Average speed there and back
Someone walks, cycles or goes by boat to a place and comes back the same way, faster one way than the other. The student works out the average speed for the whole trip, how many hours the whole trip takes, or, given the average, how fast the way back was.
Adding the two speeds and halving them gives the wrong answer. Average speed is the whole distance divided by the whole time, and the slower leg takes longer, so it counts for more. The working fills a table of distance, speed and time for each leg and the whole trip.
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What changes each time
- Walking, cycling or a boat trip
- Speed pairs that give whole hours and a whole-number average
- The average speed, the total time, or the speed on the way back
More ratio, rates and percentages practice
- Equivalent fractions, percentages and ratios (Grade 4)
- Rate tables (Grade 4)
- Calculating speed (Grade 4)
- Calculating distance (Grade 4)
- Calculating travel time (Grade 4)
- Moving walkway speed (Grade 4)
- Moving towards each other (Grade 5)
- Percentage of a grid (Grade 5)
- Work and time problems (Grade 5)