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.