A jet plane traveling at 500 mph overtakes a propeller plane traveling at 150 mph that has a 2 hour head start. How far from the starting point are the planes?

Answer 1

Comprehend your given. A slower plane is over taken by a faster one that has a two hour head start. D=RT is your problem type. You want the distance when faster plane overtakes the other. R_sT = R_fT is your setup

where 150(T + 2) = 500T (distribute) 150T + 300 = 500T (gather like terms) 300 = 350T (divide by coefficient of unknown T = 300/350 (reduce fraction) 6/7 so 500*6/7 or 150*(6/7 + 2) or 150*(20/7) either way 3000/7 (use calculator) 428.571429ish