Help with average velocity?

Question

A horse runs away from its trainer in a straight line, moving 116 meters away in 4.0 seconds. It then turns and gallops halfway back in 4.8 seconds. Calculate its average velocity for the entire trip, using "away from the trainer" as the positive direction.

Ahhhh!! help!!

Answer 1

Since it says that "away from the trainer" is the positive direction, I will guess that the definition for velocity in this case is DISPLACEMENT divided by TIME.  Displacement is the distance from the starting point.

Velocity = Displacement / Time

Displacement = +116meters - (116/2)meters = +116 - 58 = +58 meters

Time = 4.0 + 4.8 = 8.8 seconds

Velocity = (+58 meters)/(8.8 seconds) = 6.59 meters/second

Answer 2

The average velocity is simply

Velocity = Total distance travelled/Time intervals

Total distance travelled = 116 + 116 = 232 m

Time interval = 4 + 4.8 = 8.8 seconds

Therefore,

Velocity = 232/8.8 = 26.36 m/sec.