Asked by Amir

James and tom are in 2 cities which are 186 miles apart and travel towards eachother. James' average rate was 32 mph, and Tom's average ratewas 36mph. If James started at 9:00am and Tom's startes at 9:30 what time did they meet?
I need help settign up the boxes.
SO far I have
Names rate time distance
James 186 miles
Tom 186 miles

Please help, and if you can explain.




Answers

Answered by Reiny
looks like your teacher is teaching you how to set up distance-rate-time problems using a chart or "box"
Good Idea!

your chart should have columns labeled Distance, Rate and Time,
It should have two rows, labeled James and Tom

For distance of James put in x miles
for distance of Tom put in 186-x
put in their corresponding speeds.
since Time = distance/speed
James' time = x/32
and Tom's time = (186-x)/36

Don't we know that James drove 1/2 hour longer??
so
x/32 - (186-x)/36 = 1/2
multiply by 288, the LCM
9x - 8(186-x) = 144
solve for x
Answered by Damon
James travels for t hours
Tom travels for (t - .5 ) hours

James goes 32 t miles
Tom goes 36 (t-.5) = 36 t - 18 miles
so
32 t + 36 t - 18 = 186 miles
got it?
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