We want to find the patrolman's rate in miles per hour during the shift. Since we want to find miles per hour, we must divide the miles he drove by the number of hours.
rate = miles / hours
He drove 272 miles.
rate = 272 miles / hours
He drove for 8 hours and 30 minutes. There are 60 minutes in 1 hour. One half of 60 is 30. Therefore, we can also say he drove eight and a half, or 8.5 hours.
rate= 272 miles / 8.5 hours
rate = 32 miles / hour
rate= 32 mph
His average rate during the shift was 32 miles per hour.
