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11 votes
11 votes
PLEASE HELP

Two cars leave Hazelton at 1:00 pm. One travels north at a certain speed. The other travels south at three times that speed. At 4:00 p.m., they are 240 miles apart. How fast was each car traveling?
Please write an equation.

User Egeloen
by
2.7k points

1 Answer

25 votes
25 votes

Answer:

Equation for solving:
12x = 240

Northbound car: 20 mph

Southbound car: 60 mph

Explanation:

Let the speed of the car traveling north be x mph

Then the speed of the car traveling south is 3x mph

In 3 hours(4pm-1pm) the distances covered are as follows
Northbound car: 3x miles

Southbound car 3 (3x) = 9x miles

The distance between them is 3x + 9x = 12x
since they are traveling in opposite directions

We are given that this distance is 240 miles

So 12x = 240

x = 20 mph

Northbound car was traveling at 20 mph

Southbound car was traveling at 60 mph

Equation for solving is 12x = 240

User MoxieBall
by
2.9k points