The speed of the trains in miles per hour are ?

Question

Suppose two trains leave a station at the same time, traveling in opposite directions. One train travels 20 mph faster than the other. In 3.5 hours, the trains are 371 miles apart. Find the speed of each train.

Answer 1

Try visualizing two trains traveling from one station  different speeds.

 

train A would have travelled 3.5S_a miles  

 

train B would have traveled  3.5(S_a + 20)

 

= 3.5S_a + 70 miles

 

 

S_a  is the speed of train A

 

7 S_a + 70 = 371

 

S_a = 301 / 7

 

    = 43 mph

 

Now that we know the speed of train A adding 20 would give us the speed of train B which is 63 mph.

 

43mph & 63 mph are the speeds of your two trains.