Places A and B are 80 km apart form each other on a highway. A car starts from A and other from B at the same time. If they move in the same direction, they meet in 8 hours and if they move in opposite directions, they meet in 1 hour and 20 minutes. Find the speeds of the cars.
Matching exercise
Match the items on the right to the items on the left.
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STEP 5
Let the speed of car from A be ‘a’ and of car from B be ‘b’.
Speed = distance/time
Relative speed of cars when moving in same direction = a + b
Relative speed of cars when moving in opposite direction = a – b
Given, places A and B are 80 km apart form each other on a highway. A car starts from A and other from B at the same time. If they move in the same direction, they meet in 8 hours ⇒ a – b = 80/8 = 10 ------ (1)
if they move in opposite directions, they meet in 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Adding (1) and (2)
⇒ a - b + a + b = 10 + 60
⇒ 2a = 70
⇒ a = 35 km/hr
Put the value of a in (1).
Thus, b = 35 – 10 = 25 km/hr
Hence, speed of two cars are 35km/h and 25 km/h