Question

Choose the correct answer.

Two cars leave Albuquerque and travel along roads 90 degrees apart. If Car 1 leaves 30 minutes earlier than Car 2 and averages 45 mph and if Car 2 averages 55 mph, how far apart will they be after Car 1 has traveled 2.5 hours?

___ miles.
173
166
157

Answer 1

@Ultrilliam and @Vocaloid Can you help

Answer 2

Car one travels 2.5 hours at 45 mphs

distance = rate*time, calculate distance for car one

Car two travels 2 hours (since it leaves 30 minutes later, it travels 30 minutes less than car one) at 55 mph

again, distance = rate*time

now, if you draw a diagram you will see that the distance between cars 1 and 2 is like the hypotenuse of a right triangle where car 1's and car 2's distances are the legs

so using pythagorean theorem

distance between the cars = sqrt(car 1 distance^2 + car 2 distance^2)

lmk if anything was unclear

Answer 3

@Vocaloid so it would be 157 mi?

Answer 4

yup that's what i got too