’m on a motorway driving at 70mph. The satnav shows my arrival time as 8:31. For whatever reason, it’s vital that I arrive at 8:30, so I increase my speed to 80mph (this is theoretical!).
How far must I travel at that speed to make up the 1 minute? I’m sure this is far easier to calculate than I think, but I’m having a mental block.
I’m on a motorway driving at 70mph. The satnav shows my arrival time as 8:31. For whatever reason, it’s vital that I arrive at 8:30, so I increase my speed to 80mph (this is theoretical!).
How far must I travel at that speed to make up the 1 minute? I’m sure this is far easier to calculate than I think, but I’m having a mental block.
Answers
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.The Satnav says if you proceed at 70 mph you will arrive at 8.31 but you need to arrive at 8.30 - so you have to work out how far short you would be which is the distance travelled in 1 minute at 70 mph - 70/60 = 1.16 miles.
Then you work out the difference in distance travelled at 70 mph and 80 mph - 80/60 - 70/60 = 1.33 - 1.16 = 0.17.
You then work out how long take you to cover 1.16 at the increased rate of 0.17 mph = 1.16/0.17 = 6.84 minutes.
Makes sense to me!
Then you work out the difference in distance travelled at 70 mph and 80 mph - 80/60 - 70/60 = 1.33 - 1.16 = 0.17.
You then work out how long take you to cover 1.16 at the increased rate of 0.17 mph = 1.16/0.17 = 6.84 minutes.
Makes sense to me!
It was only theoretical, MallyJ. The main reason I posted was that, from my own experience, stopping at traffic lights a few times can add several minutes to a journey time - but, obviously, the difference between 0mph and, say, 40mph is far greater than adding 10mph to your speed.
You often hear of speeding motorists giving the excuse that they were running late, but it struck me that you'd have to travel at crazy speeds to make up whatever you lose by a few instances of standing still; ie speeding really isn't worth it.
You often hear of speeding motorists giving the excuse that they were running late, but it struck me that you'd have to travel at crazy speeds to make up whatever you lose by a few instances of standing still; ie speeding really isn't worth it.
Mick's answer isn't quite right:
Let s = distance of trip.
Let t = total time of original journey, in hours (at 70mph)
Let x = time spent travelling at 80mph in 2nd journey, in hours.
At a constant 70mph:
s = 70t .... equation A
In 2nd journey:
s = 70(t - 1/60 - x) + 80x
s = 70t - 70/60 -70x + 80x .... equation B
Combining equations A and B:
70t = 70t - 7/6 + 10x
10x = 7/6
x = 7/60 = 7 minutes at 80mph
....... and you'll travel 80 x 7/60 = 9 1/3 miles (as bibblebub said)
Choosing an arbitrary value for s, to check, say s = 100km
for 1st journey:
time taken for journey = 100/70 = 85 5/7 minutes
time taken for 2nd journey:
(90 2/3)/70 + (9 1/3)/80 = 84 5/7 minutes, which is exactly 1 minute less than the than original journey at a constant 70mph.
So, eventually .... the answer is 7 minutes at 80mph and you'll travel 9 1/3 miles in this 7 minutes :)
Let s = distance of trip.
Let t = total time of original journey, in hours (at 70mph)
Let x = time spent travelling at 80mph in 2nd journey, in hours.
At a constant 70mph:
s = 70t .... equation A
In 2nd journey:
s = 70(t - 1/60 - x) + 80x
s = 70t - 70/60 -70x + 80x .... equation B
Combining equations A and B:
70t = 70t - 7/6 + 10x
10x = 7/6
x = 7/60 = 7 minutes at 80mph
....... and you'll travel 80 x 7/60 = 9 1/3 miles (as bibblebub said)
Choosing an arbitrary value for s, to check, say s = 100km
for 1st journey:
time taken for journey = 100/70 = 85 5/7 minutes
time taken for 2nd journey:
(90 2/3)/70 + (9 1/3)/80 = 84 5/7 minutes, which is exactly 1 minute less than the than original journey at a constant 70mph.
So, eventually .... the answer is 7 minutes at 80mph and you'll travel 9 1/3 miles in this 7 minutes :)