Question

Sarah had a 40 mile head start and was driving north at 46 miles per hour when James and Renee began their pursuit at 50 miles and hour. How long before James and Renee caught up to Sarah?

Answer 1

It takes James and Renee 10 hours to catch up to Sarah.

Explanation:

To solve this problem, we can use the formula:

time = distance / rate

Let's call the time it takes James and Renee to catch up to Sarah "t" and the distance they travel "d". We know that Sarah had a head start of 40 miles, so the distance they need to catch up to her is:

d = 40 miles

During the time "t", Sarah travels:

distance = rate x time = 46t

And James and Renee travel:

distance = rate x time = 50t

Since they both travel the same distance when they catch up, we can set these two distances equal to each other:

46t + 40 = 50t

Subtracting 46t from both sides, we get:

40 = 4t

Dividing both sides by 4, we get:

t = 10

So it takes James and Renee 10 hours to catch up to Sarah.