Brenda drove to the train station and back. The trip there took five hours and the trip back took six hours. What was Brenda's average speed on the trip there if she averaged 30 mph on the return trip

Use the trip back to calculate total distance. If Brenda drives 30 mph for 6 hours then she has traveled 180 miles. Now we know it is 180 miles from her house to the train station. If she drove this in 5 hours instead, just divide 180 by 5 to get an average speed of 36 mph.

First you figure out how long the distance was.

30 mph in 6 hours would mean that for every hour she was 30 miles further than she was that one hour ago. So to find the distance traveled you just multiply the two numbers together.

30 • 6 = 180 miles

To find how fast she was going on the way there you divide 180 (the distance in miles) by 5 (the time it took to get there).

180/5 = 36

Brenda's average speed there was 36 mph.