# Math Help - another word problem

1. ## another word problem

two planes start from the same airport and fly in opposite directions. the second plane starts 46 mins after the first, but its speed is 50mph faster. 2 hours and 15 mins after the first plane starts its flight the planes are 2325 miles apart. find the speed of each plane.

2. Ok, So here's how I did it, might not be the easiest way, but it get's her done!

Imagine that the first plane is P1, the time of first plane is T1; speed is V1. Accordingly for the second plane it would be P2, T2, V2.

P1 has a total time of 2.25 hrs.
P2 has a total time of 2.25 hrs (135 mins) - 46 mins.. so 89 mins or 1.48hrs
If we say that V1 is equal to X + 50 (because it is 50mph faster in this case), and V2 is equal to X then we can produce the following formula

$X + (X + 50) = 2325$

BUT! There is the time factor here. So we multiply these values by the appropriate T1 and T2

$2.25X + 1.48(X + 50) = 2325$
$2.25X + 1.48X + 74 = 2325$
$3.73X + 74 = 2325$
$3.73X = 2251$
$X = 603.485 mph$
V1 is equal to 603.485 mph
V2 is equal to 603.485 mph + 50 mph = 653.485 mph

To Verify:
Multiply the V1 and V2 by the times to get
(603.485)(2.25) + (653.485)(1.48)
1357.841 + 967.158
= 2324.999
= 2325 miles

Hope this is clear and helpful!