Pete and Kathy are standing at home on a softball field. Pete starts walking up the third base line at the rate of 6 feet per second. At the same time, Kathy starts jogging up the first base line at the rate of 10 feet per second. In how many seconds will they be 270 feet apart?

Answer 1

Did you make a diagram?

Let the time taken be t seconds,
so the distance along third base line is 6t feet, and the distance along the first base line is 10t feet.

hoping that the lines at home plate are at 90º, don't you have a right-angled triangle and therefore isn't

(6t)^2 + (10t)^2 = 270^2 ?

t = .....

(pretty big softball field !)

Answer 2

Thanks I was using the triangle, but I was just plugging in numbers trying to find some that worked, I did not think of making an equation. Thank you!