ALGEBRA ONE WORD PROBLEMS

Question

A pyro technician plans for two fireworks to explode at the same height in the air. Firework A travels at 280ft/s, firework B travels at 180ft/s. Firework B is launched 0.25 seconds before firework A. How many seconds after firework B launches will they both explode?

Answer 1

We know at 0.25 seconds firework B is 45 feet in the air because 180*0.25=45. So an equation to find the height of fireworks B is

 

180X+45.

 

 

X is time in seconds. And an equation to find fireworks A is

 

280x.

 

 

280ft/s times any second will give the height. Another important piece of information is that the two fireworks will explode from the same height. So set  the height equation of fireworks A and B equal to each other and solve for X

 

so 180X+45 = 280X

minus 180x from each side

45 = 100x

divide each side by 100

45/100=0.45

So both fireworks will explode 0.45 seconds after firework B launches