Train station question

Question

Two trains leave the station at the same time, one heading east and the other west. The eastbound train travels at 95 miles per hour. The westbound train travels at 105 miles per hour. How long will it take for the two trains to be 320 miles apart?

Do not do any rounding.

Answer 1

Answer 2

Answer: 1.6 hours

In 1 hour Train will be 200 miles apart (105 + 95)

we want how long till 320 miles apart so we can do 320/200 which is 1.6 hours.

We can first start by drawing this out.

What i often see with students is that they get confused with the wording so let me explain that part. One train is goin west at 105 miles PER hour while the other is heading east traveling at 95 miles PER hour. The question is asking how many HOURS will it take so the train is 320 MILES apart. They already gave us a measurement that's already in hours so lets ask ourselves, in 1 hour (key word: PER hour) how far are the trains? In 1 hour, the train going west will be 105 miles away from the station & the east bound train will be 95 miles away from the station (See below picture). Now we are going to combine these to get 200miles total. Why did we combine? Because the question asks how long till the trains are 320 MILES APART, so we want to see in 1 hour how far apart are the trains. Now that we know in 1 hour the trains will be 200 miles apart, we can do a simple division (320/200) to get 1.6 hour.

105miles 95miles

<---------------------- station -------------------->

Answer 3

Since they are going in opposite directions, each hour they are 95 + 105 = 200 miles further apart. To get 320 miles apart would take 320/200 = 1.6 hours.