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One car traveled 240 miles and drove 20 mph hour faster than a second car drove 160 miles. If the cars were traveling for the same time, how fast was the first car traveling?

User Raymie
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

The first car was traveling at a speed of 40 mph.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the speed of the first car, we can set up a system of equations using the given information:

Let the speed of the first car be x mph.

The second car drove 160 miles, so it took 160 / x hours to travel that distance.

The first car drove 240 miles, 20 mph faster than the second car, so it took 240 / (x+20) hours to travel that distance.

Since both cars were traveling for the same time, we can set the two equations equal to each other:

160 / x = 240 / (x+20)

To solve this equation, we can cross-multiply and solve for x:

160(x+20) = 240x

160x + 3200 = 240x

3200 = 80x

x = 40

Therefore, the first car was traveling at a speed of 40 mph.

User Poolie
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