Average Speed

underground
Average speed mathematics

Situation 1
4 miles
50
0-3 miles 3-4 miles

Driver 1 50 mph 50 mph
Driver 2 75 mph ?
• The two drivers travel along the road shown in the diagram above. They pass the
two average speed cameras at the same time as each other.
(a) How far apart will the cars be after the first driver has gone 1 mile?
(b) What will be the greatest distance between the two drivers and when will it
occur?
(c) What is the average speed of the second driver?
(d) What was the second driver’s speed for the last mile?
Page 1 of 17 Copyright © University of Cambridge. All rights reserved. Last updated 10-Feb-16
https://undergroundmathematics.org/introducing-calculus/average-speed
underground
Solution 1
The graph above shows the information we were given in the table, with the speeds of the
drivers represented by the gradients of the lines. How can we use it to help us solve the
problem?

It is always a good idea to sketch a graph of a situation. It can help you visualise
situations, highlight differences and similarities, and offer you a geometric way to
solve a problem.

(a) How far apart will the cars be after the first driver has gone 1 mile?
1 th of an hour or 1.2
After driving 1 mile at 50 mph the first driver has been travelling for
50
minutes. Therefore the second driver has travelled a distance of 75 ×
1 = 1.5 miles so the
50
cars are 0.5 miles apart.
We could also have thought about the ratio of the speeds. The second driver is going 1 12
times as fast as the first driver, so he will travel 1 12 times as far in the same time.

(b) What will be the greatest distance between the two drivers and when will it occur?
Both drivers arrive at the second speed camera together so we could add in the second
driver’s journey to the graph.
The cars will be the greatest distance away from each other when the second driver has
travelled 3 miles. This occurs at
3 ths of an hour or 2.4 minutes. In this time, the first driver
75
will have travelled 50 ×
3 = 2 miles. The gap between them will be 1 mile.
75

(c) What is the average speed of the second driver?
Both cars travel the same distance in the same amount of time, so the second driver must
also be averaging 50 mph in the situation above.

(d) What was the second driver’s speed for the last mile?
The line we have drawn in represents the second part of their journey. The speed of the car
is equal to the distance divided by the time taken.
We know the coordinates of A and B so we can calculate the speed as,
4 − 3 = 25 mph.
4 3
50
− 75
An algebraic approach
If we hadn’t drawn the graph we could have taken an algebraic approach to finding the
solution. To work out the speed of the second driver once he has slowed down we need to
consider his overall journey in two sections.
In the first section we know the speed and the distance so we have
𝑡1 = 3 .
75
In the second section we only know the distance so we can write
𝑡2 = 1 ,
𝑣
where 𝑣 is the speed.

Subscripts can be very useful in questions like this, so as not to get confused. The
times for each section will be different, which could be easily forgotten if we just used
𝑡 for both equations.
total distance
As average speed = , for the overall journey, with an average speed of 50 mph
total time
and a distance of 4 miles, we have
50 = 4 .
𝑡1 + 𝑡2
Rearranging this equation gives us the total time,
𝑡1 + 𝑡 2 = 4 .
50

You might have also found the total time by working out the time that the first driver
took.
Substituting in the equations for 𝑡1 and 𝑡2 from above we get
3 +1= 4.
75 𝑣 50
Solving for 𝑣 gives us a speed of 25 mph. So our driver must travel at 25 mph to make their
average speed 50 mph over the 4 miles.
underground
Situation 2
We are still along the same stretch of road, with a speed limit of 50 mph, and the average
speed cameras set at 4 miles apart. In this instance our first driver spends the same amount
of time driving at 46 mph as he does at 62 mph. Our second driver drives the first half of the
distance at 46 mph and the second half at 62 mph.

• What are the average speeds of each driver? Will either of them be caught
speeding?
• What happens if the speed cameras are 10 miles apart instead? What changes?
Suggestion
It’s often a good idea to sketch a graph, even if you don’t need it to solve the problem.
If you sketch the distance-time graphs here, it can help you visualise the two situations
and highlight the differences between them. Look back at the solution for the first
situation to see how the graphs were used.
underground
Solution 2

We are still along the same stretch of road, with a speed limit of 50 mph, and the
average speed cameras set at 4 miles apart. In this instance our first driver spends
the same amount of time driving at 46 mph as he does at 62 mph. Our second driver
drives the first half of the distance at 46 mph and the second half at 62 mph.

What are the average speeds of each driver? Will either of them be caught speeding?
Let’s start with the first driver, who travels half the time at 46 mph and half the time at
62 mph. This is represented by the graph above.
We have two different ways to think about the journey; as a whole, and split into its two
pieces.
We can write the speeds of the two pieces as

𝑝 𝑞
46 = 1
and 62 =
1
,
2
𝑡 2
𝑡
where 𝑝 and 𝑞 are the distances travelled.
The journey as a whole can be written as
𝑝+𝑞
average speed = .
𝑡

We know that 𝑝 + 𝑞 = 4 but it turns out that substituting this into the equation is not
helpful.
Therefore we can substitute in values for 𝑝 and 𝑞 in terms of 𝑡,
average speed =
23𝑡 + 31𝑡 ,
𝑡
which leaves us with an average speed of 54 mph.

What do you notice about the average speed? Could you have reasoned through this
answer more easily, without doing the calculations?
Now we come to the driver who travels half the distance at each speed. Again we can think
about the parts of the journey and the journey as a whole.
The separate parts can be written
46 = 2 and 62 = 2 .
𝑡1 𝑡2

Will they spend a longer time travelling at 46 mph or at 62 mph?
The whole journey gives us
average speed =
4 .
𝑡1 + 𝑡 2
Rearranging the above equations to find 𝑡1 and 𝑡2 and then substituting these in gives
average speed =
4 = 52.8 mph (3 sf).
2 + 2
46 62

Do you think that either driver will be given a speeding ticket?

What happens if the speed cameras are 10 miles apart instead? What changes?
Did you find that anything changed as the distance increased? Does this surprise you? Can
you prove your findings for any distance?
Check your solution
If we look back at the equations we solved for the first driver, when the times were equal,
we had 𝑝 + 𝑞 as the distance, which we knew equalled 4, but we did not need to use this
fact.
Whatever the distance, we would have the same first set of equations
𝑝 𝑞
46 = 1
and 62 =
1
,
2
𝑡 2
𝑡
and the same second equation
𝑝+𝑞
average speed = ,
𝑡
where 𝑝 + 𝑞 = total distance travelled.
We could rearrange these to write
46𝑡 + 62𝑡
2 2 = 46 + 62 = 54,
𝑡 2
so the distance does not affect the average speed.
It is the same in the second case, although perhaps less obvious. If instead of 4 miles we
have 2𝑑 miles, then we get the equations
46 = 𝑑 and 62 = 𝑑
𝑡1 𝑡2
and
average speed =
2𝑑 .
𝑡1 + 𝑡 2
Rearranging the first two equations in terms of 𝑡1 and 𝑡2 means we we can write this as
average speed =
2𝑑
𝑑 + 𝑑
46 62
and simplify it to
average speed =
2 = 52.8 mph (3 sf).
1 + 1
46 62
Therefore this average also does not depend on the distance travelled.

Can you also explain graphically why the average speed for each situation does not
depend on the total distance?

We have calculated two different average speeds. Often when people say ‘average’
they mean one particular type. Think about other averages you have met - do either
of these two calculations remind you of averages you already know?
For equal distance spent at each speed
average speed =
2 ,
1 + 1
46 62
and for equal time spent at each speed
average speed =
46 + 62 .
2
To think more about this go to the Averages section.
underground
Averages

We have calculated two different average speeds. Often when people say ‘average’
they mean one particular type. Think about other averages you have met - do either
of these two calculations remind you of averages you already know?
For equal distance spent at each speed
average speed =
2 ,
1 + 1
46 62
and for equal time spent at each speed
average speed =
46 + 62 .
2
When people say ‘the average’ they are usually saying ‘the mean’. You know there is more
than one type of average, but informally using ‘the average’ is often acceptable.
However it might surprise you that even saying ‘the mean’ is not enough, as there is also
more than one type of mean. The mean you are most familiar with is actually called the
‘arithmetic mean’.
1
arithmetic mean of 𝑥1 , ..., 𝑥𝑛 is (𝑥1 + 𝑥2 + ⋯ + 𝑥𝑛 ).
𝑛
You may have spotted that when finding the average for equal times, we arrived at
46 + 62 ,
2
which is the arithmetic mean of 46 and 62.
What is probably less familiar is the scenario of equal distance which led to
2 ,
1 + 1
46 62
which is the harmonic mean of 46 and 62.

There are three means known as Pythagorean means, which are the arithmetic mean,
the harmonic mean and the geometric mean. For positive numbers 𝑥1 , …, 𝑥𝑛 , these
are given by
𝑥1 + 𝑥2 + ... + 𝑥𝑛
arithmetic mean =
𝑛
harmonic mean =
𝑛
1 + 1 + ... + 1
𝑥1 𝑥2 𝑥𝑛
𝑛
geometric mean = √𝑥1 𝑥2 ...𝑥𝑛 .
Let us make our driving examples more general. We already know that the distance does
not affect the means when we are driving for an equal time or an equal distance.

If we make the speeds 𝑢 and 𝑣, what is the average speed when driving an equal time
at each speed?
Solution
𝑑1 𝑑
𝑢= and 𝑣 = 2 ,
𝑡 𝑡
so the average speed would be
𝑑1 + 𝑑2 𝑢𝑡 + 𝑣𝑡 𝑢 + 𝑣
= = ,
2𝑡 2𝑡 2
which is our arithmetic mean of 𝑢 and 𝑣.

If our speeds remain 𝑢 and 𝑣, what is the average speed when each is driven for an
equal distance?
Solution
This time
𝑢 = 𝑑 and 𝑣 = 𝑑 ,
𝑡1 𝑡2
so the average speed would be
2𝑑 = 2𝑑 = 2 ,
𝑡1 + 𝑡 2 𝑑 𝑑 1+1
+
𝑢 𝑣 𝑢 𝑣
which is the harmonic mean of 𝑢 and 𝑣, and can also be written in the form
2𝑢𝑣 .
𝑢+𝑣

Will one of the averages always be bigger than the other?
Solution
We can see from the graph that travelling for an equal length of time at both speeds means
that you spend longer travelling at the higher speed than when you travel an equal distance
at both speeds. Therefore you will cover the distance in a quicker time and have a greater
average speed.
We can also prove this algebraically. If we subtract the harmonic mean (equal distance),
away from the arithmetic mean (equal time), we get
𝑢 + 𝑣 − 2𝑢𝑣 = 𝑢2 + 𝑣2 + 2𝑢𝑣 − 4𝑢𝑣 .
2 𝑢+𝑣 2(𝑢 + 𝑣)
If we then simplify the numerator we have
𝑢2 − 2𝑢𝑣 + 𝑣2 ,
2(𝑢 + 𝑣)
which can be factorised to
(𝑢 − 𝑣)2
.
2(𝑢 + 𝑣)
The numerator will never be negative as it is squared, and the denominator will always be
positive as 𝑢 and 𝑣 are always positive. Therefore
(𝑢 − 𝑣)2
≥ 0.
2(𝑢 + 𝑣)
So the average speed when driving for equal time will always be greater than or equal to the
average speed when driving for equal distances.

The result in the question above generalises to more than two speeds. In fact the
harmonic mean is always less than or equal to the geometric mean, which is always
less than or equal to the arithmetic mean for the same set of positive numbers.
The part of this result that is used the most often only involves the arithmetic and
geometric means.
1 (𝑥 + 𝑥 + ... + 𝑥 ) ≥ 𝑛 𝑥 ...𝑥
√𝑥1 2 𝑛
𝑛 1 2 𝑛
This is more commonly known as the AM-GM inequality, and appears more regularly
than you might think. You might like to try this review question or this one that it
appears in.
Let us now think about a type of question you may well have seen before.

If the (arithmetic) mean height of a class of 30 pupils is 1.24m, and the mean height
of a class of 20 pupils is 1.42m, what is the mean height of all the pupils?
Solution
We cannot just take the mean of 1.24 and 1.42 as they are unequally weighted.
One way is to work out the total height of each class.
The class with 30 pupils has a total height of 30 × 1.24 = 37.2m.
The class with 20 pupils has a total height of 20 × 1.42 = 28.4m.
So the average height of all 50 pupils is
30 × 1.24 + 20 × 1.42 = 1.312m

50
A different way of thinking about it is the proportion each class contributes to the average.
The class with 30 pupils accounts for 35 of the total and so we could write the calculation
average height =
3 × 1.24 + 2 × 1.42.
5 5
This is what we call a weighted arithmetic mean, as the two different heights are contributing
unequal amounts to the mean.
Now let us consider a car travelling at a speed 𝑢 for a time 𝑡1 and then travelling at speed 𝑣
for time 𝑡2 . What is its average speed?
We have
𝑑1 𝑑
𝑢= and 𝑣 = 2 ,
𝑡1 𝑡2
so the average speed is given by
𝑑1 + 𝑑 2
.
𝑡1 + 𝑡 2
If we rearrange the formulae for 𝑢 and 𝑣 to get them in terms of 𝑑1 and 𝑑2 then we can
substitute these into the formala for average speed to get
𝑢𝑡1 + 𝑣𝑡2
,
𝑡1 + 𝑡 2
which can be written as
𝑡1 𝑡
× 𝑢 + 2 × 𝑣,
𝑡1 + 𝑡 2 𝑡1 + 𝑡2
which is a weighted arithmetic mean, where we are taking the proportion of time that has
been travelled at each speed into account.
From this general case we can return to our special case of equal times.

If you make 𝑡1 = 𝑡2 , can you show the formula simplifies to the arithmetic mean?
If you start again, you can rearrange the formulae for 𝑢 and 𝑣 to get them in terms of
𝑡1 and 𝑡2 , and so get a formula for average speed in terms of 𝑢, 𝑣, 𝑑1 and 𝑑2 that is a
weighted harmonic mean. Can you return to our special case of equal distances from
your formula?

Average Speed

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Average Speed

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

underground

Average speed mathematics

0-3 miles 3-4 miles

We know the coordinates of A and B so we can calculate the speed as,

In the second section we only know the distance so we can write

Rearranging this equation gives us the total time,

Substituting in the equations for 𝑡1 and 𝑡2 from above we get

We can write the speeds of the two pieces as

where 𝑝 and 𝑞 are the distances travelled.

The journey as a whole can be written as

Therefore we can substitute in values for 𝑝 and 𝑞 in terms of 𝑡,

The separate parts can be written

The whole journey gives us

Check your solution

and the same second equation

We could rearrange these to write

For equal distance spent at each speed

For equal distance spent at each speed

so the average speed would be

If we then simplify the numerator we have

which can be factorised to

One way is to work out the total height of each class.

The class with 30 pupils has a total height of 30 × 1.24 = 37.2m.

The class with 20 pupils has a total height of 20 × 1.42 = 28.4m.

So the average height of all 50 pupils is

30 × 1.24 + 20 × 1.42 = 1.312m

so the average speed is given by

which can be written as

You might also like