A group of 10 students are on

a field trip when their bus
breaks down 40 miles away
from the school.
A teacher takes 5 of them
back to school in her car,
travelling at an average speed
of 40 miles per hour.
The other 5 students start
walking towards school at a
steady 4miles per hour. The
teacher drops the 5
at school, then immediately
turns around and comes back
for the others, again travelling
at a steady speed of 40
miles per hour.
How far have the students
walked by the time the car
reaches them?

2 answers

What a lot of unnecessary "verbage" !
What does it matter if there are 10 students or 12 or ... ?
No wonder some students find math difficult.

let the distance walked by the students be x
then time spent by students walking = x/4 hours

in that same time, the teacher went (40 + 40-x) miles at 40 mph
so time = (80 - x)/40

x/4 = (80-x)/40
40x = 320 - 4x
44x = 320
x = 11/80 miles or appr 7.27 miles
Thank you so much. I asked one of my friends to explain it to me the other day but I was so confused. Thank you.