Expert: Robi Bhattacharjee - 10/2/2008

Question
Bob Rodriguez, the Albany, NY sales representative for Advanced Drafting Software, Inc., must attend the regional sales meeting in New York city. Unfortunately, his car is in the shop so he must make other travel arrangements to reach his destination. One option is to take a train that departs at 8;00 A.M. Alternatively, he could ride to the meeting with another sales rep.
Bob has an important presentation to deliver at the meeting and needs to arrive as early as possible. He knows that the train travels at 80 miles per hour, but has a 30-minute layover halfway through the 156-mile trip. He also knows that his friend cannot depart before 8:00 A.M. and will adamantly refuse to drive any faster than 55 miles per hour.
If both methods of transportation leave at the same time (8:00 A.M.), will the train or the car allow him to reach the regional sales meeting sooner?

Answer
Hi Ray,

For this question, simply find the total time taken. For the train, the total time would be total distance / average speed = 156/80 = 39/20 hours. But it has a 30 minute delay, so it would be 39/20 + 1/2 since 30 min is 1/2 of one hour. This = 49/20 hours which = 147 min.

Now for the car, 156/55 = about 2.83 hours = 170 min.

So 147 < 170 so you should definitely take the train.


Robi