Question

At 3PM, two ships started sailing toward each other from ports which were 265 miles apart at average rates of 18 and 23 miles per hour. At what time were the ships still 60 miles apart?
*Again, I;m having a real bad day; please walk me through this.*

Answer 1

When they are 60 miles apart, let the time they have traveled be t hours.

So the first one went 13t miles, and the second went 23t miles.

then 13t + 23t + 60 = 265
36t = 205
t = 5.6944 hours
which is 5 hours and about 42 minutes

so they were 60 miles apart at 8:42 pm

Answer 2

Thanks!

Answer 3

Hang on, it should be 18t not 13t, so then I got t=5, so the answer would then be 8PM, right? Should there be only the one let statement though? Cuold I put 3 lETS?;
LET t=time=5hours
let 18t=mph of 1st ship
let 23t=mph of 2nd ship?

Answer 4

You are right, let's blame it on poor eyesight.

But it looks like you can now do these kind of questions.

Answer 5

For the let statements- do they look correct?

Answer 6

If one train is moving at 174 miles per hour and another train is moving in the opposite direction at 112 miles per hour, at what rate are the trains moving apart?