SOLUTION: a bike path is 5 miles long. A man walks from one end at 3mph. Another friend bikes from the other end at 12 mph how soon will they meet? I have tried to solve this but I can'

Click here to see ALL problems on Travel Word Problems

Question 340733: a bike path is 5 miles long. A man walks from one end at 3mph. Another friend bikes from the other end at 12 mph how soon will they meet?

I have tried to solve this but I can't get down what I actually have to convert.
Found 2 solutions by mananth, jrfrunner:
Answer by mananth(16946) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
let them meet at distance x miles from one end.( man walking)
the other man will ride 5-x
speed of walking 3mph
speed of riding = 12 mph.
time taken walking = x/3
time taken riding = 5-x / 12
..
Since they start at the same time the time to meet is same.
x/3 = 5-x /12
12x=3(5-x)
12x=15-3x
12x+3x= 15
15x = 15
x= 15/15
x=1 mile they meet at distance of 1 mile from the end where man starts walking.
distance = 1
speed = 3
time = distance /speed
time = 1 / 3 hours
= 20 minutes

Answer by jrfrunner(365) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
need to know that distance=speed * time; d=s*t
===
walker and biker start at the same time and walk toward each other, so they meet somewhere between at time t
--
the distance travelled by walker (d=s*t):
the distance travelled by biker
--
total distance they both travel =5 miles
therefore