SOLUTION: An aircraft carrier left Hawaii traveling west seven hours before a container ship. The containe ship traveled in the opposite direction going 5 km/h slower than the aircraft carri

Question 491891: An aircraft carrier left Hawaii traveling west seven hours before a container ship. The containe ship traveled in the opposite direction going 5 km/h slower than the aircraft carrier for six hours. At this time the ships were 540 km apart. Find the speed of both ships.
I can't figure out how to set up the equation.

Answer by ccs2011(207) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
distance = rate*time
Aircraft carrier:
time is 13 hours, 7 hours before container ship left then the 6 hours container traveled.
Let s be speed of aircraft carrier
--> d = 13s
Container ship:
time is 6 hours
speed is 5 km/h slower, so s-5
--> d = 6(s-5)
Since they are going in opposite directions, add up the distances to find how far apart they are
--> 13s + 6(s-5) = 540
Now solve for s
--> 13s +6s -30 = 540
--> 19s = 570
--> s = 30
Aircraft carrier was traveling at 30 km/h and container ship 25 km/h

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