A motorcycle traveling at 60 miles per hour overtakes a car traveling at 30 miles per hour that had a three hour head start.

Question

How far from the starting point are the two vehicles?

Answer 1

So they both go the same distance.  

Let the time of the fast car be t hours; that means the slower car must have traveled for t+3 hours.

Since distance = rate multiplied by time for each vehicle, we have

60(t) = 30(t+3).  Do you see why?

When you do, you will see that this equation can be solved for t. 

Then plug the value of t into either of the above two equal expressions, to find the total distance they traveled, which is the answer to "how far from the starting point are..."