SOLUTION: A private plane takes 8 hours less to travel 960 km than a car. If the plane travels 3 times as fast as the car, what is the speed of the plane and car?

Algebra.Com
Question 1110288: A private plane takes 8 hours less to travel 960 km than a car. If the plane travels 3 times as fast as the car, what is the speed of the plane and car?
Found 3 solutions by josgarithmetic, ikleyn, greenestamps:
Answer by josgarithmetic(39614)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
                   SPEED      TIME          DISTANCE
PLANE               3r         960/(3r)     960
CAR                 r         960/r         960
DIFFERENCE                     8


Solve for r and evaluate 3r.

You can take a step, ,...

Answer by ikleyn(52756)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
.
 -  = 8


} = 8


r =  =  = 80.


Answer.  The speed of the car is 80 km/h.

         The speed of the plane is 3*80 = 240 km/h.


Answer by greenestamps(13196)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!


The two other tutors who answered your question both used exactly the same traditional algebraic approach.

Of course, that is a valid approach. But here is a non-traditional approach that I like to use in problems like this, where the distances are the same.

The plane travels 3 times as fast as the car, so it takes 1/3 as long to make the trip.

So let x be the number of hours it takes the plane to make the trip; then 3x is the number of hours it takes the car. Then, since the plane takes 8 hours less than the car,




The plane takes 4 hours to travel the 960km, so its speed is 960/4 = 240 km/hr.

That is 3 times the speed of the car, so the speed of the car is 240/3 = 80 km/hr.

RELATED QUESTIONS

A private plane takes 8 hours less to travel 960 km than a car. If the plane travels 3... (answered by josgarithmetic,TimothyLamb,MathTherapy)
a private plane takes 8 hours less to travel 960 km than a car. if the plane travels 3... (answered by Boreal)
My answer doesn't make any sense, could you please show me how to solve this problem. A (answered by Edwin McCravy,josmiceli)
Help me to solve this problem: A plane takes 10 hours less to travel 1200 km than a... (answered by Alan3354,josgarithmetic,ikleyn)
it takes a train one hour longer to travel 240 km than it does for a small plane to... (answered by ikleyn)
A transport plane travels five times as fast as an auto. The plane takes 30 minutes less... (answered by checkley77)
2. A train required 2 h longer to travel 500 km than a plane required to travel 1200 km.... (answered by josmiceli)
The average speed of a plane is eight times as great as the average speed of a train. (answered by Theo,greenestamps,josgarithmetic,MathTherapy)
A car is traveling 90 mph slower than a plane. If it takes the car 6 hours longer to... (answered by Alan3354)