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Question
plane flying at 500 miles per hour leaves chicago. 1/2 hour later, second plane leaves flying in the same direction at a rate of 600 miles per hour. How long will it take the second plane to overtake the first.
Since only half an hour has passed, the one flying at 500 mph is only 500/2 = 250 miles ahead.
Since the second plane is travelling at 600 - 500 = 100 mph faster,
it will take him 250/100 = 2.5 hours to catch up.
That is, of course, neglecting any airspeed that arises.
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Answers by Expert:
Scott A Wilson
Expertise
Story problems with any relation to math.
Experience
I started doing story problems in grade school and have been helping people ever since.
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In over 700 questions answered to other users. Maybe you're the next one ...
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BA in Mathematical Sciences from OSU.
MS in Mathematics from OSU
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Both my BS and MS degree were with honors.
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Students at OSU in the 80's and over 7000 questions right here,
but only around 1/10th of those have been word problems.
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