Question

Orville was out bicycling with his brother Wilbur. Orville stopped to fix a flat tire. Wilbur continued at 10 mph. After 30 minutes, Orville had fixed the flat, and he rode off at 12 mph in pursuit of Wilbur. In how many hours did Orville catch up to Wilbur?

Answer 1

Orville caught up with Wilbur in 2.5 hours

Explanation:

Here, we want to calculate the number of hours it took for Orville to catch up to Wilbur

Mathematically,

distance = speed * time

The distance traveled before Orville restarted his own journey is ;

distance = 10 mph * 0.5 = 5 miles

(30 minutes is 30/60= 0.5 hours)

So this means that Wilbur was now 5 miles ahead of Orville

Now, let the number of hours it took to

catch up Wilbur be h

In h hours,

Wilbur would have traveled 5 miles + 10h

In this same time, Orville would have traveled

12 * h = 12h

So the distance traveled by the two will be equal at this h hour

5 + 10h = 12h

12h-10h = 5

2h = 5

h = 5/2

h = 2.5 hours