A bus leaves New York City, takes a non-direct route and arrives in St. Louis, Missouri 23 hours, 16 minutes later. If the distance between the two cities is 1250 km, what is the magnitude of the bus' average velocity?
A)37.2 km/h
B)41.4 km/h
C)46.0 km/h
D)53.7 km/h
E)58.1 km/h

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The magnitude of the average velocity is given by:

average velocity = (total distance traveled) / (total time taken)

Since the bus takes a non-direct route, we have no information about its speed or direction of travel during different parts of the journey. Therefore, we can assume that the bus traveled the entire distance of 1250 km at a constant speed throughout the journey.

The total time taken is given as 23 hours and 16 minutes, which can be converted to hours as:

total time taken = 23 + 16/60 = 23.27 hours

Therefore, the magnitude of the average velocity is:

average velocity = 1250 km / 23.27 hours ≈ 53.7 km/h

So, the best choice is D.

A Bus Leaves New York City, Takes a Non-Direct Route