During the first part of a trip, a bicyclist travels 56 miles at a certain speed.The return trip is made at a speed that is 6 mph slower. Total time for the round trip is 16hr. Find the bicyclist's speed on each part of the trip.

Answer 1

certain speed ---- x mph
slower speed ---- x-6 mph
time at certain speed = 56/x
time at slower speed = 56/(x-6)

56/x + 56/(x-6) = 16
multiply each of the 3 terms by x(x-6)
you will get a quadratic, according to my definition, x > 6 , so reject any invalid answers after you solve for x.