Fred begins walking toward johns house at 3 miles per hour. john leaves his house at the same time and walks towards fred's house on the same path at a rate of 2 miles per hour. how long will it take before they meet if their houses are 4 miles apart?

it all take them 0.8 hours

Step-by-step explanation:

Let x represent the distance covered by Fed.

Their houses are 4 miles apart. It means that by the time they meet, John would have covered 4- x miles.

Let t represent the time taken by Fred to cover x miles and also the time taken by John to cover 4 - x miles.

Distance = speed × time

Therefore,

Distance covered by Fred would be

x = 3 × t = 3t

Distance covered by John would be

4 - x = 2 × t = 2t

Substituting x = 3t into 4 - x = 2t, it becomes

4 - 3t = 2t

2t + 3t = 4

5t = 4

t = 4/5 = 0.8 hours