A fishing boat left Diego Garcia and traveled toward Madagascar at an average speed of 15 km/h. A cruise ship left at the same time and traveled in the opposite direction with an average speed of 19 km/h. Find the number of hours the cruise ship needs to travel before the ships are 204 km apart.

Answer 1

We can consider the relative speed of the two ships as the sum of their speeds, which is $15+19=34$ km/h. To find the number of hours the cruise ship needs to travel before the ships are 204 km apart, we can set up the equation: \begin{align*}
34t&=204\\
t&=\frac{204}{34}\\
t&=\boxed{6}.
\end{align*}