Math Word Problems

Question

Mario and Luigi leave to small towns that are 230 miles apart at the same time, traveling directly toward one another. Mario is traveling at a rate that is 15mph slower than luigi. They pass each other 2 hours later. What is their average speed?

Answer 1

Victoria,

 

Let's say that Luigi goes x miles/hour and Mario goes x-15 miles/hour. After two hours, they travel a combined

2x+2(x-15)=4x-30. We can set this to 230 to find x:

4x-30=230

4x=260

x=65mph

Thus Luigi travels 65 mph and Mario travels 65-15=50 mph.

 

Checking our work, after two hours Mario travels 2*50=100 Miles and Luigi travels 65*2=130 miles so put together they travel 100+130=230miles.

 

Hope that helps!