Mr. Earl E. Bird gets up every day at 8:00 AM to go to work. If he drives at an average speed of 40 miles per hour, he will be late by 3 minutes. If he drives at an average speed of 60 miles per hour, he will be early by 3 minutes. How many miles per hour does Mr. Bird need to drive to get to work exactly on time?
$\textbf{(A)}\ 45 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 48 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 50 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 55 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 58$
Solution 1
Let the time he needs to get there in be $t$ and the distance he travels be $d$. From the given equations, we know that $d=\left(t+\frac{1}{20}\right)40$ and $d=\left(t-\frac{1}{20}\right)60$. Setting the two equal, we have $40t+2=60t-3$ and we find $t=\frac{1}{4}$ of an hour. Substituting t back in, we find $d=12$. From $d=rt$, we find that $r$, our answer, is $\boxed{\textbf{(B) }48 }$.

Solution 2
Since either time he arrives at is $3$ minutes from the desired time, the answer is merely the [harmonic mean](https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php/Harmonic_mean) of 40 and 60. 
Substituting $t=\frac ds$ and dividing both sides by $d$, we get $\frac 2s = \frac 1{40} + \frac 1{60}$ hence $s=\boxed{\textbf{(B) }48}$.
(Note that this approach would work even if the time by which he is late was different from the time by which he is early in the other case - we would simply take a weighted sum in step two, and hence obtain a weighted harmonic mean in step three.)

Solution 3
Let x be equal to the total amount of distance he needs to cover. Let y be equal to the amount of time he would travel correctly.
Setting up a system of equations, $\frac x{40} -3 = y$ and $\frac x{60} +3 = y$
Solving, we get x = 720 and y = 15. 
We divide x by y to get the average speed, $\frac {720}{15} = 48$. Therefore, the answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(B) }48}$.
~MathKatana