Question

A passenger arriving in a new town wishes to go from the station to a hotel located ` 10 km` away on a straight road from the station. A dishonest cabman takes him along a circuitous path ` 23 km` long and reaches the hotel in ` 28` minutes . What is (a) the average speed of the taxi, (b) the magnitude of average velocity ? Are the two equal ?

Answer 1

Here, actual path length travelled, s=23 km, Displacement = 10km,
Time taken, t=28 min =`28/60` h
a) Average speed of taxi = ("actual path length")/("time taken") = 23/(28//60) km//h = 21.4km//h`
The average speed Is not equal to the magnitude of average velocity. The two are equal for the motion of taxi along a straight path in one direction.