Accepted Answer
This is tricky, and the question could probably be written more clearly.A " 4 x 100 m " race means that four runners each run 100 meters, for a total of 400 meters ... very close to a quarter mile.On a 200-meter track, each runner does halfway around the track, and the whole team of four runners does twice around the track. This team did the whole thing in 50.2 seconds. The average time for each runner was 50.2/4 = 12.55 seconds.Velocity is a speed and a direction. We have the speed, leaving only the puzzle of what to do about the 'average' direction.Here's a sneaky but easy way to dispense with the whole issue: Define the average velocity (vector) as (total displacement vector)/(total time).Since the fourth runner finished in exactly the same spot as the first runner began, the total displacement is zero, and therefore so is the average velocity.