Question

Gina started hiking down a mountain trail at the same time that Melissa started hiking up the trail.

A coordinate grid showing Mountain Trail Hike with Hours Spent Hiking on the horizontal, t, axis and Elevation in thousands of feet on the vertical, h, axis.
Melissa's elevation is represented by the equation h = 2 + t, and Gina's elevation is represented by h = 9.5 – 1.5t, where t represents the number of hours they have been hiking.

What point represents the time, in hours, since they started hiking and the elevation where Melissa and Gina meet on the trail?

(1, 8)
(2, 4)
(3, 5)
(4, 6)

Answer 1

Set the equations equal: 2 + t = 9.5 − 1.5t.
Solve: 2.5t = 7.5 → t = 3. Then h = 2 + 3 = 5 (thousand feet).

So they meet at (3, 5).