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by jainrahul1985 » Sat Feb 26, 2011 7:33 am
It took the bus 4 hours to get from town A to town B. What was the average speed of the bus for the trip?

1. In the first 2 hours the bus covered 100 miles
2. The average speed of the bus for the first half of the distance was twice its speed for the second half

OA E
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Source: — Data Sufficiency |

by Night reader » Sat Feb 26, 2011 8:23 am
given: T=4 (hours), D is a total distance, find average S (speed)-?
st(1) t(1)=2, D(part of the distance)=100, S(1)=100/2=50 since we don't have information about the total distance and the time or speed of bus for the second half of the distance - Not Sufficient;
st(2) S(2) speed for half of the distance=2*S(3) speed for the second half, BUT we don't what's the half of distance - Not Sufficient;
Combined: we have no reference points in st(1&2) Not Sufficient, hence E.
jainrahul1985 wrote:It took the bus 4 hours to get from town A to town B. What was the average speed of the bus for the trip?

1. In the first 2 hours the bus covered 100 miles
2. The average speed of the bus for the first half of the distance was twice its speed for the second half

OA E
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by Anurag@Gurome » Sat Feb 26, 2011 9:27 pm
Solution:
Average speed is = (Total distance)/(Total time taken to cover this distance).
Total time taken to cover this distance is 4 hours.
Let us first consider (1) alone.
In the first 2 hours, the bus covered 100 miles.
But we do not know the distance covered in next 2 hours.
Or (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question.
We next consider (2) alone.
Let the total distance from A to B be d.
Let the average speed for the distance d/2 be s.
So, the time taken to cover this distance is d/2s.
Also, the speed for remaining d/2 distance is s/2.
So, the time taken to cover this distance is (d/2)/(s/2) = d/s.
Or total time taken is d/2s + d/s.
Or 3d/2s = 4.
Or d/s = 8/3.
Or average speed is d/4 = d/(3d/2s) = 2s/3.
But we do not know s or d.
Or (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question.
We next combine both the statements together and check.
Even on combining, we do not come to know about s or d or anything else which tells us the average
speed.
Or both statements together are not sufficient to answer the question.

The correct answer is (E).
Anurag Mairal, Ph.D., MBA
GMAT Expert, Admissions and Career Guidance
Gurome, Inc.
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