2011 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 9
Problem
Carmen takes a long bike ride on a hilly highway. The graph indicates the miles traveled during the time of her ride. What is Carmen's average speed for her entire ride in miles per hour?
![[asy] import graph; size(8.76cm); real lsf=0.5; pen dps=linewidth(0.7)+fontsize(10); defaultpen(dps); pen ds=black; real xmin=-3.58,xmax=10.19,ymin=-4.43,ymax=9.63; draw((0,0)--(0,8)); draw((0,0)--(8,0)); draw((0,1)--(8,1)); draw((0,2)--(8,2)); draw((0,3)--(8,3)); draw((0,4)--(8,4)); draw((0,5)--(8,5)); draw((0,6)--(8,6)); draw((0,7)--(8,7)); draw((1,0)--(1,8)); draw((2,0)--(2,8)); draw((3,0)--(3,8)); draw((4,0)--(4,8)); draw((5,0)--(5,8)); draw((6,0)--(6,8)); draw((7,0)--(7,8)); label("$1$",(0.95,-0.24),SE*lsf); label("$2$",(1.92,-0.26),SE*lsf); label("$3$",(2.92,-0.31),SE*lsf); label("$4$",(3.93,-0.26),SE*lsf); label("$5$",(4.92,-0.27),SE*lsf); label("$6$",(5.95,-0.29),SE*lsf); label("$7$",(6.94,-0.27),SE*lsf); label("$5$",(-0.49,1.22),SE*lsf); label("$10$",(-0.59,2.23),SE*lsf); label("$15$",(-0.61,3.22),SE*lsf); label("$20$",(-0.61,4.23),SE*lsf); label("$25$",(-0.59,5.22),SE*lsf); label("$30$",(-0.59,6.2),SE*lsf); label("$35$",(-0.56,7.18),SE*lsf); draw((0,0)--(1,1),linewidth(1.6)); draw((1,1)--(2,3),linewidth(1.6)); draw((2,3)--(4,4),linewidth(1.6)); draw((4,4)--(7,7),linewidth(1.6)); label("HOURS",(3.41,-0.85),SE*lsf); label("M",(-1.39,5.32),SE*lsf); label("I",(-1.34,4.93),SE*lsf); label("L",(-1.36,4.51),SE*lsf); label("E",(-1.37,4.11),SE*lsf); label("S",(-1.39,3.7),SE*lsf); clip((xmin,ymin)--(xmin,ymax)--(xmax,ymax)--(xmax,ymin)--cycle);[/asy]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/b/7/b/b7b1eec1082e610840acfb54c74952d80d4dc7a3.png)
Solution
We observe the graph and see that the shape of the graph does not matter. We only want the total time it took Carmen and the total distance she traveled. Based on the graph, Carmen traveled 35 miles for 7 hours. Therefore, her average speed is 
See Also
| 2011 AMC 8 (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
| Preceded by Problem 8 |
Followed by Problem 10 | |
| 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 | ||
| All AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions | ||
