Train a leaves westtown and travels at 50 mph toward smithville, 330 miles away. at the same time, train b leaves smithville and travels at 60 mph toward westtown.

after how many hours do the two trains meet?

answer

The ratio of the trains’ speeds is 5:6, which totals 11. As the total journey is 330 miles, one ratio part of the journey is 330/11 which is equal to 30. Train A will do 5 x 30 miles in the time it takes Train B to do 6 x 30 miles. This means they will meet when Train A has done 150 miles and Train B has done 180 miles. Using their given speeds, it takes Trains A and B 3 hours to do this distance.