Helen and Reid are walking to their classes at Cedarburg College. Helen comes from her dorm room, walking at a speed of $4$ miles per hour down a straight path. Reid comes from the gymnasium on the other end of campus, moving up the same path at $3$ miles per hour. If they start out $3$ miles apart, how long will it be before they meet? $\newline$ If necessary, round your answer to the nearest minute. $\newline$ hours and minutes

Full solution

Q. Helen and Reid are walking to their classes at Cedarburg College. Helen comes from her dorm room, walking at a speed of

4

miles per hour down a straight path. Reid comes from the gymnasium on the other end of campus, moving up the same path at

3

miles per hour. If they start out

3

miles apart, how long will it be before they meet?

\newline

If necessary, round your answer to the nearest minute.

\newline

____ hours and ____ minutes

Calculate Combined Speed: We have: $\newline$ Speed of Helen: $4$ miles per hour $\newline$ Speed of Reid: $3$ miles per hour $\newline$ Find the combined speed of Helen and Reid. $\newline$ Speed of Helen + Speed of Reid = Combined speed $\newline$ $4 + 3 = 7$ $\newline$ Combined speed: $7$ miles per hour
Find Time Taken: Combined speed: $7$ miles per hour $\newline$ Identify the time taken by Helen and Reid to cover $3$ miles. $\newline$ Round your answer to the nearest thousandth. $\newline$ Time $=$ Distance $/$ Combined speed $\newline$ $= \frac{3}{7}$ $\newline$ $\approx 0.4286$ hours
Identify Hours and Minutes: Time taken: $0.4286$ hours $\newline$ Identify the number of hours and minutes. $\newline$ Round your answer to the nearest minute. $\newline$ In $0.4286$ , the number of hours is $0$ . $\newline$ $0.4286 \times 60 = 25.716 \approx 26$ minutes $\newline$ So, it will be $0$ hours and $26$ minutes before they meet.