I need help with this.

Question

An air traffic controller is tracking two planes. To start, plane A was at an altitude of 970 meters, and plane B was at an altitude of 1438 meters. Plane A is losing altitude at 17 meter per second, and plane B is losing at 26 meters per second. Let c be the number of seconds that have passed.

for each plane, write an expression for the altitudes of the plane after c seconds.

write an equation to show when the two planes would be at the same altitude.

Answer 1

Plane A: 970 - 17c

Plane B: 1438 - 26c

Since the questions is asking to find when the altitudes will be equal, set the expressions for each plane equal to each other and solve for c.

970 - 17c = 1438 - 26c.

I would recommend adding 26c to both sides, so your term with the variable is positive.

970 + 9c = 1438. Then subtract 970, divide by 9 and you have your answer of c = 52.

Answer 2

A = 970 - 17c

B = 1438 - 26c

Set A = B and solve for c.